I’m running into multiple issues with the Rachio Gen 3. I got past my first issue of having an iPhone 11 unable to onboard the device by using the rachio_linux_connect.sh script on my ubuntu laptop. However, while I was able to get past the 2nd blinking amber light I now have an issue with the 4th light perpetually blinking. While that is occurring the rachio_linux_connect.sh script is infinitely polling displaying “Connection State: WAITING_INIT_DATA”.
I have a Rachio Gen 3 connected to a Google Wifi 3-puck 5GHz mesh network into my Ubiquiti security firewall and out the network. In my Google Wifi app i do see the Rachio as a device on the network so I know it is connected.
Any thoughts why the device is unable to register?
Hey defparam! I’ve got an idea why you’re running into this.
4th light blinking means your controller hasn’t been activated yet. Activation happens through the app. It’s great you have the connect script, you’ll need that as well with the iPhone 11 problem. First though, you’ll need to run through setup even with the WiFi issue on your phone. Check the app store for an update too, we just (about 15 minutes ago) pushed out an update that makes the onboarding process a lot smoother when this firmware issue is present. Here’s the steps to get you all setup and going.
You’ll need to reset the WiFi on your Rachio. Do this by holding the WiFi looking button to the bottom left of the white controls on the controller. You’ll need it to have the 2nd quadrant blinking yellow.
Run through setup in the app. This will fail to work with WiFi (if version 4.1.6 isn’t available yet in the app store, it takes time to roll out) but it will still activate your controller.
When you get to the screen that says “an error occurred” when attempting to connect your Rachio to WiFi, run the script and continue the setup in app once the script is showing you the connection status.
Continue through the app, it’ll attempt to talk to the device and will also get the Rachio added to your account which gets it past the 4th light.
Version 4.1.6 will be showing up soon that detects the firmware issue and alters the onboarding process to better guide you through the process. If that’s available, you should be able to reattempt to onboard your controller and won’t need to reset wifi. If it’s not out yet (it can take 24 hours for updates to roll out on the app store) the steps above should get you all setup. Let me know if you run into issues or have questions though.
Thanks!
Thanks! I got it registered! the iOS Version 4.1.6 app is not on the appstore yet but I was able to get the entire registration process to work with the Version 4.1.5 app. The key part I was missing was running the linux script while the iOS app was attempting to register the unit. Once my iPhone failed the device onboarding I ran the linux script to completion, went back to the iPhone to continue the registration process and it finished the full way!
Seems like a nasty interoperability bug between the newer phones and your Wifi baseband chips. Hopefully the process gets easier for future customers.
I’m having trouble with this as well. Not sure what version of the app I’m using.
I’ve been able to get the Rachio 3 connected to my Netgear ORBI mesh network using the script on windows. It went from 2nd quadrant light blinking orange -> 4th quadrant light blinking white.
I’ve tried killing my app and rerunning the add controller step in the app multiple times with no luck. I’ve tried running the rachio_linux_connect.sh bash script from my linux box and it keeps waiting in the WAITING_INIT_DATA connection state. I’ve tried this while trying to add this via my phone, before, after, etc. all possible combinations. No luck Phone keeps erroring out saying We could not find your Rachio. My Rachio is visible in the devices list of my router and has an ip address.
Seems like the app is stuck trying to recognize Rachio on the network and is not sending the registration api call.
My RouteThis key is HBP462ZU.
Any help would be appreciated.
If all I need to do is send a CURL command with my credentials authenticated on your web services, please let to know the exact URL and how I can do that.
Ok. I’ve finally managed to get it activated.
I had to borrow someone’s Android device. The setup process on that went flawless. Allowed me to add in SSID and password for WiFi and after that, things just worked like a charm.
Through this whole episode, I’ve spent over 24 hrs trying to get this work. Turns out there were 2 failure points…
Network ORBI router (mesh network that shared same SSID for 2.4 and 5 GHz)
new version of iOS didn’t work in being able to reach to the device and/or have it send activation request (even after I manually got it on the network)
– Start Rant –
Honestly, if it had not been for my resilience in getting this to work, I would have returned this. I’m shocked that this is deemed as acceptable user experience. iOS is a major platform and one which has highest numbers for upgrading to latest version. To not support this and shift blame on a changing platform for a device that costs 200+ dollars is simply ridiculous. The only reason I was resilient was that my earlier research led me to believe that the rest of the regular use features would be really good and worth it. To be fair, once I got past the setup, the rest of the setup experience was really good and helpful. The initial WiFi hiccup was just too frustrating as there was no option to fallback to a more manual setup in iOS when the automatic setup failed. It would have been fine if there was an option in the app to manually guide the user to connect to the device directly, then setup SSID/password via the app and then complete activation.
– End Rant –
I hope you guys take this feedback seriously and fix this.
