Hose timer - no soak?

I purchased the hose timer assuming that I can do basic stuff like soak/cycle for plants in my pots. I cant seem to find that option on the app at all. What gives? Thanks for your help.

I should have one soon, and I’ll have some time to test it out, but this is a brand new product and I’m clueless to its functions and limitations. To be honest, I was assuming that the backend software was going to be the same Rachio scheduling, but I’ll need to check it out once I get it.

I do know that with the normal Rachio controller, there are certain stipulations that need to be met for cycle soak to function, but there are ways to force it. Are you able to post screenshots of the app and zone settings?

Thank you @tmcgahey ! Attached is a snapshot of the only option they have in the schedule. As simple as it gets. Basically when do u want to water and how long.

I could be wrong, but kind of doubt this functionality would exist. With in-ground sprinklers, it seems the number of options is pretty limited. With hose-end sprinklers, they number seems pretty unlimited. I suppose it still might be able to be calculated with GPH (or similar) using a can method, etc. I do have a traveling sprinkler which cannot ever handle cycle & soak. It also seems the smart timers are smart because they can monitor weather (rain, freeze, and wind) for skipping, but are not as smart as a sprinkler controller. In other words, adds some smarts to a fairly dumb timer. However, I could be wrong with that too.

Oh yes, another bit of smarts is being able to control anywhere in the world. From @nbmk’s screenshot, it does look like a regular timer with added smarts. I am guessing Rachio and others want to keep these super simple.

Yes, I feel this is quite simplistic in what it does. Not too happy about it. There are other hose end controllers that do everything a wired ones for in-ground zones does.

Yeah, I regret pre-ordering two of them. I assumed they would have the same functionality as the sprinkler controllers (HomeKit, smart-cycle). I purchased to control misters that I have on my porch. Guess I purchased a really expensive push button for turning them on/off.

Support took a while to reply, but told me I could set up a schedule to cycle them on/off :man_facepalming:. Would be nice to know a roadmap, so I can decide if I want to hold on to these not so smart hose timers.

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Yeah I am in the same boat. There are so many other devices that do so much more for less money. I am not sure if I will keep this.

Same boat here. I assumed weather intelligence and same scheduling interface as the controllers. FWIW was planning on replacing the Eve aqua I have setup on an irrigation line attached directly to a spigot

Currently, it seems to be using the same “weather intelligence” parameters that are defined for the regular controller. I guess it assumes that the hose will be used to irrigate the same area (or similar area) as the controller does. In my case, my hose is connected to a drip system and the pots are partially sheltered under eaves - wish there was a way to define different thresholds. I’m hoping that the additional capabilities will be released as Rachio gets feedback.

Oh I see it is set under the “Home” – you might be able to create a different “Home” and add a different weather configuration and then move the valves under it…

this looks like very basic scheduling… can you at least tell it to water for 15 minutes, every 2 hours? i have some new seed with a heat wave coming and want to keep it wet.

It looks like you can do that, maybe not as easy as you would hope for. For example, create a schedule to run every day and add a 15-minute run for every time you want it to run (probably not at night). I can later give you more step-by-step instructions if you need it,

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I agree. I just set up mine today and was floored to discover that it can’t just use the existing flex schedule that my Controller is currently set to. Not having a soak was surprising as well.

I would be happy to have the device water on the days that my front yard is already watering, even if there’s no soak time.

I was able to effectively set a soak by setting an initial schedule followed by another run later the same day. While I would still love the flex to work as it does with the primary controller, I found it does use the same weather station set on the home to allow skips due to weather, which feels like it accomplishes ~80% of what I was going for.

Probably not ideal, but definitely a way to get the soap. Good idea

Got mine a few days ago. Im actually surprised how limited the software is after having my 8-zone Rachio controller for a few years.

No push notifications about hose events?
No Alexa/Google integrations?

These are pretty basic and I would have expected them out of the gate (using the code already in the app); by comparison, my $50 RainPoint valve does all this.

Rachio needs to up their game on the software, for the premium price they are charging for the hose valve!

I ended up doing the same thing, and hopefully in the future they’ll add the ability to let it use the schedules that I have set up already.

I see it does the rain skips, which is nice. I have a WeatherFlow Tempest set up already. Love it!