Does anyone know if there is a max number of Smart Hose Timer Valves that you can use with the WiFi Hub?
I did not know if I would need more than one hub or if one hub would be able to do as many as I need for my raised garden beds.
Only reason I ask is like my Netamo weather system you can only have like 2 additional sensor modules per hub. So was wondering if there was a limit here, eventually will need 16 one of each raised garden bed.
Thanks
Good question, funny that I was trying to find out myself and then saw your post.
I just remembered another page (hence my editing this posting) that has a bundle, so it appears at least two. Smart Hose Timer Kit + Valve Bundle | Rachio
Yeah I was looking at some others and they are limited so you need like a hub for every 4 or something like that. Pretty annoying, so figured I would ask around here and see what people knew.
I will try to remember to let you know what I find out. Being Bluetooth from the Timer to the Hub, I can understand it would be limited.
I have heard that one hub can handle four timers at this time. It is possible it will handle more in the future (too new to tell yet).
If I understood completely, you will need 16 at some point. I do not think one will do all that, but maybe 2-4 and a somewhat wild guess.
Is there a particular reason that each bed needs its own valve?
Seems at that point, it might make sense to drop a valve box with normal zone valves and run a standard Rachio 16 zone.
Since it is just the way I ran it.
I have individual water spigot at each bed tied to a drip line. Original thought was I would just go out there and manually turn on and off the water spigot for each bed depending on what was planted in it based on when it needed to be watered. Then saw these when I was looking to see if there was an option to control them somehow.
Also I dont have electricity out by the garden which is about 150’+ from the house. So only battery power options for irrigation valve boxes is what I would have since dont have 120V outlet nearby to run the standard Rachio 16 zone since it needs electricity. Otherwise I would have installed a traditional controller box.
I only suggested that, because while Rachio would hate me trying to talk you out of sales of this new product, you are ultimately talking about needing/wanting 16 of these. The initial kit with wifi hub is $99, and additional hose units will be somewhat less than that, but you’d still be looking at a sizable investment.
Yeah I totally get it and appreciate it for sure.
If I could and had the power source to do so, that is definitely the way I would have gone.
So I heard back from Rachio Support with an official answer…
Filipe S. here from Rachio Support. Thank you for contacting us, I’ll be happy to assist!
Each Wi-Fi Hub can have up to 8 Valves connected to it. Feel free to find more information about the Rachio Smart Hose Timer through this link:
Great, last I heard is they are still testing some things and maybe will be updating the firmware, so your results could vary from what you were told. I would guess it might be pretty close (or maybe they finished their tests and I have not heard back).
When will we be able to purchase individual hose controllers?
If I understood correctly, it sounded to me like demand has been higher than expected and they might be out. I probably would keep checking once or twice a week.
I found the bundle that has two Timers and a Hub on this page Product Bundles | Rachio, but clicking on it take you to the link in an earlier post in this thread which shows it is not available. So, it seems the starter kit is the only one available at Rachio Featured Products | Rachio or Automate your watering with Rachio Smart Hose Timer | Rachio.