I manage about 10 Rachio sites and I have another that is ready for irrigation (and other things I control with Rachio), but it is under construction and won’t have its own internet and wifi for a long while.
I’m hoping that I can set up a new Rachio by using my iPhone 6 to establish a hot spot and then installing the new controller normally. Afterwards, anyone can access it using cellular, as I do my clients controllers’ when I am at their properties.
After the clients move in just reinstall the Rachio as if it were new, and go on from there.
Are there any problems with this idea? Does it have to be online using its own internet to be able to be accessed using cellular? Sounds like it might.
If I’m understanding your situation properly, I recommend you explore using the Limited Schedules option until the properties have reliable WiFi.
Essentially, this would allow you to temporarily set up the controller as a “dumb” timer using one of 12 pre-sets.
While you could do as you suggest with a hotspot, the controller would only be connected to the Rachio cloud for as long as your iPhone 6 is giving it a WiFi connection. It would go offline as soon as you, and your hotspot, go out of range or otherwise disable the WiFi.
To clarify: Limited Schedules won’t allow for remote access, but will at least ensure the landscape is getting regular waterings. Once a regular WiFi signal is available at the site, you or your clients can take it out of this mode and set up as normal.
