Meet the Rachio 3 Smart Water System (aka Wireless Flow Metering!) :rachio:

Is the battery of the flow meter user replaceable?

@Steve47 you bet :slight_smile: Two AA batteries. Should last two seasons before you need to replace.

Lo :rachio:

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Hey @Raki! As long as you do not delete the device from your account, we can transfer your settings. That being said, the device will need to be deleted before a new user can add it.

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Might have missed this one but is there a trade up program from the gen 2 to gen 3?

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Does a single flow meter work with two controllers (have 30 zones)?

– Mark

Woah, woah, woah, any more about this? The wireless sensor has to be installed past the backflow device making it useless for whole home usage monitoring. You mean to tell me if I pick up a $100 wired meter and run this into my R3 I could, in theory, monitor whole home usage?

I get that Rachio is geared towards looking at my irrigation usage, but I also send the usage data to smartthings. Based on this info I might be able to use smartthings to let me know when prolonged high usage has been detected.

You can get an extra $20 off with code R3Launch20 from http://blog.rachio.com/2018/03/introducing-rachio-3-smart-water-system/!

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Unlike Gen 1 & 2, will the 3 support more than 16 zones with a software solution or expansion?

So, better radio. Will there be soil moisture meters available in the near future?

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Found out that it will only work with Gen3 controllers. Pretty big bummer for Gen2 owners.

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I’m interested in hearing more about this. Is this a hardware feature? Are there new weather sensors (barometer, etc.) inside the Gen 3 hardware? Does indoor vs. outdoor mounting matter?

(If not new sensors, is WI+ coming to Gen 1 and Gen 2 hardware??)

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I definitely want to hear more about this Weather Intel Plus feature.

I did a Google Search for “Weather Intelligence Plus” and came across an article w/ this blurb in it:

“We asked Rachio for a bit more details about the hyperlocal Weather Intelligence Plus, and if it might be coming to the earlier generation models. So far, Rachio doesn’t have any plans to do that, but it hasn’t ruled it out. The hyperlocal weather obviously can’t precisely determine what the weather is at your home (unless you have a public weather station), but it’s able to take into account available data nearby to get a much better idea, rather than just sticking with a single source.”

Since nobody asked yet…

Does the V3 HW also come with a software update to finally provide a well pump delay between zones?

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I saw this article too. This conflicts with what @emil and @franz have said in this thread - that you can get rid of a pws. Of course, it was Gizmodo and they weren’t quoting anyone at Rachio so I take it with a grain of salt.

To me, it still seems like a properly configured PWS would provide the most accurate inputs to the MAD calculation. For those that already have a PWS on site, will hyperlocal weather provide something that the PWS can’t?

Hyperlocal weather sounds great as a marketing term, but more details are needed to understand how it actually works with the system.

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I don’t see a compelling reason to upgrade, we are still using the first generation and last week I added a wired rain sensor for use this upcoming season.

If they could report data from the flow sensor to my utility company and have the utility company then be able to deduct water used on my lawn from my sewage bill then maybe that would be compelling as it would eventually pay for itself.

I don’t ever see that happening and with a smart water meter, the utility company can tell me if my usage is off, which might indicate a leak.

I’d be interested in a trade in offer for my gen 2.

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@PaperFriend, If you don’t mind me asking, what is the advantage of having this have Homekit? I can’t see any use case where I would need to have my irrigation system.

The only use case I can see is if the Wireless Flow Meter could connect to a smart valve that could be shut off if a leak was detected. Similar to these systems announced at CES this year - https://staceyoniot.com/leak-detection-4-startups-worried-about-water/

What am I missing?

Thanks

Installed after the backflow preventer sounds not good. While system should be drained for freezing temps, I would want to install the meter inside (right after irrigation line T’s off from main supply) so it is within climate-controlled environment. That would be OK or not advised?

Also, it looks like plastic. Pipes inside my house and outside before/after backflow are copper. Doesn’t matter?

Concerned about the sturdiness of the flow meter too.
In my case it would be facing south under the Texan sun, plastic could easily get to 120 degrees draining the batteries and fry circuitry.
Is there an enclosure you will provide with it, or suggestions on how to protect it?