I’m having an entire irrigation system installed with approximately 5zones. I want to automate as much as possible. I’m installing fertigation and a smart controller. I’m debating on the best controller, including Wyze, Rachio and others. I want a flow meter and a moisture sensors for each zone.
What flow meter will work best? You’d think this would be an easy answer but i can’t seem to find the thread that answers this question.
What moisture sensors work best? Again, should be an easy answer but nope.
The irrigation companies in my area don’t seem to be very advanced with anything other than basic installation of plumbing.
I want the controller to use ground moisture in its algorithm when deciding to water. I want the flow meter to know if a leak occurs and the controller shuts off the flow. I am gone a lot and want to have automation as much as possible.
I’m really struggling with these issues. If you were installing from scratch what would you use and how would you automate?
From the page, Rachio says that the Everydrop meters are the cost/performance leader in wired flow meters and are fully compatible with the controller.
Just a fair warning that the moisture sensor devices seem to have a high failure rate (2 failed out of 10 for me).
On the flip side they are fairly cheap and so plan on ordering a couple extras.
The readings from them in an outdoor setting has been a bit inconsistent.
The sensor is not very deep and so it is not useful beyond about 4.5 inches in the ground).
It also requires an additional hub connected to your home network and you can only communicate with the sensors through the wireless tag servers (and not directly through the hub).
I have found the tags to be useful as a measurement device to fine tune my rachio settings but they are not useful in a fully automated setting unfortunately.
I have the Everydrop. I wanted a “nicer” one that wasn’t all plastic, but there wasn’t support for it in Rachio. I’m extremely disappointed with the flow meter integration in Rachio though, it really doesn’t do much at all.
It does not monitor flow when the system is off. So if you get a leak in your main line, you’re screwed. Incidently, I got a leak on the downstream fitting of my flow meter!
It does not actually use the flow settings to determine water output on a zone.
All the flow meter does that I can tell, is compares the current output to a defined value. If the rate is outside of the thresholds you set, both High and Low, then it will do whatever you setup…notify you and keep running, or stop watering.
Another minor flaw with the Everydrop is the screen shows total water usage, and current usage rate. However, if you lose power to the meter, the total will reset. Meaning if you power cycle the Rachio (unplug it or the power goes out) you lose the count. Especially sucks if you wanted to know total water usage from manual activities (I have a hose attached to my system) for like watering flowers.
