Hi all. I have an 8-zone gen2 on a flex daily schedule. I want more water in one zone. If I increase the set duration of that zone by X minutes, won’t Rachio just compensate for that and reduce frequency?
If so, what’s the best way to accomplish this?
Thanks!
@new-frog, see →
TL;DR - reduce the precipitation rate/hour for the nozzle. Alternatively, raise the crop coefficient - but that may impact the frequency too.
Thanks. I checked that FAQ. While informative, it doesn’t say if increasing duration reduces frequency, or has no effect. And further down, it says adjusting crop coefficient is the “best lever”. I wish Rachio was a little more helpful here. Why should we have to figure out how their software works? I just want more water in 1 zone. Why is that (apparently) so hard to make happen?
Appreciate any guidance anyone has. Thanks.
I made a spreadsheet for zones to calculate all of the parameters Rachio uses, that way I can add plants and change my #s accordingly. Been a while since I looked at it after I got it set. Just playing around with it, if you raise crop coefficient, it should only increase watering duration and not affect frequency. And same thing if you lower nozzle rate/hour, increase duration without affecting freq.
The inputs that will change frequency are evapotranspiration (ET), soil water available, root depth and allowed depletion.
I agree Rachio should have a sheet showing all of their calculations and what does what, or somehow explain it better in the app. There used to be a post on here that provided all of the info but looks like its been removed. On that note though, none of the calculations Rachio uses are their own proprietary calculations for their software. All calculations are based on field research that is available online.
@new-frog - most of the changes impact duration and frequency. That is why I suggested precipitation rate - it only impacts duration. If there are entries in both columns, then changing that value will impact both. The only two settings that impact only one is precipitation rate (changes duration) and crop coefficient (changes frequency).
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Thanks, @DLane, for the clarification. That’s helpful. I will reduce the Nozzle Inches Per Hour from 1.0 inches to 0.5 inches in that zone and see how that is.
Follow-up:
- If I do a Quick Run in that zone, will that be compensated for in reducing the following daily schedule? Just wondering if this might also be a manual way of getting more water there.
- My crop coefficients are all static, as I installed this Rachio before the dynamic feature was rolled out. Do you recommend that I make them dynamic? It sounds like that might be a prudent move.
Thanks again!!