I have 4 main areas in my yard (Front, Back, Pool, Side) with each made up of multiple Zones.
Am I correct in assuming that if I set them all on a flex schedule that my Rachio will either water all or none of them or is it selective down to the zone?
If it is all or nothing, can I setup a Flex Daily for all 4 (M-F). Will the 4 schedules be smart enough no to try and run at the same time? How does the Rachio prioritize which zone goes if both are set to kick off at the same time?
You mention Flex scheduling, but there is both Flex Daily and Flex Monthly.
Flex Daily will use the moisture level of each zone to determine if it will water or not.
Flex Monthly will probably water all the zones regardless, as it doesn’t use moisture level.
Rachio will not run more that one zone at the same time. Zones are run in the order they are listed, and you don’t set times for zones. If two schedules are set to start at the same time, I imagine the one listed first will start first, but am not sure. Either way, one will start, and when done, the other will start.
Sorry, Flex Daily schedules.
It sounds like Flex Daily will skip zones that are included in the schedule if the “Plant Available Water %” is above the “Allowed Depletion.”
Is there a difference between “Plant Available Water” and “Soil Moisture”?
Wise choice.
Flex Daily will skip zones in the schedule that will remain above the 0% moisture on the graph the next time the schedule can water. So sometimes it will run before expected if a day does not allow it to water, and the next time it would water it’s too low.
A lot of terms are used, and I don’t see in the program “Plant Available Water”, but to me, they do sound the same.
Just to confirm my understanding, there won’t be any difference between:
Thanks.
Not really, but no need to set each one into its own schedule IMO, but it would be advisable to keep drip and grass into separate schedules.
The main difference that would occur is with Cycle & Soak. If you use manual or Smart Cycle & Soak, the running program will just sit there, soaking/waiting, and nothing else can run. By having more zones on a single schedule, more soaking can occur while other zones are being watered, so you can save time with a single schedule.
I agree with tmcgahey, though: separate any drip schedules. They can often occur during the day or at odd times when other watering isn’t required, but usually don’t waste much if done during the day. They can also take a long time, which would mess up other zones in the schedule.
Thanks everybody.