Need More Rachio Community Members

Seems like the chatter in here is pretty dry lately. We need some new members and topics to get things exciting.

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Ask and you shall receive Robert! And hello from a fellow Oklahoman I see. I am new to Rachio and sprinkler system but an avid home automation guy so I am sure I will have plenty of questions! :slight_smile:

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That is great. I think we are the only two from Oklahoma. I have had my Rachio for more than a year and really like it’s features.

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I agree we could use some new faces @robertokc- any ideas on how to pull some more members in? Why did you join in the beginning?

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One idea is to make the community a little more prominent on the Rachio main home page. You can click on “Support” on the main page, and then “community” is in the upper right hand corner, but that is really easy to miss. if when you hovered over “support” you could see “articles, knowledge base, community”, it might be more prominent…

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I joined because use of a smartphone for irrigation control was exciting for me.

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Could you send an email blast to owners or show as an alert like when a watering event occurs?

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Hiiii! Sorry been quiet lately. Life has been keeping me busy. :grin:

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Hi everyone, I am guilty as charged as well…thanks to the excellent advice of great members on this forum I over time found my work-arounds for known issues. It might just be me, but my enthusiasm for digging into more topics has to do with the looming V3. On quite many occasions, we were either told that this would be addressed in the next version, or I assumed that this would be taken care of. I signed up for beta testing, but never heard back if that is being considered or not. So it is a bit wait and see for me.

And, probably most importantly: My set up works now quite flawlessly this season (after having to play with the parameters last year to break it in). I am very happy with it, and that probably also lowers my frequency of visits to the site out of necessity.

Rather than just bringing more of the same questions I could see the following to help:

  • the rachio team could prompt us for opinions and comments about existing and new features, priorities anomalities etc. I liked eg the way @mckynzee once turned my request for streamlining the time zone issues into a poll. Thought that was engaging.
  • communicate what has changed in the background (i.e. invisible to the user), and check in with us for related observations or unintended consequences.
  • improve the tagging of solved issues, so that we all find existing answers more quickly, especially for new members. This could reduce the redundancy of the topics raised.
  • rachio becoming more proactive about communicating what we can realistically expect on what timeline (but not investor pitch). I feel like being kept in suspense for too long, and would prefer to know that I need to live with what I have for this season. Maybe a list of rachio’s priorities we could once a month give rating/feedback?
  • enable some form of regional grouping of users, as we might have similar issues (eg restrictions) and climatic conditions. Located in NC I only know of @Linn in the same state, and we clearly have more commonalities in climate and soil related topics. So I read his/her contributions.

If talking with enthusiasm to new prospective users, I always emphasize the forum and the knowledge base as one of the reasons to get the controller. No one else has created such a user bond. Plus the results in my backyard are great with less water than last season and despite less rain! Love it!

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A new software update would ramp up chatter in a big way. It is dry but there is a lot of info on the pages so it’s probable that questions are being answered so ppl don’t need to join to solve their problem.

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I could identify as being from Oklahoma as well :o) it seems to be a new fashion trend lately,- to identify as something you are not, it’s fun!
I don’t have to identify as having Rachio system though, since I do have one. And I can say this, this summer has been wet here in NJ, and I didn’t even have to set up Rachio scheduling this year. All I did is manually run it from time to time for my plants and for my toddler to play with. The ease of operation makes it superior even if scheduling is not needed.

Hello Everybody,

I am brand new and just installed my Rachio with my new landscaping. I damaged one of the pins on install, and then the second night, we had a power outage that knocked my Rachio offline. Fortunately, the support has been great.

Now, if I could easily translate the gph of my sprinklers and emitters to inch/hour, I would be in great shape!

Don

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oh! what is expected in v3?

Ok, you got me, new user. Just installed mine in Atlanta, GA, still messing with getting the sprinklers to hit the right areas with the right amount of water, hoping the Rachio will help me save some money. We are in level 2 drought right now, so we are restricted to Thu/Sun watering. So, after entering all the soil and vegetation information in to the zones, I set up a watering schedule of Th/Sun, and turned on Smart Cycle and Weather Intelligence and let Rachio set the watering times. We’ll see how it goes this week. Are there any tips to getting more out of my Rachio?
Thanks,

Blake

In your situation of two day a week watering, I would be doing the same thing as you. Sometimes the smart cycle will throw in a lot of cycle soaks. I found I was watering well into late morning. I ended up turning off the smart cycle feature.

Gwinnett here, I don’t abide by the restrictions though, my turf runs every 6-9 days and all my pots add up to a shower so nothing stands out in my usage.

The only real tip for next year is trying to get a flex schedule going. That is where I saved the most…but requires homework.