Projected and Recorded Rainfall Data?

Hi, I got a new Rachio and I am pretty happy with it! :grinning:

I opted not to use any of the “Flex” features (and would prefer the discussion not deviate to convince me to switch :wink: )

Situation: I already measured each zone in calculating how much time is needed to run to reach the desire 1" of water for the lawns (ranges from 24-30 minutes). I also got moisture sensors in place. I always aim for deep soaking rather than watering it each day and so far it is working great.

I always adjust back with the weather forecast and delay things manually. So far I been relying on rain gauges but I was wondering if there is a way to get this info online.

Question: I’d like to get projected and recorded rainfall data directly from the Rachio app (or web) based off my location. Any recommendations? I been relying on weather.com (agricultural forecast section) but hoping there is a better service out there. From the app the only info I seem to get is just precipitation percentages as well as temperature min/max.

I know Rachio gets more comprehensive info, is there a way to get access to this data? I’d like to set my own conditions to trigger and delay my watering. The “flex” feature sounds compelling but I’d like to get more transparency on the logic before trusting it. I seen some disaster flood photos (Rachio flood review link on Amazon) that makes me wary of trusting “flex”. There is even a warning that when I switch on Flex to "expect heavy watering on the scheduled start date". I don’t want the Rachio to go through that trial and error process when my manual process is pretty simple: For example have it water each zone for 1" (each zone gets 24-30 minutes) unless there is forecasted rain in the next week. If it is forecasted for 6" then only water half the time.

Enable a zone (faux) with similar crop characteristics as one of your zones and put it in a flex daily schedule. You will then get soil moisture graphs!

http://support.rachio.com/article/395-understanding-moisture-level-for-your-zones

If you’d like to compare, just use the faux zone in the flex daily schedule and track it over a few weeks. Let us know the results :wink:

:cheers:

Thanks @franz! I was wary to try out flex scheduling, I didn’t stop to think about running a fake zone. I didn’t know there was a moisture level feature. I would love to get this info without having to commit to Flex “™” :slight_smile: Anyways now I can see in detail how it works. I happen to only use 6 zones so this works. Thanks for the tip :thumbsup:

Is there a way to set up a fake/test zone if all zones are already wired up?

Unfortunately not :frowning:

:cheers: