Hi there. I assume the new Rachio 3e which does not have the Lora radio would now be legal to use in Australia. Could anyone confirm that for me?
Cheers
Any views on this last question?
Yes 3e does not have a Lora radio, but that may be hard to prove during customs. Also 3e is missing features (flex daily & per zone moisture keeping) which provide the highest water savings. IMHO Gen 2 is a better fit when Lora is not needed. Keep in mind that 3e still have 5 Ghz radio & WU network support which Gen 2 does not, but besdies the better wifi, weather network is not an issue (you can always make your data avaialble on pwsweather).
Waiting to receive my Rachio 3 in Melbourne (ordered from a US seller via eBay), will apply the solder workaround to disabling the 900 MHz radio
What are some solenoids available in Australia that work well? Need 4 to control a small backyard irrigation system (dripper & soaker hoses, 1 set of sprinklers and a mister)
Hi All,
I am in Sydney and I am an Electrical Engineer who works in cellular devices, so I should be OK to do anything required to disable the Flow meter RF. I did a bit of searching around for a controller to upgrade my home Richdel 6 zone controller which has started to play up. It looks like Rachio may be a good option for me. I just want to check I am understanding this right:
- My existing system seems to be powered by 6 24V AC zone solenoids which should be compatible with the Rachio system?
- I need to source a local power supply and the Rachio should be able to work with a 24VAC/1A supply?
- I need to perform a mod to disable the wireless flow meter?
Is that all I need to know specific to Australian use of a Rachio… everything else should be covered by normal user documentation?
I’ve previously recommended, what in my opinion is, minimally invasive way to disable the 900 Mhz radio, a blob of solder is all you need:
As far as power, if you have ~24Vac ~1A supply from your old controller, feel free to use that, just be sure not to use 24V + and - terminals on your controller as power input, you’ll blow out the filter inductor if you do, as these terminals are designed for low power output only.
You’d need to cut and spice the terminal from the Rachio power brick with the old supply.
Rachio is driver limited to channels 1 through 11 for 2.4 Ghz Wifi, if you are running into major issues during setup, check to make sure you are not using 12+ on your access point.
Thanks Gene… much appreciated.
My network is a unifi setup and I am using several 2.4GHz channels with 3 APs… 1,6 and 11. All with same credentials. Hopefully it can work out which AP is best for signal.
I have not yet had a look at the Rachio manual, but I am not quite getting the not using 24V supply terminals for + and - as controller input. It should make sense when I look at a manual… but are you suggesting I need to run the rachio off a different supply other than 24VAC?
Thanks again!
Besides the power input plug (which is not a terminal by itself), Rahio features two terminals labeled 24VAC + and -.
These are designed to power sensors, such as wireless rain sensor or flow sensor and are not designed to be used for power input to run the controller itself & a number of valves.
If you want to see what happens if you use the termianals to connect the 24VAC supply instead of the power input plug, here (link) is an example.
Thanks… I get it… Only use the connector for power… not the terminals.
I am about to pyll the pin on an order for one off ebay. Looks like I can probably use the power supply from the richdel and disabled the antenna and should eb good to go. Is there any benefit in the oudoor box from Rachio over the food container solution pictured above? Mine would be on an outdoor wall, but under the the roof eaves, so should only get rain in high wind. Already power there. Should be only about 10m from an AP for wifi, but on the other side of brick wall, so will see if that works.
Food container is good if you have sun protection & a good place to secure your power brick (since there doesn’t seem to be enough space for it inside the container). Rachio’s outdoor enclosure is designed to protect the controller and the power brick at the same time while providing a better protection from the Sun’s UV light.
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Thanks Gene,
I have ordered a Rachio 3 off ebay. It may take a month or so to get to me in Sydney. I have not been able to work out anywhere I can buy a Rachio enclosure from as there are none on ebay and Amazon/Rachio do not deliver to Australia from what I can see. So I may be stuck going with either a food container or an electrical box of some description.
How good is the wifi in Rachio 3? My phone gets patchy wifi at the location I plan to mount the Rachio. My phone loses Wifi when close to the brick wall I plan to mount to. It is OK a foot or so off it. I may need to put some space between the Rachio and the wall to get better wifi.
Here is one that is flagged as shipping internationally. I saw another listing that says US only.
That one on ebay was gone before I read you response!!
I might have to settle for a different enclosure arrangment.
Here is the other one that doesn’t say INTL shipping but might be worth contacting seller:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rachio-Outdoor-Enclosure-For-Generation-2-Smart-Sprinkler-Open-Box/324465200507
How the heck did Employee monitoring software link got inserted in the quote of my post?
deleted!Yes, it was sly of them. I guess they found a way to fake the system quote with a custom one containing extra links. I guess it works more often than we would like.
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No worries, I didn’t mean this forum in specific, rather spam in general.
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Hi Gene, I’m about to solder the original right angle power plug onto the 24VAC power supply, does it matter about wire polarity? Thanks