Rachio 3 Australia

We currently use the Rachio 2 with Savant, Rti, Vera Etc. control systems in Aus. Love them. About to order the Rachio 3 for some upcoming projects Does the Rachio 3 work in Australia?

@Dvine - I think there are some radio frequency issues with the Rachio Gen 3 and use outside of Canada and the USA. International Rachio sales is limited to Gen 2 devices, I believe.

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Ok. I am happy to stick with the Gen2’s if they are going to be readily available? Will the Gen3’s eventually make it out here or will we be left with an unreplaceable product and have to switch manufacturers? We put a lot of work into intergeating these seamlessly into our projects and don’t want to invest time into a superseded product

@Dvine - Rachio is still manufacturing Gen 2 devices. As to the second question, that would be a @Franz question.

Gen2 will be available next year.

We are looking into solutions for selling the Gen 3 in Australia.

:cheers:

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is adjusting (not replacing hardware, just tune it to other frequency) the frequency for gen3 not an option? would solve most i assume…

@sbarnhard - from watching another product deal with international wireless communication - in addition to changing the frequency there is a certification process, similar to FCC, that it will have to go through. So there will be 2x the SKUs (one US and one international) which adds to the production and logistical fun. I think the frequency will need to be fixed and not user adjustable, so it will involve a change to the board. I haven’t taken apart a Gen 3 device or checked any of the FCC documentation, but I’m thinking it is a monolithic circuit board that currently doesn’t have a daughter board that could be changed out for the other frequency. Not sure which is more challenging manufacturing wise and logistical wise - two different monolithic motherboards or one motherboard with two daughter boards options to deal with the different frequencies. It all comes down to $ spent versus $ gained.

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I’d love any news available on this for Gen 3 in Australia. I’d buy one tomorrow! Weather is heating up and my old watering system is in dire need of an upgrade!

Any news on when we could have the Rachio 3 ready for Australia?

Would be great if we could get the Rachio 3 out here in time to go into my new house !!!

Hey @kingy444!

Unfortunately no updates at this time :disappointed: We’ll update the community first if and when anything changes!

:cheers:

Would be great if we could have a helpful response ‘if and when’ just leaves us in limbo.

If its a when i may wait

If its an if then i (along with many others) will look elsewhere.

The least we deserve after this long is some confidence in the direction

Hey @kingy444!

I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful. Unfortunately, getting the Rachio 3 into Australia (and other countries) takes a lot of fairly time-consuming steps - licenses to sell in those countries, shipping logistics, and waiting until the radio is legalized there.

We absolutely hear you. We want to share our product with Australia, (and the world :earth_americas:) . But with some large-scale items to accomplish first, we can’t guarantee any timeline quite yet.

:cheers:

If you want to sell to Australia, disable the flow meter rf freq since this freq is near Australian lte band. Other option is to change the freq to mid 400 Mhz band and best option is to give both 900 and 400 MHz band option with dip switches.

I know it’s only been a month since the last official reply but I’m just curious to see if there’s anything on the horizon regarding this (ideally just a firmware release)?

I’ll be in the US shortly and want to pickup up a Rachio 3 to use back home.

Unfortunately, no updates at this time @danethomas :frowning: Sorry I couldn’t share better news!

Just checking if there is any updates on the Rachio 3 in Australia or even a release for a Rachio 4, provided the gen 4 will overcome this frequency challenge for Aussie customers. I’m a skydrop user and have been for about 1.5 years but Skydrop is now charging customers to upgrade to be able to use the tech in a last ditch effort to keep financially afloat. In my opinion the Rachio seems to be a better product than the skydrop with lout the bullshit that is currently surrounding skydrop.

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@Stu_rob - I’m in exactly the same situation. A Skydrop, which has been OK, but it appears they are on their last legs.

I’ll either buy a Rachio (I’d prefer Gen 3) or something else - if I can find something that works in Aus (power plugs, transformers I can work out - clashes with local LTE etc I cannot).

Hope there is a solution!

There are solutions if you’re willing to open the device up. You can tape over the antenna using shield tape, use a soldering iron and bypass the transmitter, or just cut the transmitter off using a knife. How to do that is documented elsewhere on this forum… you’ll void your warranty doing that though.

I cut the transmitter off mine. Im not using the wireless flow device so it has no negative impact on it for me.

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Hi,

I’m looking to buy a new Smart Irrigation Controller, and it looks like the Rachio 3 will suit my needs nicely.

Being based in Australia, and being very handy with anything electrical and regarding electronics (eg. I have and can use a temperature controlled soldering iron on electronic components), I’m happy to convert the unit to a 240V by installing a powerpack or transformer to drop down to the correct input voltage required, but I note the discussions on the receiver / transmitter frequencies on the unit to read the flow meter is illegal in Australia.

Has Rachio updated / upgraded the Rachio#3 model for Australia?

If not, then I could live without the flow meter feature (would be a nice feature to detect leaks), but I have the following questions:

Could I follow the instructions on the community forums to ground out the transmitter on the Rachio 3 unit (or does Rachio have its own instructions on how to do this?

Using the relevant Arduino transmitter / receiver modules, could I alter the frequencies of the main unit and flow meter to 433MHz?

Looking forward to hearing an updated reply in October 2019.

Kind regards,

Dino