Yeah, this is so strange. What is the point of making this an exclusive for buying the Tempest through Rachio? It’s not like people who already own one are going to buy another just to unlock it early. This isn’t really an incentive, just a punishment.
1 Like
I saw the integration on the app update, and instantly went to go figure out how to add it.
I’ve got mine going to weather underground and then I told Rachio to use my PWS. But having it all integrated without that step would be just as good.
2 Likes
Yeah looks like they want to try and get the previous users to pay for the integration work. I’m using my PWS but I’d love to just do it directly but I’m not interested in paying an additional cost for it.
Not exactly what this means, but here is my latest response from customer service:
"This is Ana G. from Rachio Customer Support. Thank you for reaching out!
This has been escalated to the engineering team in order to get the 6-digit code you might be missing to properly integrate the Tempest on the Rachio App.
Once I have an update for you, we will let you know but for now, since this will also require an app update release, I can’t provide a time frame on when will this be resolved.
Thank you for the time and patience, we really appreciate it!"
2 Likes
I do not have a Tempest at this time. Curious on your opinions on it before and after integration. How well does it integrate within the Google Assistant environment? How is their app, forecasting, etc.? Curious how it integrated within Rachio?
I heard the following from Rachio:
This has been escalated to the engineering team in order to get the 6-digit code you might be missing to properly integrate the Tempest on the Rachio App.
Once I have an update for you, we will let you know but for now, since this will also require an app update release, I can’t provide a time frame on when will this be resolved.
Thank you for the time and patience, we really appreciate it!
I read this as Rachio having to patch its app to permit integration for those who already owned the Tempest weather station. Hopefully, I am correct and will advise as soon as I learn more.
3 Likes
I’d like to know more about how this integrates with Rachio. Are we gonna pay $300 for the Tempest to tell Rachio water/don’t water? Or will Rachio make decisions to water more or less based on things like temperature, humidity, rainfall, and anticipated rainfall?
Too early to say, though my assumption is the Rachio will pull its weather (forecast) data from Tempest, rather than the service it defaults to (Weather.com or similar?) The best part, from my perspective, is the Rachio will know whether or not I received rain at my house without the need for a rain sensor (the
Tempest will serve as the rain sensor). If the algorithm is good enough, it may even be able to adjust the amount of watering based on the rainfall leve.
1 Like
Using it for a bit as a PWS, it has been a lot better for scheduling. Depending on where you live, you can have lots of rain at your house and a few miles to the nearest station it may not rain. So while the hyper local or whatever they call it is ok, it doesn’t do a great job at tracking the actual rain amounts. The Tempest has given accurate results for me and the forecasts have been spot on.
The one downside is it doesn’t seem to update the actual rain amounts in Rachio app until 12AM. Hopefully this integration will change that and make it real-time between the 2.
2 Likes
I live in Southern California where rain = 0. So water/no water based on precipitation doesn’t really help me much. BUT if Rachio made watering choices based on other weather factors then it would give me some additional benefit.
Ha! I missed the email but saw the release notes on Android app and purchased the Tempest weather station from WeatherFlow store. I guess I will have to return and buy it from Rachio? That’s kind of an odd requirement for Rachio.
That will surprise me a bit if it HAS to be purchased from Rachio. I guess we will see when those that have asked Rachio support about it.
1 Like
I would hope that purchasing through Rachio is not a requirement. I tried placing an order today from Rachio only to find that they do not currently have any shipping options to Canada.
I can place an order directly from WeatherFlow, but I will wait to hear how Rachio plans to support existing Tempest Weather System owners that do not purchase from their store.
Any chance Rachio gave you an update on this?
Nothing yet free m Rachio. I will advise as soon as I hear back from them.
Allen
1 Like
Another current-Tempest-owner here.
To me the email read as: Rachio will give folks who purchase a Tempest through them early access to this integration for free. When the integration ships, it might cost extra.
Been using my Tempest for over a year as my PWS. Have it set in Rachio too. What am I missing with this update ??? It already works fine
Seems like a nice feature for new personal weather station owners. This integration essentially bypasses WU’s weeklong QC process and steps required to first get your data to WU to begin with.
I still get many people reaching out, asking their data to be added to pwsweather, simply because their WU station was just created and not yet visible on Rachio / 3rd party map.
For those who already use tempest via WU, direct integration is unlikely to yield more than what you already have, at least at this time.
2 Likes
It’s always good to eliminate the extra cloud in the middle, and depending which API this integration uses, there might not be much of a cloud at all.
2 Likes