I hear Rachio no longer makes a wireless flow meter and I’d like to add one to my irrigation system. Does anyone know why they don’t make them anymore? Were they not not good? Are they not dependable? Can I use another brand that works with Rachio? Would you advise against using a wireless flow meter?
3 Likes
I want to know the answer to this too.
Don’t know the answer to your question but I purchased one the same time I installed my Rachio 3 controller (two years ago) and I love both. WFM has detected leaks (high flow alert) in my poly tubing once and in my drip line a couple of other times when emitters have popped off, etc.
1 Like
Thanks for your feedback!
there was a discussion of this same question a while ago. Someone from the company said that basically they were spending too much money on customer support for installations. Not that it wasn’t a good product otherwise, but it’s not trivial for folks to install.
1 Like
Thanks for your response…now if I can just find out which one I can use with my Rachio.
Are you dead set on a wireless unit? Since Rachio discontinued, I do not believe there is any other product on the market like it that is wireless. There is a wired version from Everydrop Technologies that is, for all intents and purposes, the same as the wireless unit but it is connected using 2 wires instead.
I would much rather prefer wireless because I don’t want to deal with wires. However, depending on the work involved I’d be open to a wired solution if there is nothing else available. Do you use this with a Rachio controller? Thanks!
Yes, 100% compatible with the Rachio controller! It’s listed in the drop down menu within the app when setting up a wired flow meter.
I bought the flow meter so I could know how much water I was putting on our avocado grove. Unfortunately, the device wasn’t able to reliably calibrate most of my zones, so my main reason for purchasing it was lost. I was a bit disappointed that they gave up on improving it. However, for the few zones it does calibrate, it has alerted me leaks and that has been great. To get the data I wanted, I was able to get to my Rachio data through their API, (thank you for that Rachio), and then go a query our main water meter which has a Flume device on it. Mashing up the two sets of data, and adding data from our water district, I have a webpage that tells me how much money I spend on each zone every time I water. Both satisfying to know, and depressing to see the $$ flow out.
do you get the amount of water used during a zone run from Flume or from your water district?
I get the history of all watering events from Rachio, then I ask Flume for gallons used during those events. Both are at the 1 minute resolution. I’ve hardcoded the water rate and do the math. This works out very well, I get accurate data for gallons/GPM per zone. Cost is a little trickier as I have not added support for the tiered costs they have where I live. But it is good enough for now. The Flume is a fantastic device, is calibrated to the meter very accurately. And like Rachio they have great REST API support. Of course this doesn’t account for water running in the house at the same time as irrigation is going, but it’s just noise compared to the grove.
Oh, I didn’t realize Flume keeps log (i thought it was an instantaneous request/response reporting). I’ve read up on Flume and it’s too bad I can’t use it since my house is on a digital meter (iPerl). It’s ironic that these digital meters have built-in remote access capabilities, only we mere mortals aren’t allowed to use them.
Contact the manufacturer, maybe they are working on it. everyone seems to be on board. Our solar inverters provide the same kind of access too.
Everydrop is the one I use.
The Everydrop works fine with Rachio3. It is wired, and Rachio has it listed in the choices for flow meter. About $120 from Amazon.
There aren’t too many reviews but even those few raise some concerns: 1) that there is general long-term unreliability; 2) that it doesn’t fair well over winter; 3) that it’s not accurate measuring slow water flows (as in drip zones).
Hi everyone,
@beranes is correct, one of the key reasons we discontinued this version of the flow meter (an inline meter) was due to installation complexity and costs. Once installed, it’s a great product and I love mine as well. Everydrop is who manufactured the meter for us, so it’s the same meter, just wired.
@rm5565 Cool to hear you’re using Flume. Do you have the the gen 1 or 2?
@beranes the iPerl does emit its data, but it’s encrypted. Depending on your utility, they might give you access to the data.
2 Likes
Gen 2. I had a Gen 1 but the distance and obstacles between the meter and the Wi-Fi bridge were too much for it. They sent me a Gen 2 and it works great
Out of curiosity, was the Rachio flow meter proprietary? Or did it use a standard protocol / frequency?