We are getting the first rains of the season starting tomorrow. I want to check to make sure the Rachio controller is set up to take the upcoming rain into account in how and when it will water…ie, if we get the rain that is forecast, I would expect the Rachio to skip a few days of watering…Other than seeing that the controller is getting weather info from a local station 6 miles away, is there a setting that needs to be verified or any other way of knowing that the Rachio will take rain info into account automatically?
I just had a chat session with a Rachio rep. We had heavy rain all day yesterday. It appears that the ground will be saturated for a few days yet my drip (fixed daily schedule) watered today. Climate skip and rain skip are ‘on’. One of the benefits of a Rachio is “You won’t water before, during or after it rains.” (taken from the Rachio how-it-works section). It seems that I must manually enter a rain delay so I don’t water after it rains. Our local water district prohibits watering during or within 48 hours of ‘measurable rain’. I’m sure this controller is smarter than the operator! Can anyone advise me if I am missing an important feature?
Thanks in advance…
This is a feature I too would like to see. Currently the Rachio Rain Delay is fixed at 24 hours. I live in Fresno, and our water utility prohibits any above ground irrigation for 48 hours after any measurable rainfall. I have overridden the built in delay with an IFTTT recipe that extends to 48 hours. I hope Rachio eventually allows customized delay settings.
I’d like more info on the algorithm Rachio uses to figure out when to start watering again. We received rain Friday, Saturday and Sunday, totalling about 2 inches. We don’t need watering again for a few days at least. I don’t know when the controller is going to go on again, but I’d like to.
The apps should show you when the Iro is next scheduled to water.
Also, if you’re using the Flexible Daily type of schedules, you can see the exact measurements being used to determine when the watering will happen. This type of schedule may water on a day that has rain in the forecast, if the moisture level of the lawn is super-low. Seems the thought behind that is that the forecast isn’t always right, so when the lawn moisture level is really low, it gets watered regardless. Not sure if other schedule types behave the same way.
I used the manual rain delay. Obviously, this takes care of unnecessary watering. This should be a great solution while we are home, and remember to set the rain delay as the weather changes. While traveling I suspect we would have to check the weather at home and adjust the rain delay remotely. These are all amazing features and the Rachio controller does more than I ever thought I needed. Now that I am so spoiled with the features, I guess I want more. After all, this is a smart controller! In the San Francisco bay area winters are a mix of sun and rain so I don’t want to turn the sprinklers off for the winter. This is especially true in a drought year. My lawns are on a flexible daily schedule and the drip system is on a fixed schedule (as advised by Rachio rep).
I am in the bay area as well, so have the same issue. No reason rachio can’t be smart enough to know that when we get two inches of rain in three days as this past weekend, that there is no need to water anything for several days…instead of having to manually go in and change the rain delay setting. But I guess this isn’t all that big a deal.
It seems like a simple task given how ‘smart’ they made this thing. I have a bit of trouble operating the finished product. I cant imagine how simple or difficult it is to make these changes. Way above my head…
@Stevo74 So as long as you have climate skip enabled, I think your controller is actually doing what you are wanting. When you have climate skip enabled, before your watering runs, your controller checks to the next scheduled watering day and if it is predicted to have enough moisture in the soil, it will skip that watering day. How often does that schedule water? If it is not many days a week, there is a chance that it didn’t think your drip zone would “last” until the next watering. Another idea is maybe your weather station data was inaccurate? I can look into your device logs and get a better idea of what exactly happened! I would also say that with your restrictions, you may be better off looking into a flex schedule. If that is something you would be interested in, let me know and I can give you more direction on how to set that up!
Update* Just checked out your weather station data and it looks like it didn’t report that precipitation so that’s why your system ended up running! I would probably look into switching weather stations, I am guessing the one you have selected may not report precipitation, as some do not.
It is a little tricky, I would say the best way is to click the link under the weather station and check out the data it has been reporting. If you think it matches up pretty well with the past couple of days, then you are good to go. I did notice the next closest station to you had reported rain so that may be a good option even though it is a little farther. Another idea is to check out some of the personal weather stations near you- just keep in mind their data is a little more unpredictable so make sure to check them first!
