Sorry to hear about your poor experience. I would make sure the battery door is screwed down tightly, and the unit is oriented/installed vertically, you should be good.
If you do experience any issues just let us know and we can resolve them for you.
Thanks for the reply and understood. While it was disappointing to have happened, it certainly wasn’t a poor experience, it worked perfectly for me all growing season last year. Its why I didn’t hesitate to buy a replacement. This year I will be removing it from the hose bib when the growing season is over.
Same here. Just replaced my batteries for the first time and I have the same little pool in the battery compartment, corrosion, etc. Poor design for an outdoor product.
Mine has not leaked at all and I have changed the batteries at least a couple of times. I wonder if these leaks could be preventable. Because of other things I have learned and teach (SCUBA), whenever I see any kind of O-ring after opening something up (such as Rachio), I make sure it is clean (no sand, dirt, etc.), seated properly, not pinched or torn, still soft, and periodically use a type of grease on it.
I’m having this same issue. My battery compartment was secured but it is now corroded inside and not working.
@Xempt I am having our customer success team reach out to you.
Hi! I started this thread, and now I’m having the exact same problem with yet another of my smart hose timers. Note that this is the last remaining unit from the initial product release (all of the units I purchased later are problem free, which suggests to me that the problem has been solved). @Franz, would you be able to have someone from your team reach out to me about replacing this one? Thanks in advance!
@Fymaxwell Definitely, they should reach out to you tomorrow.
Hi - I’m having the same problem with leaks and batteries getting wet. Is there a solution?
Hi, i’m having the same problem as everyone else here. Second time this has happened, and i’ve made sure to screw in tightly
I will have our customer success team reach out to you. Thank you for your patience.
Hello - I purchased 3 of these and 2 of them are having this same issue - water coming through the chamber and the batteries corroding. I also made sure the screws were tight. I have additional videos of the timers on with the water pouring out.
I have (2) timers and both are having internal flooding and the batteries are completely eroded. What do I do?
Oh wow, I am not alone! My Rachio keeps internal flooding, I was able to clean up the rust to get it to work again but it has not only rusted again now corroding the battery contacts. will be reaching out to support on this based on this thread.
Well, I just had this happen on a hose timer I bought exactly 40 days ago new from Amazon. The app notified me that one of the timers was disconnected, opened it up and saw the same brown corrosion and dead batteries as everyone else. I cleaned the contacts with isopropyl alcohol and but new batteries in it, but it seems llikely that it will happen again based on the reports in this thread. Please advise, I have 4 total hose timers so hope it won’t affect all of them…
I’ve had the same problem, it almost killed a couple of my potted plants when it stopped working. Rachio sent me a new unit (kudos on that) but when I open it, it looks like the same design. There’s no way that little rubber foam pad can seal this battery compartment properly. The non-smart Orbit and other valves I’ve used have a much more robust battery sealing setup and I’ve used those for years with no leaking.
Has anyone managed to keep these from leaking? Like maybe some silicone grease or something?
If I keep having to check these units to make sure my lemon trees don’t dry out, I don’t know if there’s any incremental value over the non-smart versions I’ve always used. Occasionally skipping a cycle due to rain isn’t enough of a value if I end up losing my plants altogether due to random dying of batteries.
I was thinking about just duct taping over the battery door on my remaining valves, then just having to peel off/re-tape every time i change batteries…… obviously a kludge but i don’t see how else to ensure the compartment is dry…
