I am using flex daily for my 6 zones, of which 2 are grass. The grass zones run for 55 minutes each, and are automatically split into 2 sometimes 3 watering cycles with a soak cycle in between. But my flower beds, which run for 20 minutes each, do not get split up. But I would like to have them split with a soak in between as the water runs off (soil type is clay). Do I have to enable soak for each zone ? I thought I enabled it when I set up my Rachio 3, but maybe I have to enable that somewhere else too ?
@Mikee123 - what type of nozzles are set for the flower beds? Soak and cycle is not available for drip or misters. If the flower bed is set up for drip or misters, change the nozzle type to a spray head and then change the precipitation rate back to what was originally set for the drip or mister nozzle type.
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Two were was set as a bubblers, another as a rotary nozzle. I’ll change it and see if that makes a difference
It does not seem to make a difference.
Back left is set to fixed spray head, Back fence is rotor head, flowers front fixed spray head and planter right I left as bubbler. As you can see from the screen shot, still no soak
@Mikee123 - the “How long” FAQ in this article ->
Explains how long a section will water based on soil type, precipitation rate and slope. Bubblers aren’t included just like misters and drip. If the precipitation rate is correct (e.g. known heads or a catch cup test), and the soil type is correct (e.g. mason jar test or USDA web site or known material) then I’d consider upping the slope to break up the run. Change the slope to a higher slope will only impact cycle and soak, where as the other parameters will impact run times and frequencies.
Just to test, I increased the slope from flat in steps all the way up to steep on my back left zone. Still no soak…
OK going into the schedule, and confirming smart cycle changed the watering it does 6 mins per zone now then goes back to the first zone. Thats better.
It doesnt show a cycle soak but it does it by doing the zones twice. Strange that with the grass it puts a cycle soak in where its not watering. On the flowers it uses that time to water another zone
@Mikee123 - that’s the way cycle and soak works. It allows a zone to soak for 30 minutes before watering that zone again. If Rachio can fill up the 30 minutes watering other zones it does that. When it runs out of zones to water before the 30 minutes is up is when the soaking entry is created.
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Ok that makes sense. I do have a soak cycle now, it probably just took time to compute and change.
Sounds like it would better for the app to decide to use smart cycle based on the inch per hour emitted instead of the spray head type used. Based on DLane’s information, I have changed all my bubbler zones to fixed spray nozzle zones in the app and all those zones now cycle and soak where before they didn’t and the water ran off.