Thank you for those resources … working calculations now…
What do you suggest for “Crop Coefficients” for winter grass? Summer grass?
For shrubs/trees, one challenge i face is having a near-acre of drip line and a fairly wide mix of plants/trees/ground cover. Emitter sizes/qty controls this, but having it on a single zone is not ideal especially when trying to do the math for flex schedules.
my yard is basically 3 main areas: grass (5 zones) dripline(1 zone) and citrus tree bubblers (1 zone)
I’d love to dial all that into flex schedules, but it is scary to see water times of nearly 5 hours for drip and 2 hours for citrus (“how is that SAVING water?” lol) its hard to wrap your head around, but think i am close.
Crop coefficiency is the hard thing right now - that and estimated root depth.
CC for winter grass is currently set to .8 on my system; drip lines are at .55; citrus at .6
Root depth is 30 inch for citrus and 18 inch for drip lines
I asked the same thing and was basically told to use the provided formula like a good little boy. I have a rose garden with a 1-gallon / hr emitter on each bush. Since I know that I’d like to give them a gallon of water I just set the system for an hour. Still, my gallons used estimate is all messed up since I know that the system only used 20 gallons.
I don’t see how hard this can be to program. For crying out loud, I’m walking around with a computer in my pocket that’s more powerful that the first desktop I ever owned. So again, I agree with Boris, give me the option to put in the number of emitters and their flow rate in gallons per hour.
@mattebury Check the calculator at the link below. It shows how you can use the existing software to get the right watering time AND water usage estimate, given that you know how many gallons that you want to deliver per cycle.
OMG, you just don’t get it. I shouldn’t have to do ANYTHING other than select the necessary items in the app. Telling your users to go use this external tool (external to the app) and then come back and type in the results is just ludicrous.
Why the resistance to putting this functionality in the app?
That was my point exactly: Rachio is not interested in supporting it’s users. It would be incredibly simple for them to add the functionality but they refuse to. After all, computers are really good at math so why can’t they add this simple function to their software? Why do they absolutely refuse to support anyone other than those with lawns (inch/hour is designed for sprinkler systems, not drip irrigation). The reason is that they are simply not interested.
I had a conversation with their rep and he reiterated to me that 1) they had no interest in supporting my request to add GpM or support drip systems and 2) that they had no interest in allowing user local control over their system.
With Rachio, if the net goes down, your hosed (if you pardon the pun). All commands are stored and issued from their systems, not locally. And there is nothing you can do about it.
My ultimate solution was to dump Rachio altogether. I ended up trying a very good competitor’s controller (not going to give the name but it comes with 8, 12 and 16 zones, and has touch panel control as well as phone app and web control and stores everything locally so if you disconnect from the net it’s still there. I liked it but then my brother showed me his system controlled by a Raspberry Pi which had a lot more features and allowed infinite zones and cost less than any of the other systems (admittedly I had to program it myself).
So now I am Rachio free and my yard is loving it and I have a lot fewer headaches and don’t have to worry about Rachio watching everything I do and changing things without my knowledge or permission.
While I understand everyone’s frustration, I do want everyone to know we are listening to our users, and consider all feedback useful. Something to keep in mind is that while the calculations seem simple, this is something that has to be implemented on three different platforms and be compatible for two different controllers. It also involves a completely different logic in how watering times are evaluated and usage is measured. With all that being said, this is absolutely a request we have heard and the product team has been discussing. Look forward to some big changes coming for next season!
What system did you get. I have Rachio for 1.5 years and still no actual gallons per hour per zone. Their total lack of attention to the end user should be punished economically. They don’t want to stay in business.
Buy a flow meter and you can just read the flow, as a simple solution. Rachio is a great product, but at its price point we cannot expect it to have all the features of a $3,000 central control system. Those of us on this community site are a rarity. We care and have a generally higher education level. This does not make us superior. We are thinkers, dreamers and problem solvers! I deal with homeowners and contractors a lot. Most are clueless when it comes to efficient irrigation.
I’m guessing that GPH/Zone would be of no interest to most of Rachio’s targeted base. As a nerd, I’d find it slightly interesting but not of any real importance. I’d much rather have them concentrating on other things such as all apps working the same, etc.
As to customer service, I have a hard time thinking of a company that provides more or better. Most don’t even participate in their “community” area. Most companies see it as a place for customers to vent and they can ignore it. Rachio, however, has lots of company participation which even includes founders (almost unheard of).
