When will Rachio support Wireless Soil Sensors?

An old topic - but no satisfactory answer. Over a hear ago Rachio suggested this would be supported.

Maybe I’m missing something - but if you have enough soil sensors spread across zones, do we still need complicated soil moisture algorithms??

@Jammit, which sensor are you interested in installing?

In theory, yes – however there are few soil moisture sensors on the market that are affordable and send actual soil moisture data back to the controller. Most work similar to a rain sensor and simply interrupt the common wire, which disables the controller. For more information, please refer to this support article.

There are a few other controller’s available in the US market that have proprietary soil sensors available. I do not know the cost off hand, but I believe the sensor itself is more than our controller. Let me know if you’d like more information on these systems.

2 Likes

Thanks emil.
edyn.com was one option I was looking at. Seems these suppliers tend to come and go and are still waiting for one to gain critical mass in the market?

1 Like

@Jammit, sensors are hard due to the cost and environmental elements they must withstand. I think the age of sensors in the lawn is coming. We can integrate with any of them if they have a public API.

4 Likes

That’s a helpful perspective Emil. I’ve seen several threads about this on the rachio forums but your comments help explain why the wireless soil sensor market is yet to take off.

1 Like

I too have been interested in utilizing the Edyn moisture sensors for the garden, lawn, and potted plants. Last I checked Edyn didn’t offer an API.