Rachio sprinkler controller

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Rachio Gen2 Earlier this month while visiting my in-laws I helped my father-in-law connect his Rainbird ESP-Me sprinkler controller to his wireless network and then showed him how to use the mobile app on his Android phone.

After doing this I realized: I’m the techie/networking/home automation/IoT guy in the family … why haven’t I installed an internet-enabled sprinkler controller yet? After doing the requisite internet research and checking compatibility, I decided to try the Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller Generation 2.

My existing timer was a Rainbird ESP-4TM that was installed back in 2008 during a backyard remodeling and re-landscaping project. While not the most cool-looking or easy to program device (it used a strange dial interface to set the schedule, watering times, etc.) it got the job done for my modest 4-zone setup. But man, what an inconvenience to have to remember to go into the garage and manually turn the dial from Auto to Off (and back to Auto again) when I wanted to skip a watering day due to rain or other weather conditions! 😮 😉

Before physically installing the Rachio Gen2, I created my account on the web site, installed the iOS app on my iPhone 7 Plus, and then powered up the controller and connected it to my IoT wireless network. Once the networking part was done, I removed my old Rainbird timer in the garage and physically installed the Rachio. This involved 6 wires (4 sprinkler zones plus the common and master valve wires) plus the power connection … pretty straightforward. I then used the physical buttons on the controller to cycle through and test each of my four sprinkler zones (all of which worked on the first try) … success! Instead of throwing away (or selling?) your old timer, Rachio will recycle it for free. Now on to configuration: via the Rachio web site (or mobile app), you set up your individual zones and watering schedules.

The basics of zone setup include what’s growing in it, the soil type, slope of the land, sun/shade, and nozzle type. If you’re so inclined there are also some advanced settings like square footage, root depth, etc. (I left all of those at their default). Rachio uses all of this information to determine when to water and for how long (if you’re using the flex schedule, more on that later). My zones contain mixed nozzle types so I wasn’t really sure what to pick (apparently you shouldn’t mix nozzle types in a zone, but I didn’t design my system). I ended up choosing the most prevalent nozzle in the zone, but my guess is this impacts Rachio’s estimates on water usage.

You can get pretty complicated with your watering schedule as well. The flex schedules (Flexible Monthly and Flexible Daily) are where you basically let Rachio decide when to water and for how long based on weather, soil conditions, etc. etc. This is how you can achieve the maximum water savings. Unfortunately, in my area of Florida we always seem to be on a water restriction and can only water on specific days and times so I have to use the basic Fixed Days option (Fixed Interval is the final option). The basics of a schedule also include each zone to be watered and for how long. Additional settings include Smart Cycle (which breaks up watering times by zone), and Weather Intelligence (which lets you set up skip options based on climate, rain, freeze, and seasonal changes). For my basic water restriction schedule, I water each of my four zones twice a week (Thursdays and Sundays) for 30 minutes each (for now … that was the schedule I was using with my Rainbird). When my first watering day came, since I had Smart Cycle turned on, the Rachio watered zones one through four for 15 minutes each in sequence, and then went back and watered them again for an additional 15 minutes. When Sunday came, there was predicted rain in the forecast so Rachio decided to skip the watering schedule altogether. So right away it was already saving me from having to remember to turn off the old manual timer if it was going to rain. Pretty cool.

The Rachio obviously relies on a lot of internet-based services (like weather feeds) to do its magic for flexible schedules. So while this doesn’t affect me and my fixed schedule, I have read that if the controller loses access to the internet, it will continue to run the last scheduled it saved until it can reconnect (and this does affect the flex schedules). Just something to be aware of and I’ll keep an eye out for if this happens to me.

Finally, the Rachio also supports Alexa and Nest for additional “smart home” features. I haven’t tried these yet, but you can use Alexa’s voice commands to turn the sprinklers on and off, water a zone for a specific amount of time, set a rain delay, etc. (you can also do all of that in the mobile app). If your Nest Protect detects a fire, or if your Nest Cam detects motion (via an IFTTT trigger) it will turn on your sprinklers and can also include your water savings in your monthly Nest home report. There’s also a Home Asssistant component for the Rachio so you can add your zones to your dashboard for central control.

2 Comments

  1. Well that didn’t take long … this morning my cable was out so the Rachio was disconnected from the internet. It still ran my schedule, 30 minutes for each zone starting at 5:00am, but according to the watering logs it didn’t do the smart cycling (i.e., breaking up the 30 minutes into two separate 15 minute waterings) and the entries in the log make it look like everything happened at 7:06am (when internet connectivity was re-established).

  2. Figures. Rachio just announced a new version of the controller, the Rachio 3. The new controller adds 5GHz WiFi compatibility and support for a new wireless flow meter. It also looks like the manual zone controls are accessible without having to pop off the cover, which is a nice touch. Sp nothing major that I’m missing, but still good timing on my part. 😮

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