Technical Report - SmartHomeFehler: Rachio

Rachio 3: Sprinkler Zones Not Triggering with SmartThings Weather Data

#Rachio #Rachio3 #NotTriggering

🔍 Full Report: https://www.digitalhomefaults.org/rachio/rachio-3/rachio-3-not-triggering-smartthings-weather

It’s so nice to be able to ask Alexa to top up the water on the pool.

#HomeAssistant #Alexa #Rachio #HomeAutomation #SmartHome

Last year I replaced the lawn and garden sprinkler controller on my mother's house. An expert in the field recommended #Rachio , and I chose the 16-channel version of the #Rachio3 .

When I mention to my 80-year-old mother that automatically adjusts watering schedules based on weather, she says "You're kidding!" (Being 80 years old, she seems to do this every time.)

Today she asked if it's some sort of #ArtificialIntelligence . I don't really think of it so, though it is a reasonably well designed internet-enabled control system. I guess technically there's some AI, and it does kinda look like a blue-eyed cousin of HAL 9000.

https://rachio.com/products/rachio-3/

Do you remember the early automatic lawn sprinkler controllers based on rotating wheels--one for each hour of the day and one for each day of the week--like this "Lawn Genie" model?

I recall my father installing one, then replacing it--I think in the 1980s--with a digital model with a hard-to-read LCD display.

The fancier ones could use an optional rain gauge to have automatic rain delays.

Last summer I replaced the controller with a #Rachio 3, which just gets the weather forecast for my neighborhood from the internet, plans ahead, and sends a note to my smartphone saying it took care of the rain delay.

On a rainy day like today, it's the best thing I've bought in a long while...

I'll admit to having become a jaded consumer, so I'd like to take a moment to rave about the K-Rain fully adjustable lawn sprinkler nozzles I recently installed at my mother's house, via a recommendation by the app for the new #Rachio 3 sprinkler controller.

(My order through Rachio for 2 each RN100-ADJ-3PACK and RN200-ADJ-3PACK was drop shipped from K-Rain. One part was DOA, and they replaced it super quick!)

I put them on some inexpensive new Rain Bird 1800 sprinkler bodies, using the long-distance nozzles to replace some big old "tap-tap" style pop-up sprinkler heads.

These things are just a joy to use and to watch them work. Also, they're super quiet and water efficient.

#KRain #K-Rain #LawnSprinklers #sprinklers

Had purchased Valve Monitoring for the #rachio but then had to return that unit. Installed the new one but that valve monitoring purchase is controller specific... their support people nicely moved it over today.

Great service!

#irrigation journey hopefully at an end... The issue turned out to be a broken ground wire between the different valve boxes. #rachio has been reinstalled too.

I should have been able to deduce that this contiguous failure was due to something connecting the boxes but it was hard to diagnose since it worked intermittently (maybe due to vibrations of the wire?)

Anyway, hope this is it and that our plants bounce back.

To be honest, I enjoyed Monty Python's joke about death by "bizarre gardening accident" much more before that was how my father was seriously injured and ultimately died nearly five years ago.

My parents' yards have seen a lot of neglect since then.

But recently I've picked up the baton and run with it (using appropriate tools and personal protective equipment).

Today's issue of John's World of Extreme Gardening includes removing two old tree stumps and reviving most of an old drip sprinkler line. (It was awesome being able to turn sprinkler valves on and off with my phone and the #Rachio controller I installed nine days ago.)

I can feel myself getting stronger, as if there's nothing I can't do... with enough ibuprofen.