LOVE The Rachio Integration!

🛎️ Get Help
1

Installing the Rachio sprinkler controller was the BEST thing that I ever did for my irrigation system.

The Hubitat integration for the Rachio is fabulous...great job guys!

I added to my dashboards when the irrigation system is running and which zone is running. I also love having my Sonos speakers tell me when the irrigation system is running.

Great job!

1 Like
2

I recently bought a house with an ancient Rainbird non-smart timer ... have been considering what to replace it with.

Out of curiosity, does the Rachio integration allow you to manually run individual zones on-demand? (does Rachio have this ability natively?)

3

The Rachio controller is pretty cool:

  • You setup individual zones, and tell it what type of grass (or plant), how much sun, soil type, type of sprinkler (rotary or fixed)
  • If you don't know the answers, it suggests common answers for your area
  • It suggests a watering schedule for you...you can of course make it more or less
  • It computes a water table for each zone...based on this water table it recommends how much water you need
  • It then hooks into local weather reporting stations (through the internet) and "knows" what the weather forecast is and how much rain
  • If there was rain prior to your normal watering days, it will either reduce the watering time or just skip the watering all together
  • Rain skips work 100% (no more dorky cup with a sensor that has to fill with water and never works

It comes with an app that lets you control zones individually, or trigger any of your watering schedules. This avoids the old "sprinkler repair dance":

  • Do I have a bad sprinkler head?
  • Walk to the garage, turn on zone 1
  • Walk to zone 1
  • Yup, bad sprinkler head
  • Walk back to garage and turn off zone 1
  • Walk back to zone 1
  • Repair sprinkler head
  • Walk back to garage, turn on zone 1
  • Walk back to zone 1
  • Dang, I have another bad sprinkler head in zone 1
  • Walk back to garage and turn off zone 1
  • Walk back to zone 1
  • Repair sprinkler head
  • Repeat as necessary

Now, you just stand by a zone, pull up the app, activate the zone...yup, bad sprinkler head...turn off the zone...fix sprinkler head...turn on zone.

The LEDs on the unit look pretty cool when the unit it watering. The best part, no more dorky rotary knob that you have to rotate back and forth (whoever thought this was a good idea for modern sprinklers needs to rethink this.)

You should also check to see if your local water company will offer a rebate for using the Rachio sprinkler controller...many do.

Why do sprinkler heads break so easily? I would pay $50 for a sprinkler head that isn't so fragile...versus $10 for a sprinkler had that will break if the wind changes direction.

1 Like
4

Lol, sounds similar to my pool filter dance.

So turning zones on and off needs to happen through Rachio's app, rather than the integration with Hubitat? Was thinking it might be nice to have that on a dashboard, rather than have to bust out my phone and find the right app etc.

5

No - you can activate zones through Hubitat as well.

I just don’t have a use case for it.

1 Like
6

I have two 16 zones rachios for my property. I found that last time I tried the support for two rachios wasn't that great. Has that changed? it's probably a year since last I looked at rachio on hubitat.