Viperman Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 At one time I was looking at some Raspberry Pis that could be linked together and then use opensprinkler to control it. Anybody tried that or is it dumb? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted April 28, 2020 Author Share Posted April 28, 2020 I like the idea of this as well. I will have to look into this as well as this seems like more fun to a DIY sort of person (like me) than a Rachio. Most of the stuff on the web site is older but there are more recent reviews. The cost is about $75 plus a Pi so it isn't a ton cheaper when you add in the peripherals for the Pi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 9 minutes ago, zaphod said: I like the idea of this as well. I will have to look into this as well as this seems like more fun to a DIY sort of person (like me) than a Rachio. Most of the stuff on the web site is older but there are more recent reviews. The cost is about $75 plus a Pi so it isn't a ton cheaper when you add in the peripherals for the Pi. a DIY RPI will never be as smart as a Rachio... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viperman Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 1 minute ago, msgreenf said: a DIY RPI will never be as smart as a Rachio... How much "smartness" do you really need. 1. Its raining - don't water any more. 2. Set up zones and how and when to water. 3. I have been using my manual controller for 10 years, and I still wonder why I need/want anything different. The ONLY reason is when I am troubleshooting zones it is a pain in the butt to run back over to the controller for the next zone. Otherwise set it and forget it. Is there really anything else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 there is a ton more - wind factors in, upcoming weather, heat, saturation rates, soil.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 since moving to Rachio my water usage is 1/2 as much and my lawn is greener... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viperman Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 1 minute ago, msgreenf said: there is a ton more - wind factors in, upcoming weather, heat, saturation rates, soil.... Do you seriously get into all of that. Mine is watering twice a day. honestly I turned off the rain sensor and don't care, I water in the middle of while it is raining. On a well so it is free. Who cares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted April 28, 2020 Author Share Posted April 28, 2020 Some of us do pay for the water that we use... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 my water bill dropped from over 600 to 300 - so yeah, i like saving $$. Any also it makes your lawn healthier. Pouring more water on an already saturated lawn doesn't help. Further, less watering encourages deep roots which yield healthier turf... koxkp, South Africa C4 user and eggzlot 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viperman Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 7 minutes ago, msgreenf said: my water bill dropped from over 600 to 300 - so yeah, i like saving $$. Any also it makes your lawn healthier. Pouring more water on an already saturated lawn doesn't help. Further, less watering encourages deep roots which yield healthier turf... I just reseeded/overseeded my lawn recently so I am drenching it. Holy crap $600 for water. I don't miss that bill. you could justify paying $300+ for a controller pretty easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 13 minutes ago, Viperman said: I just reseeded/overseeded my lawn recently so I am drenching it. Holy crap $600 for water. I don't miss that bill. you could justify paying $300+ for a controller pretty easily. Exactly! 1 year pay back - it was a no brainer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvis Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 2 hours ago, msgreenf said: my water bill dropped from over 600 to 300 - so yeah, i like saving $$. Any also it makes your lawn healthier. Pouring more water on an already saturated lawn doesn't help. Further, less watering encourages deep roots which yield healthier turf... And I was whining about having to pay $150 a year for lake water. Dang. msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 Just now, Elvis said: And I was whining about having to pay $150 a year for lake water. Dang. and this is with a dedicated water meter for my irrigation controller Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koxkp Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 and this is with a dedicated water meter for my irrigation controllerYou have me interested in moving over to Rachio with all your water savings. Are there a lot of accessories you use to help save water? Will I see savings with smart watering out of the box just swapping the controller? My rainbird has a seasonal adjust on the schedule but I don’t feel like it does too much and the rain sensor takes a lot for it to really turn off the scheduled wateringSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 13 minutes ago, koxkp said: You have me interested in moving over to Rachio with all your water savings. Are there a lot of accessories you use to help save water? no - just the rachio. I do have a rain sensor hooked up but honestly the rachio data feed connected to my PWS is more powerful then the sensor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amr Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 I also dropped my water spending by more than half since day 1 on Rachio compared with family and friends who uses regular irrigation systems with similar house size. Its no brainer really, I tied my Ratio to the closest WS and it’s automatically skips watering if it rains or it senses any change in temperature, I didn’t touch it in 3 years. It’s set it and forget kind of hardware. It works outside US and pretty powerful honestly and their support was great when I started setting it up, super really. msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnGordon Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 Same here. Rachio is fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 I've been thinking of making a simple Raspberry Pi-based controller for my flowerbed watering, since it's a short, daily schedule. I'm out of zones on the Rachio, and need a couple more, so a Pi-based 4-relay controller would free up 3 additional zones for my sprinklers. That said, it won't need a lot of features, other than scheduling (which I can do with command-line cron, for that matter). RyanE msgreenf and dcovach 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo1738 Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 Well my builder included a RainBird as "stock" but you have all convinced me to get the Rachio mostly bc it seems I'll save more $ by not watering. We are on city water neighbor took over 500ft to hit a well so we held on well plans for now. Water isn't cheap and we have 1 acre of just front lawn..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted April 30, 2020 Author Share Posted April 30, 2020 11 hours ago, RyanE said: I've been thinking of making a simple Raspberry Pi-based controller for my flowerbed watering, since it's a short, daily schedule. I'm out of zones on the Rachio, and need a couple more, so a Pi-based 4-relay controller would free up 3 additional zones for my sprinklers. That said, it won't need a lot of features, other than scheduling (which I can do with command-line cron, for that matter). Did you look into OpenSprinkler Pi? Isn't it pretty much what you are looking for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 On 4/29/2020 at 8:25 PM, zaphod said: Did you look into OpenSprinkler Pi? Isn't it pretty much what you are looking for? I haven't gotten to the software yet, but yeah, I'm sure either OpenSprinkler or something like it will be more than plenty for my simple flowerbed scheduling needs. Parts are on order, and should arrive this week. RyanE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viperman Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 7 minutes ago, RyanE said: I haven't gotten to the software yet, but yeah, I'm sure either OpenSprinkler or something like it will be more than plenty for my simple flowerbed scheduling needs. Parts are on order, and should arrive this week. RyanE You should write up a good post of your install and process. It would be good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob21 Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 Im defining interested getting a rachio. Is it better than Hunter's Hydrawise? How well does it integrate with Control4? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorterTX Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 I was just researching this comparison as well. It looks like you get access to Rachio's weather station list (which is pretty large) free of charge vs. with Hunter's Hydrawise you would need to subscribe to their paid app to get a comparable list. I think it was like $63 a year for Hydrawise using their top tier plan. This article was also pretty helpful in my opinion as I have a Hunter Pro-C today but am looking to potentially change. https://beonhome.com/rachio-vs-hydrawise-hc/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob21 Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 46 minutes ago, PorterTX said: I was just researching this comparison as well. It looks like you get access to Rachio's weather station list (which is pretty large) free of charge vs. with Hunter's Hydrawise you would need to subscribe to their paid app to get a comparable list. I think it was like $63 a year for Hydrawise using their top tier plan. This article was also pretty helpful in my opinion as I have a Hunter Pro-C today but am looking to potentially change. https://beonhome.com/rachio-vs-hydrawise-hc/ This is good to know. I just chose to go with Rachio over Hunter's Hydrawise. @msgreenf was a great help as usual and I highly recommend going to him if you're interested in going with Rachio. msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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