Rachio Iro Smart Irrigation Controller Integration

maybe the fact that spruce I not avail. only preorder and the soil sensors are expensive at 60 bucks a pop. I have 11 zones… don’t tjhink I am spending that much

The soil sensors are optional. You don’t have to buy them. I do not have soil sensors in my home for example. Moreover you can use soil sensors only for a specific zone if you want. Ex: Zone that covers - Flower beds or Exotic plants. The soil sensors just serve as an additional tool to monitor certain zones more in detail, instead of just relying on weather station information, which applies for the entire zip code.

At least you have an additional option of adding that later if you choose to do some farming in your house :slight_smile: … Never know …Aliens may invade earth and destroy our farms…forcing us to do farming at home …LOL :smiley:

My system is running without soil sensors. It works great. Spruce Irrigation is working on updating their smart app and device type, to address some minor glitches and enhance the UX further.

Another Iro user here, and I too would love to see ST integration. I agree with the set it and forget it type of setup it has. I live in NorCal, so conservation was a key driver for me. I live in a new home, so I have no baseline analysis, but since installing it, I’ve been able to water less frequently than what the stock Rainbird controller was setup for. My subdivision was all pre landscaped. With that being said, I feel my plants look fuller and healthier than many of my neighbors.

I do have some complaints on it, but I think they’re really true for all products in this field. They deal with the zone size and flow rate calculations. Determining it seemed like a guess. My first watering was definitely way off due to the default zone size being much larger than my yard actually is. After some adjustment, I have bette looking results. I just wish it was easier to check accuracy.

Could you explain a little how you did this? (show status in ST; shut off some how via ST?) That would be exciting.

The quick:

  1. Create Virtual On/Off Switch in SmartThings IDE. Name it anything you want, mine is Rachio Status.
  2. Get IFTTT account
  3. Activate SmartThings and Rachio channels.
  4. When activating ST channel, make sure to check the Rachio Status switch.
  5. Create two recipes in IFTTT. One that turns switch on when watering starts, one that turns it off when it ends.

To do a SmartThings action, simply create a recipe that turns on/off something in ST based on watering starting or ending. I used to turn my bug zappers off during watering, but use your imagination for whatever you need.

Hope that helps and that I didn’t forget a step.

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The main integration I’ve been hoping to see was to pause for a set number of minutes when the door is open (so you don’t get wet if it is running and you are leaving). And to do the same thing when a person arrives so as they approach the door from the car they do not get wet. It would be a nice option. The Rachio has been great.

I do think it set the watering schedule way to long from me based on my Q&A at teach zone. But I just put in a modifier to lower it down X percent, and it’s worked great ever since. It adjusts for seasons based on the amount I modified, so it does a great job of keeping up.

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Do you have anything to share now?

Please let me know if you get the rachio integrated as i would love to see this as a reality

Nope it is not. IFTTT channel is available for both. So, give it a shot. I couldn’t fine any use case. But @bridaus has a party mode going in his lawn! :wink: I have a use case but it’s not office friendly. Things that happen mostly during spring breaks on the beach!

You can do this with IFTTT. Not that hard IMO.

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Franz,
The biggest things I’d like to see are just the basics…such as the ability to

  • turn on and off certain zones on demand and based on other SmartApps
    Such as if fire alarm goes off or if motion is detected
  • start a “cycle” for all zones
  • Account for water usage
  • get reporting/alerting when start/stop watering
  • see status of watering
    Some non-basic integration would be the ability to use readings from in house temp/humidity sensors and z-wave/zigbee soil moisture sensors to help create Smart Schedules.

I just purchased one of these on the Amazon sale yesterday. Great price, only $168! I was curious if they are clearing stock for a new version on the way. Anyone know if that’s the case? Can’t really think of what I would want a v2 to do that this one doesn’t though.

I noticed the Amazon page says it works with smartthings. I don’t really care that it doesn’t. The only thing I can think of doing is turning on a sprinkler zone when a window sensor triggers in away mode. I’d probably end up spraying my family more than any burglars!

I couldn’t think of any use case at all which adds any value with Rachio - ST integration. @bridaus has some. This is a device which you set up once and completely forget about it as it works without a glitch. It has IFTTT channel and well you can do some stuff with ST but I am not sure “WHAT”? My sprinklers run at 4:00 AM when it’s sprinkler season. May be I can scare off burgers that early in the morning.:slight_smile:

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Thanks @samsonusmc, we are still listening. We have some amazing integrations coming next year, hoping to have ST as one of them.

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There was a reason before Rachio took away the pause functionality :frowning:

Just purchased rachio also taking advantage of the sale.

Maybe the only thing i will like to include with ST is to launch sprinklers at frost/dew point to avoid damage to the grass, and stop schedule for some party modes.

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Seriously do I want to get up at 4:00 AM in the morning and pause the sprinklers? It works wonderfully of its own. Posted with full respect. I can pretty much do everything with the Rachio native app. I ran it the entire season with zero interruption from their side except once when my internet connection was dicey for a day. Although I would have loved to have a party mode when I was a little younger and the “famous” tee contest but probably could have done so using the Rachio App. It is already in HA Impersonified totally, so why mess with something which works?

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This past summer we were sleeping downstairs next to room with water valve that was noisy so running sprinklers in the middle of the night was not an option. Therefore, I had to run them during morning or early night and sometimes they would be running when we came home and I had to stop the sprinklers so my kids can get out of car without being soaking wet. Pause was a great feature for this reason. Not everyone’s situation is the same but I do agree, the native app is very good and it’s easily the best smart irrigation product on the market.

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Its not on sale now!!!

So integrate it already, or the comparison is meaningless.