Rachel 3 sprinkler controller
 

Just bought Rachio 3 sprinkler controller, and wonder in the 'automatic' mode how great a job it does in reading the weather and sprinkling correctly?
Thanks in advance to all that reply.

For my B-Hyve, rain is too spotty here.

Maybe if you have a weather station in your yard.

I don't trust Rachio's Weather Intelligence, or any of the smart controllers, with respect to allowing them to determine when my lawn is watered. In theory, based on the weather stations they collect data from, your run times will be governed by this. I love Rachio controllers, but choose to do my own schedule.

And keep in mind if your rain gauge is a Hunter Solar Sync (which is what's installed here frequently) you'll need to replace it with one of the supported models in order to have the Rachio work with it.

Supported Rain Gauge models:
Basic Wired Rain Sensor
Hunter Rain-Clik Wireless Rain Sensor
RAIN BIRD WR2 Wireless Rain Sensor
Toro Wireless Rain Sensor
Irritrol Wireless Rain Sensor
Orbit Wireless Rain Sensor

I do my own schedule and keep an eye on things to be sure it is watering the right amount. Florida has the reputation of a downpour on one block and dry on the next. I do have parameters set up such that it won't water if prob of precip that day is >75% or if at has already rained a certain amount last 1 or 3 days. Of course, I also have the rain sensor on the house that suspends watering if it rains. And yes, if you keep things maintained it all does work well together. I say that because threads like this are always met with folks who say "it doesn't work"....

I use the weather station on my roof with my Rachio 3 and it works great for rain over xx" or winds over xx" to delay watering. That being said I use manual schedules for watering and allow my weather station to only determine if there was too much rain (or wind) to water. There are lots of local weather stations likely on homes very close to you you can use in your Rachio app to monitor rain and wind.