After we get 2.5” of rain, I see many homes running their sprinkler systems
 

What a waste of water. Every house should be using a smart sprinkler controller and not the dumb Hunter controllers they put in each house.
For $60, you can swap out the hunter controller in 5 mins, install the new smart controller, and then take 15-30 mins programming your new smart controller.
While you are programming your new smart controller, you can point it to the many homes that have personal weather stations near you to get the most reliable data for the controller to use when calculating when it should run the sprinklers and for how long.
Many other benefits too, like turning on a station from your phone from anywhere in the world or inside your house. No more running to the garage to start and stop a station.

Well sure BUT who got 2.5 inches of rain?

my Rainbird is Wi-fi , no mechanical Rain sensors.. all rain detected from local weather radar...I love the fact that I can operate my controller from anywhere in the world , that i have wifi... I was in Nuka Hiva and decided to try this feature..i paid just under 100.00 bucks for the controller.

It’s probably hard to except the concept, that TV is not just your village. We definitely didn’t get the 2.5” that rained on you. I have seen it rain across the prairie but not at our house.
Maybe you could stick with your small area, have a neighbor meeting, about helping your neighbors, instead of criticizing.

You could offer to switch their controller to a smart one. Which you posted is only 5 minutes to change. You could save the water usage for your neighbors. Then could educate on use, and do follow up monthly on how their system works. Because not everyone is going to understand the concept.

We have a smart irrigation system, that ran last week, my pool needs a top off, could you just send down the clouds, to take care of that? Oh and a rainbow would be a nice ending :a040:

I have a Rachio and I tried letting it use the weather to adjust my schedule. I’m part time so not there to see every drop of rain. Well my lawn almost died and luckily my lawn guy said it wasn’t getting enough water.

The problem with the weather reports seem to be that it adjusts on the forecast and not actual rain. In addition to that, we all know that a neighbor 2 houses away can be getting a downpour while your house has nothing.

I put mine on a schedule and if I know we got a bunch of rain I’ll adjust. But I don’t always remember.

Plus our irrigation is reclaimed water. It is basically going right back where it came from.

A easy fix When we were part time our exterior cameras, would go off in heavy rains. Even though we had smart irrigation, some weeks rain wasn’t enough. I could adjust because sometimes we only got 5 minutes of rain.

Not only could I see how many times it rained, I could see the lawn guy, and whoever walked the yard, including the occasional bear, bobcat, one gator and mama duck with all her babies coming up from the pond. Our home watch would wave as he walked in, and could talk to us if needed. Cameras are you unpaid guardian, of your home.

2.5"? Maybe somewhere, in some isolated spots. But this is Florida. There can be a torrential downpour in one spot while another spot maybe a mile away can be dry as a bone.

I have our system on manual, with my eyes supplying the "data". During the rainy season I'll water after two dry days after a good rain (not a sprinkle) and follow that cycle pretty regularly. Winter, twice a week: usually Thursday and Saturday mornings before dawn.

$84. not bad, but $168. for the wi-fi module besides? Too much $$$

I’ve got cameras but it’s hit or miss if I catch the rain. Busy life unfortunately because we are not yet retired. The cameras go off for all sorts of things.

The one that came with my house works just fine if you program it correctly. My neighbor on one side goes off daily. Clearly they have it set to that and to bypass the rain sensor. It’s the home owner, not the product.

A pipe busted on our system so we now use a hose sprinkler and the hose itself. All manual, nothing underground anymore.

The rain sensors with the leather pads inside are useless. I’ve had 2 homes with those and they never worked.

We’re just a wasteful society.

People don’t care that they are wasting natural resources. The OP has a point, if it’s raining at your house, turn off the irrigation system. If it didn’t rain, sorry. I understand the disappointment. But if it did, and you got 2”, please turn off your irrigation.

Become more involved in helping to save the planet for future generations. Being “Green” is not cheap, easy or convenient. There is technology readily available to prevent your lawn from being overwatered. No excuses.

Or here is an idea.....allow desert lawns.

Mine still work after 7 years.