No. If the forecast calls for rain after you water, your sensor will still water (waters at 3am, and rains at 6am, while Rachio won't water, and send you a notification. If the forecast is wrong, you can still water manually. It's capable of setting multiple schedules, with or without weather intelligence or other features, and you can use compatible rain sensors. A couple of nights ago, it notified me that it skipped a scheduled watering because of soil conditions, but I wanted to water anyway, so I just added a watering the next night. You can download a demo app for your smartphone and see how the app works.

I have zoysa grass and I want to lay down 1 1/2" and I do this only once a week. To determine how long to run the system to put down 1 1/2 inches, I placed several glass jars around the area and determined how many minutes are needed to give the lawn 1 1/2 inches. Mine came to 90 minutes. It's important that the water gets down to the roots of the grass, so I run my system in 2 passes. I allow the first pass to soak down to the roots rather than have run-off.

On channel A is run the timer for 45 minutes....I have several zones of grass so each zone will get the 45 minutes. Then I repeat the same amount of time on channel B.

For my landscaping and flower beds, I will run those zones a total of 30 minutes......15 minutes on channel A and 15 minutes on channel B.

And the cost?

return on that investment?

$199 on Amazon for the 8 zones, 16 zones will be higher. As far as return on investment goes, won't know until I get my next water bill, but at $199, I wasn't worrying about return on investment, it was purely a matter of convenience (or laziness, you choose), but I think I'm going to see less usage. I also like the remote feature so I can adjust the heads without running back and forth to the garage, and when I had a new sensor installed a few months ago, it was going to be around $130 to install a remote, so for an extra $70, I got the remote that not only works by smart phone, I can actuate it by voice with Amazon Echo. So, I when I think about it, I guess I'm happy with my return on investment, but I'm not saying it's for everyone. You probably have to be some what computer literate to use it. By the way, I bought your filter and love it, but I bought it 'cause I wanted it, and thought it would work, but never considered the investment factor.

Can you turn on a zone remotely to get someone out of your yard???

:loco:

Yup....Did it to my friend

that' funny:wave:

irrigation system settings
 

I had the same issue. my water bill increased $75 and I have a small lot

I am now setting 2 x a week for 20 min in the front where I have a large shade tree. ( I keep an eye on it and so far so good)
my back is west sun and no trees. I do 40 min there 2 x a week
my sides i do 15 min 2 x a week. i turn it off if we have lots of rain. but water if only sprinkles between waterings. I agree better to use the water than resod the lawn

The general rule of thumb is 1 inch of water on each zone 2 times a week. The easiest way to check for 1 inch of water is to take a tuna fish can (opened and empty) and place in each zone. The can is 1 inch high.

Love your tuna can concept. Just in case..........."Open side up."


:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

What you are doing will work, but you can accomplish the same thing by just setting a second start time on the same program (or "channel" as you call them). As long as you are running the same stations the same amount of time, using a second program is not necessary. Additional programs are only needed if you want to water some stations more often than others (e.g. shrubs twice a week and lawn 3 times a week), or if you want to deep water twice a week and syringe (running a station just a couple of minutes to cool the plant material down - not water it) twice a week on different days.

This whole issue of how much to water in Central Florida can be a bit confusing. I saw one watering regiment from the University of Florida (Lawn Care and Irrigation- Living Green - Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences - Extension- University of Florida) that recommended a different watering time for each month of the year. Another University of Florida publication (ENH9/LH025: Watering Your Florida Lawn) recommends watering to a depth of 8" and watering less often as the temperatures moderate (I like this suggestion). It is very important that both St Augustine and Zoysia grasses get watered less often in the fall to prevent fungal disease problems.

Lot location is also important. Corner lots require more, ifyou are along a major road, even more since moving traffic causes wind which dries out the grass. I used to water based on cost, now I water based on how I want the yard to look (it took almost a year of different ladscapers and irrigation guys telling me I wasn't watering enough....can you say stubborn?). The plants and palm trees have been in over a year and we water them for 10 minutes in the cycle. You need to know how the plants you have handle water....you can over water plants. June, July, August and September get watered 3 times a week. Net 45 minutes for the grass, net 10 minutes for the plants.

I have 8 tuna cans in the garage that I use to test if I have any areas that do not get coverage :thumbup:

FL is different than places I have lived before. The sun is so hot that the plant dries in a matter of days. I think this is why BoSoxFan see better results.

I am not even close to an expert. My main goal is to balance the color of the grass and how much I have to pay 'the man' for the stinky water (south of 466). Last summer I barely had to water with the summer rains

Which terminal is the "blue" wire ? Not every tech follows a local color code.

I think it said "REM" on mine. Once I disconnected that, the seasonal percentage stopped being adjusted, but the sensor would still keep the system from running in the event of rain.

Yep, blue on REM. Thanks !

Sprinkler Settings
 

Found this...note "green" button controllers


PRO-C - UNINSTALLING A SOLAR SYNC SENSOR

If a Solar Sync sensor has been installed on the Pro-C controller then the seasonal adjust value used by the controller will be calculated from the weather data supplied by the Solar Sync sensor. If it is decided that the Solar Sync sensor will no longer be used with the Pro-C controller, it must be uninstalled.

If the Solar Sync sensor is not uninstalled, the controller will not allow the seasonal adjust value to be manually changed. For example, if the seasonal adjust value shown on the controller was 50% when the Solar Sync sensor was removed, it will remain 50% until the Solar Sync sensor is uninstalled.

To uninstall the Solar Sync sensor, simply disconnect the green and black wires from the controller terminal and then turn the dial to the SOLAR SYNC position. The display should show dashes, indicating that the controller no longer recognizes the Solar Sync sensor for calculation of seasonal adjustment. Now the seasonal adjust value can be changed manually by turning the knob to the “Seasonal Adjust” position and using the or button to adjust the value. After uninstalling the Solar Sync sensor, reinstall a jumper plate (or wire) on the sensor terminals or move the sensor switch on the controller up to the Bypass Position.

On the older model Pro-C controller (green buttons) remove the blue wire from the REM terminal to disable the seasonal adjustment feature of the Solar Sync. The Rain and Freeze sensor will still be active.