The Rachio 3 is the most flexible and comprehensive device we tested, offering the best balance of setting it and forgetting it and maximum control when you want it. With the Rachio 3, you can use either option or choose, for example, to put your veggie-garden and flower-bed zones on a fixed schedule and your lawn on a flexible one. The PROGRAMS page gives you an overview of all of your programs and program details. Through an app, you can turn your sprinklers on and off remotely, set rain delays, and program new watering times from wherever you are—on your couch or in another country. Adding new stations is lightning-fast and super simple. … For example, one day it told us, “Your device is in auto rain delay for 24 hours” and “Your next watering will be in 12 days.”. RainMachine API can be accessed by third parties if the owner/user of RainMachine gives permission (for example IFTTT, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Apple Homekit). In all other cases, we would recommend the Rachio 3 because of its simplicity, ease of use, and more-precise forecasting. All rights reserved. Need to edit multiple programs or other items? The RainMachine also has an option to tweak rain and wind sensitivity, to prevent overwatering in inclement conditions. We let the Rachio 3 set our schedule, choosing Flexible Daily, which updates every day based on estimated soil moisture. You've seen just a few features CirrusIC has to offer. Its water saving programming features maximize water efficiency by letting you build highly-customized programs. A new feature we love is the Conditional Program, which can trigger a schedule based on temperature (perfect for our chickens). Yardian Pro is a less expensive version of the Yardian. And even though you can override these times, that defeats the purpose of a smart schedule. If you are a loyal Rain Bird fan and you have wired sensors you want to continue to use, you’ll like this controller. You can also share access with a landscape tech, using a temporary access PIN, and choose from a variety of weather services, including private weather stations. This is the most flexible and easy-to-use smart controller for your yard or garden irrigation system. The Netro Sprite (six or 12 zones) is well built and easy to install, and it configures a watering schedule for you. Based on our research and testing, we determined that the best smart sprinkler controller is one that’s easy to install, offers an intuitive user interface, and sets intelligent schedules for you—but also one that allows you to adapt and tailor schedules and evapotranspiration (ET) settings to your specific needs. If there is no pump, a group 27 AGM battery, controller, and a 200W panel should keep it happy. The Orbit B-hyve Smart Indoor Irrigation Controller (available for eight zones) is the least expensive smart controller you can buy, yet it offers many of the same features as our top picks, including smart scheduling, a nice app, and an innovative, slim design. The Pro model has a separate master valve terminal, so it is a better fit if you need 16 zones. $189.00– $339.00. Along the way, I’ve turned my home into a smart home so that I can explore more ways to save energy, water, and other resources; also, it’s super-fun. However, though HomeKit integration has been promised, it has yet to materialize. The XC Hybrid Controller delivers extensive power without the plug. There is the option to choose your own weather station and view basic watering history, but there are no water-use reports. If you find the confusing dials and buttons or tiny LCD screen on your existing irrigation clock frustrating to use, you’ll love the ease of setting your sprinkler schedules with a smartphone app or on your computer. It also tested that each zone was working—a useful feature for people who aren’t experts at programming sprinkler systems. The app is missing a few alerts, too, including that there’s no warning when watering is about to begin. If the controller loses its cloud connection, it will still water your garden using the last schedule; if you’re running a flexible schedule, a “backup flex schedule” will kick in. We also collect controller data (e.g., water usage, zone starting/stopping, schedule starting/stopping). We will update this guide in Spring 2021 when we’ve tested these new models. It works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit. Wirecutter takes security and privacy issues seriously. 4 programs with 3 start times per day. The app also tells you when it’s offline; this is key because with a device that’s so easy to set and forget, if it lost power, you might not know until your garden suffered damage. Hunter's Solar Panel provides maintenance-free operation that harnesses the sun's energy to power controllers … If you have local watering restrictions, you can tell the device about them and it will work around them. To view all products in Hunter Solar Powered Controllers please click View All Products View All Products As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of irrigation equipment for the landscape and golf course industries, Hunter has enjoyed a well-established reputation as the innovation leader in irrigation. The Rachio 3 doesn’t automatically detect wiring in the unit; only the Gro Controller and Sprinkl Control models do. The home screen shows the controller status, the forecast, the last run and the next run, and a graphic of how much water has been used versus saved (an estimate). And to help you understand what data the companies you’re bringing into your yard are harvesting, we’ve asked them to complete a privacy and security questionnaire. Some water utilities offer rebates if you install WaterSense irrigation controllers; rebates can cover a large portion of the cost of the device. Orbit also has a 12-zone smart controller that is weatherproof and has full on-device controls. Available in 4 models: 1, 2, 4 and 6 stations. But if you need to install it outside, the company recommends the Orbit 57095 Sprinkler System Weather Resistant Outdoor Mounted Control Timer Box Cover. Customize the settings for each user including access level, units of measure, language and more! CirrusIC is the culmination of Rain Bird's experience, its technology, and its singular focus to bring you the Central Control solution you've been asking for. Unlike all of the other models we tested, the RainMachine doesn’t need to connect to the cloud to function, and it depends on the internet only for weather updates. On days when the Rachio 3 scheduled a watering, the system ran anywhere from 43 minutes to nearly four hours in the early morning hours, stopping as requested before sunrise. For this update, we retested our three top picks as well as two new products: the Sprinkl Control and the Rachio 3e. All data specific to a user is stored locally on the user RainMachine device. 150 psi (10 bar) maximum operating pressure. And we definitely felt a tinge of eco-smugness when we saw our neighbor’s sprinklers going off just before a rainstorm. (It should be noted that on some sites this pick is also listed as model SPK3-1.) After three seasons of testing more than a dozen models, we think the Rachio 3 is the best smart sprinkler controller for most people. The only other way to get this type of accurate hyperlocal forecasting is by buying and installing a personal weather station; these range in price from $150 to several thousand dollars and require careful maintenance to remain accurate, according to experts we spoke with. At $230 for eight zones and $280 for 16, at the time of writing, this model costs $80 more than the Rachio 3e, which works in exactly the same way (except that it lacks the hyperlocal weather feature and HomeKit compatibility). Commercial Control for Battery-Powered Systems, TBOS-II Series Battery-Operated Irrigation Controllers, Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO), Controladores serie TBOS-II: Especificaciones técnicas, TBOS Control Module Manual - Módulo de control TBOS Manual, TBOS Field Transmitter Manual - Transmisor de campo TBOS Manual, TBOS-II Control Module Manual - Europe Multilingual, TBOS-II Field Transmitter Manual - Consola de programación TBOS-II Manual, Rain Bird Privacy Notice for California Residents, Seasonal Adjust: Automatically adjusts station run times for each month, Master Valve: Extra support for stations that require a back-up to minimize water leaks or need extra water pressure, Review Programs: Automatically verifies if the system is correctly programmed, Programming Templates: Save commonly-used programs as a template that can be transferred to other controllers, Test All Valves: Automatically tests if the system is correctly programmed and wired, Contractor Default Program: Save a customized default program that can be automatically restored at a later date, Naming Stations: Identify valves and their function without turning on the system programs, Run-time from 1 minute to 12 hours in 1-minute increments, Basic programming includes 3 independent programs with flexible days cycles including custom even, odd, odd-31 and 1-6 day program cycles for maximum flexibility, Independent station operation allows simultaneous start times or sequential start times based on system hydraulic capacity, Battery indicator reports battery status in the TBOS Field Transmitter, The TBOS field transmitter has a large Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) with self-explanatory function icons. The Pro doesn’t have a camera, and it can be installed only indoors. The company says HomeKit compatibility is coming soon—we’ll revisit this device when that’s available. And without a separate rain sensor, it doesn’t have a rain delay. Click on the QUICKIRR™ button to see it in action. It adjusts the length of watering time based on the weather and has a nice app that’s fine for simple operation. Integrations to linked services such as Google Home, Amazon Alexa, are owner-approved. Since we first started testing Yardian devices, the company has improved its hardware and software substantially. De-anonymized customer data is not shared or sold without customer consent. You can even set different schedules for each of your system’s zones. Still, the RainMachine is an excellent device. ), Guy Fipps and Charles Swanson, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, phone interview, March 14, 2019, Irrigation Controllers, US Environmental Protection Agency, WaterSense, US Environmental Protection Agency, WaterSense Labeled Irrigation Controllers (PDF), US Environmental Protection Agency, August 1, 2017, WaterSense Labeled Weather-Based Irrigation Controllers (PDF), US Environmental Protection Agency, July 1, 2012, Guy Fipps and Charles Swanson, Evaluating the Operation of Residential WIFI Based Irrigation Controllers (PDF), December 2018, John R. Delaney, Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller, PCMag, May 15, 2018, Christopher Null, Rachio 3e Smart Sprinkler Controller review, TechHive, May 26, 2020. We installed each device in the covered porch of a 1960s home in Charleston, South Carolina. WIP is available only on the Rachio 3; the lower-priced Rachio 3e (essentially a spruced-up version of the now-discontinued Rachio 2) uses standard weather forecasting from local weather stations, the same as the other controllers we tested. The app sends timely and consistent notifications to your smartphone and email, the most useful being a warning that the sprinklers are about to turn on, sent a few seconds before they do; this saved us from unexpectedly soaking some party guests. They have been testing and researching weather-based irrigation controllers for more than a decade. In a paper published in 2018, they evaluated six Wi-Fi–enabled, weather-based controllers for one year: Hydrawise by Hunter (a professional model), the Orbit B-hyve, and models by Rainbird, Rachio, Skydrop, and RainMachine. Name, email, and address which is used for weather-related features. Battery Operated (DC) Valve Mounted Timers; Solar Powered Controllers; Propagation Controllers; Hose End Timers; Drip Valves & Control Zone Kits. The B-hyve’s smartphone app does a good job of walking you through setting up each zone and creating a smart schedule. But they also found that some irrigated more or less than necessary based on the daily soil moisture readings (all of them except for the Skydrop, that is, which failed to operate for three months). Smart controllers are for use only with underground sprinkler systems that have wired controllers; they will not work with battery-operated controllers or hose timers. The EPA is actively working on a requirement for controllers that rely on a soil-moisture sensor, so we may see more of these integrated into smart controllers in the future and will reassess at that point. The Google Nest Protect is easy to silence and has other handy features. 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