Hello everyone
I m new with home assistant and i love it a lot.
Now i have a lottle project nothing complicate, i want to watering my grass and i need a good a d easy controller. I saw rachio and a few other supported and using wifi, do you know if some are using zigbee instead of wifi?
If i use a wifi one, do i need a rooter (from the company)?
Best Regards
Zigbee may not be a good option for outside - not many zigbee devices are waterproof and you might have to set up an expensive network of outdoor lights to make it work.
I agree with @Stiltjack, Zigbee isn’t the greatest outdoors - plus you need to build your network parameters so that anything outside the house has a strong Zigbee signal, whereas Wifi is much easier, especially if you use a mesh network.
I use several Rachios and they are great. The other thing to consider is the intelligence of the Rachio would be difficult to replicate on a home-made device and most other controllers don’t implement it: ET, or evapotranspiration to better estimate how much water is needed in a zone based on the weather conditions and how much water has been applied. I’ve seen this on a couple controllers, mostly where I’ve helped neighbors set them up, and their ET calculations are pretty squishy, but the Rachio’s ET code is spot on because it really lets you fine tune your parameters on the website, the others don’t do that.
Do i need to buy the hub?
There is no hub, it’s a stand-alone wifi device. Assuming your question was about Rachio.
On the rachio website you have the choice to by the stand alone or with the hub.
This is why i m asking, if HA don t need it i wont buy it, but i m newbie here so i don t know if HA can detect it like the other wifi systems like lighr switch, etc…
You linked the smart hose timer rather than the Rachio sprinkler controller. Those do require a hub to operate. Are you wanting to automate a garden hose or your sprinkler system?
I want to add sprinkler for the grass. I have only one zone. For the sprinkler controler i will probably need a valve too.
But for only one zone, it s not a good investment.
I agree, I would do a garden hose and get some PVC to run around some sprinkler heads. In that case you want the hose Rachio and the hub.
It’s quite simple actually to build something like a WiFi sprinkler controler yourself. Most interesting are the advanced options (local valve shutoff even when disconnected…) and the (much) cheaper price. Something esphome based is probably the easiest way to go and a lot’s of examples exist
Thank you Indeeed
in this case i can install all the components to build it but can i ask you a list of components i need just to be sure to buy the right stuff?
i’m more a plug and play user instead of a programer.
Good morning
finally i start the irrigation system (mechanically) now i need to program the system including the weather.
i found the box thank you to AARTECH for it’s support:
Power supply 24vac : CX-TRX-4024 Camden 24VAC 40VA Standard Mount Wired Transformer Power Supply
Shelly : Shelly Plus 1 UL - Aartech Canada
Thank you