Finished before sunrise scheduling issue?

Post by johnny2678 on Mar 10, 2018

Dashboard is reporting the next scheduled watering starts at 2:41 am and ending at 3:27 am. Only one zone out of 5 in the schedule is going to be watered, and the zone run time is ~1 hour, so shouldn’t this start an hour before sunrise?

DST issue maybe?

• Watering Start Time: Automatic Sunrise Adjustment
• How does this make any sense watering day
• Flexible daily with end by waters on wrong day
• Flex daily, finish by sunrise
• First schedule... start times strange?

Post by franz on Mar 12, 2018

Thanks for posting this, I’m having the engineering team review, will let you know what we find.

Post by johnny2678 on Mar 12, 2018

Thanks @Franz, Of course the app has recalculated since I posted this. It rained here, so the single zone that I highlighted above is now going to be watered with my other 4 zones in the schedule and is ending at sunrise as expected. However, as the zones get out of sync again and, I suspect I might see this again. Will post back if I do.

Post by theflexdude on Mar 12, 2018

Since in flex daily schedules not all zones are guaranteed to water each schedule run, in end-by configuration in order for the system to guarantee that all zones have enough time to finish watering before configured end time in case of observed ET and precipitation changes we determine start time based on maximum duration of the schedule. So you may see schedules ending earlier than exactly at configured end-by time. This is only applicable for flex daily end by schedules.

Post by scorp508 on Mar 12, 2018

I may be reading this wrong, but the explanation kind of sounds like it essentially kills much of the purpose I envisioned the complete before sunrise option was invented for...

Post by johnny2678 on Mar 12, 2018

@theflexdude - nailed it

[Start Time] = [Sunrise] - [Total Schedule Run Time]

Instead of:

Foreach [Zone] in [Schedule]:
  If [Zone Moisture Balance indicates zone will water today]:
     [End Before Sunrise Offset] += [Zone Watering Duration]

[Start Time] = [Sunrise] - [End Before Sunrise Offset]

Post by johnny2678 on Mar 13, 2018

Also, I’m still not sure I understand only checking weather “intelligence” once a day on watering days. It might not be windy 1 hour prior to schedule start, but 2 hours later the wind could be howling...

Post by frank on Mar 13, 2018

Something we have discussed and are building requirements around.

Post by johnny2678 on Mar 13, 2018

If you’re a Smartthings user, it’s pretty much the only app you will ever need to make your house work the way you want it to

Here’s my routine to put Rachio in standby if the temp falls:

Post by Lars on Mar 17, 2018

By definition, isn’t it finishing before sunrise? I fail to see the problem. If it runs at 1am by itself you are unhappy but if it runs at 1am with four other zones it’s magically ok?

Post by diabetic_debate on Jul 14, 2021

I am surprised and disappointed that this has not been fixed for three freaking years. My flex daily is supposed to run for 2.5 hours and it is starting its run at 1AM and ending at 3.30AM. Rather than starting 2.5 hours before sunrise (sunrise is at 6am, so starting at 3.30AM).

Post by krowe001 on Oct 17, 2019

I suffer from this same problem. It would be nice if the controller split watering across two or more days when there are too many zones and the runtime on the zones create this condition.