Going from Flex Monthly to Flex Daily question

post by gizbug on May 29, 2019

This is my first season using a Rachio v3. The last month I’ve used Flex Monthly. Seems to do a decent job. Maybe 2-3 times a week I get a water (NW Indiana, have had a lot of rain).

My question is, I’ve been reading on the forums that the Flex Daily is a more accurate watering, and makes better use of the Weather Network (Weather Intelligence).

So is there anything that I really need to know before going Monthly to Daily? Do I simply delete my schedule, and create a new one with Daily? I have a 5000 SQ FT yard, 8 zones. Sod in front, Seed in back (both laid down last September, new construction).

How much into the ADVANCED settings do I need to go into, if at all, when doing daily (would rather not change anything in there if I don’t have to). I know the basics (the house/lawn was built on Clay / Clay Loam, with black dirt applied then sod/seed, and I know the slope. So keeping it simple with NO slope and CLAY for the soil would work.

post by franz on May 29, 2019

I would start with one or two zones (front and back?) in the flex daily schedule and see how they perform. Just take them out of the flex monthly schedule and put into a flex daily schedule. You can see the predicted watering for the next two weeks by looking at the soil moisture chart for each zone (only available for flex daily zones). If you need to make adjustments to the advanced settings this forum can help. If you like the performance I would then move the other zones over.

post by gizbug on May 29, 2019

So I have 8 zones, 4 in front, 4 in back. You are saying just pick 1 or 2 ?

post by franz on May 29, 2019

I would do one in front and one in back.

post by gizbug on May 30, 2019

Thanks, I’ll report back if I have issues. Any downfall to just going all out Flex Daily for a week or two and observing? Been having a lot of rain lately in my area so not sure how much watering Ill get in.

post by franz on May 30, 2019

If you want to YOLO and see what happens nothing really bad will happen. Worse would be under or over watering. I just think its easier to dial in one zone and roll out when happy with settings, etc.

post by gizbug on May 31, 2019

So I setup a few zones for flex daily. Here is a screenshot of one of the zones. Is it normal that the next water schedule is June 16? Seems a long time from now.

post by Kubisuro on May 31, 2019

Usually this means rain is forecasted. Tap the soil moisture percent to see a chart and table — should explain why watering is so far off. Also double check that your schedule wasn’t accidentally set to start in the future. Usually, when weather is dry, a cool season lawn w/6” root depth is watered every few days.

post by tmcgahey on May 31, 2019

To add to what Kubisuro said, it is critical that you make sure you have your zones set up correctly. This means making sure you have the correct soil type, root depth, and nozzle PR (inches per hour). Rachio works AMAZINGLY well when fed solid information about your setup.

post by gizbug on May 31, 2019

I set it up yesterday with today as the start date. Was that wrong?

post by gizbug on May 31, 2019

I do not have info on nozzle PR. Left that default.

The seed/sod was planted last September so the depth isn’t that deep as it’s not a year old. Soil type is correct. I’ll continue to watch it. We have had a lot of rain, and rain forecasted for tomorrow afternoon.

post by Kubisuro on May 31, 2019

Each row is labeled to the far left - the 5th row down is precipitation. The table shows you’re getting a lot of it and is forecasted to continue. This means Flex believes you’re getting enough rain that it does not need to irrigate. The bottom most row is the moisture balance.

post by gizbug on May 31, 2019

Thank you for the explanation!

post by Jimbob on Jun 6, 2019

I made one day a flex daily and now I want to change to a fixed schedule. I followed the instructions but the app will not allow me to change. Any advise

post by franz on Jun 6, 2019

You will need to create a new schedule. We do not support changing schedule types.

post by K-n-C_Rachio on Oct 1, 2022

I know this is an old thread, but I am in the exact same situation… currently on flex monthly, and moving to flex daily. I hate the fact that I have to create another schedule, and cannot just modify the existing schedules.

I have set up my yard map finally, and have not committed to creating the new schedules yet. I have a couple questions before I continue:

1. What is available water in/in for? I am using municipal water, so the only limit is the amount of money I am willing to spend.

2. What is crop coefficient? and how do I determine this item?

3. My nozzles are rated at Gallons per minute, so how do I convert that? I did the cup testing 20 years ago with the original Rainbird controller, but I have no idea what those values are now, and I am not really eager to go thru all of that again.

4. Similarly related, I have a mix of various fixed nozzles in my zones: 1/4, 1/2, full, adjustable throw patterns, as well as varying foot width (8’, 10’, 14’) nozzles, and I have flower beds in the same zone as large grass areas. How do I compensate for that? Any suggestions, explanations are appreciated.