Slope not affecting max runtime on Smart Cycle as expected

post by ramblinwreck on May 12, 2025

I want to enable Smart Cycle but it is not behaving as expected. Hoping someone here can help me out.

Here’s the setup in question:

• Spray zone 1.5" per hour (default zone settings)
• Soil type is silty clay
• I’ve made a simple schedule which runs only this one zone.

According to this Rachio article the max run-time for Silty Clay soil should be 5, 7, 8, or 10 minutes depending on the slope. Here’s a picture of the relevant section:

However, I am finding that chaining the slope has no impact on my run times.

• Silty clay + Flat gives 5 minute run times (expected up to 10m) with 30 minutes cycle soak.
• Silty clay + Slight gives 5 minute run times (expected up to 8m) with 30 minutes cycle soak.
• Silty clay + Moderate gives 5 minute run times (expected up to 7m) with 30 minutes cycle soak.
• Silty clay + Steep gives 5 minute run times (as expected) with 30 minutes cycle soak.

Why isn’t the slope impacting the run time?

Here are screenshots showing the flat slope setting as an example, this configuration should permit up to 10 minute run times.

Zone setting (NOTE: have made sure ‘advanced’ setting are at default values).

Schedule setting (Smart Cycle enabled):

Run time as indicated by Rachio schedule is 5 minutes max:

EDIT: To clarify, this configuration should have a 10 minute maximum run-time, so this 15 minute total duration could have been split into two 7-8 minute cycles instead of three 5 minute cycles.

post by ramblinwreck on May 12, 2025

OK, I think this was just lag/delay in the ‘schedule run’ view updating, after giving it more time to settle I am seeing results more in line with what I expected. Sorry for false alarm.

post by franz on May 13, 2025

@ramblinwreck Thank you for updating, these type of deep schedule troubleshooting are never easy 😉