Why does Rachio ignore my watering schedule?

I have two zones (Backyard Left and Backyard Right) and one fixed schedule. I want to water each of these zones in 5min intervals with 25min break in between (otherwise there is runaway, I want to make sure they soak properly):

As you can see, it should start at 3:00 each night and I expect it to stop at 6:00. Because the total watering time is 30min, 15min for each zone. And each “Cycle and Soak” takes 30min with 5min watering.

So for each zone, we have 15min/5min=3x cycles, each of them 30min, i.e., 90min for each zone or 180min (=3h) for both. Both zones could also run in parallel, i.e. while the other zone is in soak. Then the whole watering should end at 4:30 (after 90mins).

I observed when the valves turn on and off and here is what happens:

Back Yard Right:

• Turned on: 3:00
• Turned off: 3:05
• Turned on: 3:30
• Turned off: 3:35
• Turned on: 4:00
• Turned off: 4:05

Back Yard Left:

• Turned on: 3:00
• Turned off: 3:10
• Turned on: 3:30
• Turned off: 3:40
• Turned on: 4:00
• Turned off: 4:10

So, Backyard Right works exactly as expected! But Backyard Left turns on for 3x10min=30min instead of 3x5min=15min, as configured.

What is happening here?

Post by divB on May 9, 2025

That’s what I did. I watched the valves turning on/off and noted down the exact times.

Post by Thomas_Lerman on May 9, 2025

Good to know. If you manually turn on right zone, does left come on . . . or visa versa?