# Rachio 3 Flex Daily



## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

Hey

Anyone use the flex daily? I just got it and it's making me worried. It seems to want to water only half an inch at a time. We are getting some serious heat this week and it seems like it's not planning on watering enough..

I have it set, it knows my zone puts down 1in per hour. And it says 4% soil moisture but tomorrow it will water half an inch.. or maybe all these years I've been watering too much??

Thanks. I'm just worried and don't trust technology!


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@GrassDaddy what's are your settings in the advance settings? What is your soil type?


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

@g-man pretty much default.. I have perfect loam soil..


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@GrassDaddy 1in/hr sprinkler system?

Change crop to 0.80. if you did a lot of N, bump it to 0.9


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## TSGarp007 (May 22, 2018)

If you haven't already, I would do a real catch cup or tuna can test. Either with a dozen of them or placing the ones you have where you know the least water or the most heat stressed grass is. Without accurately knowing your precip rate the Rachio will be a huge struggle to setup for flex daily.

Do you have it set to water on any day? Or do you have water restrictions?

I think the Rachio will water two days to get to full capacity. Meaning if your soil moisture drops to below 0% (which really means you are predicted to reach your 50% allowed depletion level on that day) then Rachio will water that day, and then again on the next day. So if you think a full watering would be 1 inch, it might take Rachio two days to do it. I think...

If you ever take a FL vacation, haul some of your loamy soil down here to amend my sand pit.


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

g-man said:


> @GrassDaddy 1in/hr sprinkler system?
> 
> Change crop to 0.80. if you did a lot of N, bump it to 0.9


OK will try that thanks!


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

TSGarp007 said:


> If you haven't already, I would do a real catch cup or tuna can test. Either with a dozen of them or placing the ones you have where you know the least water or the most heat stressed grass is. Without accurately knowing your precip rate the Rachio will be a huge struggle to setup for flex daily.
> 
> Do you have it set to water on any day? Or do you have water restrictions?
> 
> ...


Yes the sprinklers are calibrated to 1in/hr. We have amazing water pressure and volume (live near a water tower lol). I've just never used a smart system before so I don't know what the settings all do yet.


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## synergy0852 (Jun 30, 2018)

@GrassDaddy I believe the math behind it is your available water * root depth * allowed depletion. .17*5.91=1.0047, 1.0047*.5=.50235" of irrigation per cycle. Play with those numbers to get to 1" if that's what you're after.

One thing to note is say u changed root depth to 12" to get your 1" of irrigation per cycle then the time til the next cycle would be longer as it has to deplete that 1" so maybe 4-5 days between cycles instead of 2-3 for .5" per cycle.


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## TSGarp007 (May 22, 2018)

Oh yeah, that's right. And to see how your efficiency changes the watering time:

Watering Time (min) = 60 * Irrigation Amount (above) / (sqrt(efficiency) * nozzle precipitation rate)


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