# Wifi controller with large # of zones recommendation



## cavellmc (7 mo ago)

Hello! We've had a Rachio at a previous house and loved it. Unfortunately they only go up to 16 zones. Currently we're using 34 out of 36 zones on a dumb builder installed Rainbird controller.

Would love to have the ability to control and manage the irrigation with a phone app again.

So far I'm seeing maybe options from Hunter, and a couple other brands in unfamiliar with and their websites are very janky.

Can I get some recommendations on wifi enabled smart controllers that can handle up to 36 zones?

Thanks!


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Opensprinkler


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## Riverpilot (Mar 26, 2019)

Hunter Hydrawise has up to 54.
Rainbird I believe has them, but I'm not 100% sure of how many zones they support. Never really looked into it.


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## BBLOCK (Jun 8, 2020)

i think you just get multiple rachios if thats the way you want to go. but kind of annoying to have 3 prob lol


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

I have 40 zones and I picked a Hunter HCC which runs Hydrawise. Coming from a Rachio, the Rachio has better software and features.

I do not know what it is about Hydrawise just managing alot of zones is a PIA. The way the program is setup to run just frustrates me to no end and their instructions on the functionality are not really helpful.

For instance, I wanted to setup 5 zones to run 4 times a day, I went to each zone and had them setup to do just that. I wanted it to start at 1am everday. Well, after getting with customer support, I actually had to setup 4 individual programs to make it work. So the settings I applied on a zone level were completely useless.

There are a number of settings you can adjust but for whatever reason some of it is ignored and there is nothing you can do about it short of the fact that you have to setup everything manually.

Nothing is automatic in Hydrawise. The virtual solar sync doesnt provide you any values on what their baselines are for adjusting run times.

I will say, I could not find anything better than Hydrawise when compared to Rachio. Rainbird is a hardpass. You can not manage Rainbird on computer. I would highly recommend anything you get to support desktop functionality. Having that many zones its way easier on the computer!


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## JTravers (Aug 27, 2019)

STI_MECE said:


> I have 40 zones and I picked a Hunter HCC which runs Hydrawise. Coming from a Rachio, the Rachio has better software and features.
> 
> I do not know what it is about Hydrawise just managing alot of zones is a PIA. The way the program is setup to run just frustrates me to no end and their instructions on the functionality are not really helpful.
> 
> ...


Are you in Advanced mode or Standard mode? If in Advanced mode, try switching to Standard mode. Standard makes it pretty easy to add multiple start times to a program.

If you go through some of the training videos, you realize Advanced mode is really just legacy Hydrawise mode, which is zone centric. Standard is the "traditional" irrigation controller mode, which is Program centric and not zone centric. Standard mode is much more intuitive to me.

For VSS, look at historical values to get an idea of how the runtime is modified. I noticed that 135% was the max figure VSS was hitting on the hottest days here. Originally, I assumed I should be putting max run times into the program, and VSS would adjust that and only hit those max run times on the hottest days. At least, that's what you would think based on how things are labeled. But VSS sets the run times you enter equal to a VSS value equal to 100%, so 135% would actually run the zones 35% longer than the run times entered. Knowing that, I then entered timings that would irrigate about 1.8 in at 135% - which means I actually entered values that would result in 1.8/1.35 = 1.33 in of irrigation. Clear as mud, right 😉


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

@JTravers yeah that explanation actually makes sense. The logic behind their settings is really a challenge to wrap your head around initially.

Clearly case in point, the VSS and setting up the time to irrigate. I used the hunter run time calculator to establish the max run times and just like you say, it adds additional time to the times you enter. I need to go back and adjust the times like you did.


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## JTravers (Aug 27, 2019)

@STI_MECE, there's a lot of stuff that just doesn't seem to be intuitive or doesn't quite work right. I tried a lot of different things in Advanced mode, but I just didn't like how tedious it was to add something like an afternoon syringing- you ended up having to lower zone times and then stacking program start times to make things run longer for normal watering, just so you could have a shorter runtime for the afternoon. My head started to hurt just thinking about it.

What I really wanted is for VSS to work more like Smart ET mode (and like Rachios) - adding days to the schedule instead of extending runtime. But Smart ET was doing some strange things so I abandoned it and settled on VSS. I have 2 different programs now - one that waters twice a week and one that waters 3 times. I used the dates in the "Grow in Program" setting to turn off/pause programs depending on how hot it is. Not perfect, but this way I don't have to manually go in and change run times when I decide to start watering 3x a week instead of 2.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

@JTravers , I 100% agree that VSS and Smart ET mode need to be combined. I am trying to be patient with it right now and just letting it run its course for now.

Although I did just have to turn everything up on its head again because we addded some sod to several areas, so i had to start one of those watering in programs. Which meant I had to then go from advance to standard mode to set everything up right. I am going to try giving the standard mode a try I just had my run times adjusted.

I will say the advance mode was good for me because i have areas that are low, medium, and high shade, so i was able to group those zones quickly and then I could adjust them more quickly. In standard, I had to remember which zone was what and set the run time all in that same window one by one, for 30 zones.


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