I have 15 years installing Irrigation Systems, let me tell you that you did a good job in This video, you explained in detail just like I would do it, I use wire stickers to identify the wiring or take a picture with my phone to keep track where everything goes, it just depends on how many zones you are dealing with. Keep it up!

Thank you for this video! I literally followed it step by step without any problems. My new Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller is working thanks to YOU!!

I know this comment is very late to the original posting of the vid, but just wanted to say thank you for detailed install...appreciate it!

Thank you. Just what I needed! Also, love the little kids in the background. I had to stop the video twice to make sure they weren’t mine. Using ears buds so they sounds just like my kids downstairs somewhere. Loved the bloopers too.

I have an old Rainbird sprinkler system and wanted to upgrade the programming unit since it is so difficult. I had looked at this Rachio system but was afraid I would not be able to wire it up or that if I did, it would not work with my system. Your video showed me there's not much to it and I'm going to replace mine today! Thank you.

Thanks for this video. I am doing this exact upgrade, same rainbird and rachio. This is very helpful.

Thank you for the setup video. Because of it, I ordered and installed the Rachio 3 system. Very easy.

Those wall anchors you said to avoid I think are actually the best wall anchors you can get. Other wall anchors do not anchor as well, or are difficult to put in place properly, or when removing them they are hard to remove, or they get lost in the wall. If you really want to reuse an existing anchor in the same spot, which is in my experience extremely rare, you can either hold it in place or fully remove and replace. But most of the time the anchor isn't going to be in the same spot, and you will want to patch the hole, so it is actually convenient if the anchor comes out with the screw. I would have liked to have seen more review of the app; the box is pretty simple, meaning most of the complexity exists in the app and not the box. Also you should probably tell the audience where the Rachio 3 stores the program settings. Is it stored with the online account, on the phone, or within the box? If stored within the box, does it have memory to where it will remember settings after a power outage? Those would be very useful things to know for anyone considering the system.

Perfect video and helped me do everything by myself. Thank you!

Thanks for the video. Just installed my new Rachio controller. Let’s see how this goes.

I assume the person who asked if you wanted to unplug the power was your wife. Thank you for including her comment. 🙂 Loved it, can't beat having a Good Woman!

Just purchased...thanks for the detailed information!

This video has helped me tremendously. Thank you. Earned a sub.

Great. Ordered my rachio

Love, love, love this video. I have the exact same Rainbird system. Going to purchase the Rachio 3 and use this video

Very useful video. Thank you!

Perfect, thanks! You made it way too easy for me.

Great video already purchased will install tomorrow

You said you have 5 zones so what are the additonal white and red wires that you moved to the Rachio controller?

Rachio was running fine until they did a software upgrade . Bricked my system . Ruined my lawn for the season . I didnt notice the lawn wasnt being water until it started drying out . Rachio claims it happens with certain operating systems . THE ENTIRE UNIT IS A PAPER WEIGHT

Thank you for your great video and response.

It will be here tomorrow.

Rainbird has wifi controllers too

so if you lose your phone, or wifi connection, can you run each zone for 20 minutes manually ??

Great information !

Sorry for the typo errors. I sent quickly because my first draft disappeared.

I have same rain bird however I have a power wire going into rain bird and some 120v converter. I don’t have a plug for rachio. Any idea?

So I’m looking to have someone help me turn on my Sprinkler system in April. Do I need to have my system active to install the Rachio controller? Your instructions are great and will make the install easy

What does the different colors mean in the light bar on the front? I just moved into a house with this unit.

This was really good! / Like i think i could do this even! Hey, any issues after a power cutt with it not coming on line ? or it not connecting to the internet ?

Do you have if it has support for a rain sensor input?

great video, thanks for posting. Have you added any type of sensors to monitor the current ground saturation?

Thanks for video I accidentally disabled one zone while testing do you know how to retrieve it?

Do we need to turn the power off at the breaker

I was just about to buy this controller, but was informed the unit does not indicate when you have a zone malfunction (i.e. short or bad solenoid). Anyone know if this is correct? This is an extremely important function. With 16 zones I guarantee you will have 1 or 2 zones that malfunction every year........and if not fixed, you could end up with dead trees for plants.

Do you need to be connected to Wi-Fi on your smart phone in order to control the Sprinkler System? or can you control it from anywhere when connected to mobile data?

I wonder if you can have the two controlers on instal rain bird and RACHIO but used rachio ON just in case internet got off rain bird like back up system ??? So rain bird off used RACHIO

First off, great video! I’m replacing my old rain bird sprinkler control box with a Rachio. The old box has two wires going into smt sensor. I don’t see that on the rachio. I do see S1, S2, and 24vac slots on the rachio. Do I put the 2 smt sensor wires into the 24 vac slots?

Thanks for the great tutorial. I want to install and set up a smart sprinkler control like the Rachio 3 in a second home. Will I be able to control it from my primary home in another state or do I need to be on the same network?

do you have a video where you install from scratch?

Good info. What is that dull tone in the background?

thankfully i only got one zone, yay. cant believe it but i cant wait to get this. im so sick of my old hunter controller. it keeps resetting and is hard to tell what is going on.

Is the system smart enough to modify your time duration by itself? For example, a soil sensor to determine how much water I need and proper duration for it?

What happens if you system is offline and you cannot identify the wires and zones from old system?

Thanks for this thorough video. What disadvantages does this unit have? Other than cost, I'm not finding any.

This is a beautiful video tutorial. I am still dangling between either purchasing the Rachio or the RainMachine(love the display). One quick question on safety, so just unplugging my current Hunter Pro C from the wall is all i need not to get electrocuted as i handle the wires, right?

Hi, Please do you know is it possible to use RACIO on Europe electrical network.

Is the rachio compatible with all in ground sprinklers?

Your video was instructive up to a point, but it would have been nice to see what the app wanted to know about the various zones, i.e., very low irrigation, low irrigation, moderate, etc. In other words, does it control the flow for drought-resistant plants vs. water guzzlers? Also would have been nice to see how one can manually control the controller: you told us how you turned on areas that needed more watering, but you didn't show us. Finally, when we override the controller, can we designate how many minutes and which days we want the controller to hit , say a newly planted area, which might need more water to get the roots going. On the rainbird, there were 3 different programmable options: A, B, C which you could set automatically. To achieve this, we have to do it manually, overriding the Rachio? Lastly, do we need to buy a weather device to attach to the Rachio? I assume it's built in, but would it take a wire to a better weather device? And, what happens if the wi-fi doesn't work? Power outages that disconnect the modem? Then the Rachio doesn't work?

damn that was a fantastic video!

I just purchased a house that has this system, how do I go about programming since I didn't do the initial setup.

Thank you. I have ordered one from Costco and will be replacing the Rain Bird controller. Do you need to power off from Mains before removing the wires?

So where did the 'GND' wire go from the rainbird?

I have a total of 7 valves, but in my Orbit controller, there's only 5 I see inserted. The orange and black wires are just hanging loose, and not even cut back. Did the last person install it wrong, or is this okay? Or does it mean, two of my valves haven't been on timers for years? (And do 'valves' equal 'zones'?) 🫣 About to order the Rachio 3, your review really helped ease my anxiety about installation!

Do you set the length of time for each zone to run? I live in a desert. How long does each zone run for?

I currently have the Rainmaster and after 2 years have started to have issues with the connection to my Wifi Mesh system (Orbi). They are aware of this issue and I was told this is common among many of the wifi sprinkler units. Do you know if there are issues regarding connection for this unit to an Orbi Mesh wifi system?

Good morning, in your Rainbird you have red going to MV which is the pump start terminal. But in the Rachio you have red going to zone 1. Shouldn’t your blue go to zone one in Rachio as in Rainbird? Also, I have this exact Rainbird and Rachio (5 zones, 4 active plus weather sensor on the roof). Embarrassingly, I haven’t had the nerve to try and install the Rachio so it’s been sitting in the box in the garage for 4 months! Here’s why..so, where your old Rainbird has 3 wires plus yellow in the upper left, mine has 7 wires! Because I’m unsure what do I’ve done nothing. Those wires are 2 red to the left most terminal, 2 red to the second, a green to the third, brown to fourth and white to fifth. Confused? So am I. To make matters more confusing the Reds are different gauges. There’s a thicker red and a thinner red on the first terminal then a thicker and thinner on the second terminal. As one of your other posters commented tech-support is nonexistent. In any case I believe I have 3 large transformer wires (two red one green) and 4 weather sensor wires (two red, one brown, one white). Im sure there’s no need to connect the 3 transformer wires. But what to do with the 4 small weather sensor wires is what’s got me intimidated. Do I split the brown and white to sensor 1 & 2? Or do the they go brown sensor 1 and white common? Any ideas from anyone greatly appreciated. Thank you. Edit: Wanted to point out that there are two clusters of wires right. My confusion is the transformer/weather sensor cluster. The other cluster for my 5 zones has its cluster that includes its own white wire going to the common terminal just above Rainbird zone 4.

Is it as easy as installing a Nest thermostat? looks similiar to me. thanks

Question is RACHIO can work outside of the house ? I saw internal but what about out side ?

My speinkler installer Rachio 3 has control of my sprinkler from his cell phone 2 weeks ago. He left me only the front cover of the manual. I I am new to this. How to get a copy of the manual. I couldn't find the address and phone number o f Rachio. I find the installer not trustworthworthy. I will not hire him back for other projects How can I remove his access to the sprinklers. The sprinklers has. Ot be scheduled. I have to manually turn it on. Please help. I need your input. Thanks for your video.

I heard you say that it will not water if it's raining, but what if it rain recently like and hour or so? Would it not water also?

Is this an outdoor unit or indoor or both?

Does it have to use WiFi?

i have the same exact rainbird unit. how did you connect the MV wire? also, there are two "C" connections on the rachio, how did you decide which c connection to use (left or right side)? Rachio tech support is useless. They do not have a telephone number. I've emailed photo's asking questions, and I did not receive a response. I'm considering returning my rachio because there's no way to get support in the future.

Can this control system be mounted outside?

Great video i just work on an house she instal RECHIO and give me the access so i Can repair valve problem is great work FAST and good

Rather than screws just use two sided adhesive strips? Do not know why you needed to remove the top screw. Could you not have left in and just used it with new unit?

How come you never mentioned there is a Wi-Fi connection issue? there's a lot of videos talk about that problem I myself having this problem right now and it's not working for me I'm going to return this device after 5 hours trying to connect it to Wi-Fi I did everything from restarting it shutting it off rebooted restart my Wi-Fi and you name it by the it's the third generation it was nothing but waste of money and waste of my time

Riddle me this….will rachio schedule watering for fruit trees

Hello, do you accept business cooperation? About testing our smart sprinkler controller and making a video for us.

Installation? Everything was already installed, you just swapped the old unit.

Hasn’t saved by me a penny on water bill. One time the system came on with a 75 percent chance of rain. Also impossible to set up with an iPhone, must be android, which nobody tells you upfront, and terrible customer support and tech

as an irrigation tech, we hate these clocks. get a b hyve model that has good manual controls on the panel

This video was useless, I wanted to know how to create a schedule

This is NOT for the homeowner. In my opinion unless you have hours and hours and hours to spend figuring how to program this unbelievably technical waterer rather than just water the damn plants then this unit is NOT for you. Grab the trusty rainbird and get on with your life!!!

Not trying to be rude here, but to save others some time. This video is pretty useless for review. I'd say, just watch it if you want some info on installation. There is about 30 seconds at the end, before some "bloopers" where he gives a "review". All he says that he really likes it, and that you can control it with a smart phone, and oh yeah, use my link so I get affiliate commission.

OK, so what happened to the "honest" part? Why do instruction videos lately look a lot like advertisements?

Don’t buy this! The design is completely backwards. If you want to delay watering you hit a button that says “Fill”. If you want to water sooner you hit the other button labeled “Empty”. WTF? From the online help - they don’t offer a user manual so if you’re new to controllers you are lost because you don’t even know what functionality controllers have so you don’t even know what to search for - here’s their explanation for how the system knows when to water next. If the “graph reads 50%, then your lawn's "gas tank" is really 3/4 full and will be refilled when it's 1/2 full. If your Moisture Level graph reads 0%, then your lawn's "gas tank" is really 1/2 full and ready for a refill. Think of it as a percentage of a percentage.” Yeah, that’s intuitive. I don’t know what brainiac designed this thing but you need a math degree to set the controls. As for how it controls watering? Some zones get water when they’re at 31% (which is really 66% using their fun math) while others don’t water until they’re at 2% which is, of course, 51%. Clear, right? Of course you can override that and water right away by hitting Fill. I mean Empty. smh

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