Hello, so after a few weeks with the sprinkler controller here are some items that I feel could be improved upon or clarified! if any of this is already presented feel free to point me in the right direction!
Glossary of terms and/or functionality. Upon setup of zones for example I had to do some research as to what some of the soil type options meant as well as how settings in one aspect affect another. There seems to be a powerful brain behind the controller but that’s no good to me if I don’t understand or enter the correct info.
Standard operation details. For example what is normal behavior. These controllers have all the zones pulsating on the controller the whole time and it almost feels like the unit is in some sort of pairing mode. Meanwhile it appears that this is normal behavior which seems odd because there is no ability to modify the pulsating of the LED’s.
Better visual behavior of app versus physical controller. For example I have 2x zones currently disabled and they are greyed out in the app, but on the controller they are illuminated and pulsating with the rest. They in fact can be turned on from the controller while disabled in the app.
More in depth feedback. For me this relates to the additional sensors. Currently I have a rain sensor attached to the Sensor 1 connection but other than indicating in the app that its a rain sensor there is no other options or feedback. I cant tell from the app whether the rain sensor is working or what its doing. Figure a simple icon or some sort of indicator that it is active or in use or such would go a long way in both usage and trouble shooting.
Notifications. So far I have not received a single notification for start, end, or skips. This probably is a firmware issue but feels noteworthy.
If I missed something that would clarify any of the above feel free to pass long the info! Thanks!
7/1/2021 Addition;
Does enabling a rain/soil sensor in the system override the Sprinkler Plus rain/weather prediction component?
Please add a unit offline notification. App does not report offline status and what schedule ran as result of that status.
I agree that more information on the operation of the sprinkler controller is needed - to help understand how it functions under different scenarios (and maybe even its algorithm/weighting factors that determine its “smart” functions).
The “pulsating” you’re referring to may perhaps be to extend the life of the LEDs (as opposed to, say, potential burn-in).
Also, the difference in app behavior (zone greyed out) versus physical controller (zone illuminated) allows you to take local on/off control of the sprinkler in case of loss of internet connection.
That was my thought as well and I’m sure the actual reason however I have not seen any document to state that to be the case. At first I was confused thinking I had somehow messed up the setup process but as it was all working I figured out there was an ulterior reason. Still think it would be nice to give us a few options such as blink or fade or whatever. It would solidify to the user that in fact it is expected behavior.
Certainly can understand this however to the previous point about the LED’s I feel maybe the controller shoulddnt pulse those zones. Have it still be selectable and run locally but in the grand scheme of things have more data indicated, in this case about what has been disabled in the app.
Dont get me wrong, overall I really like this device. Its just that of all the smart devices I have purchased this has the least amount of documentation versus features.
With the last Android app update V2.18.18 I am now seeing notifications function. Only start and stop so far but better than nothing.
It is all lumped under the same umbrella setting of on/off so if we are at home and all (camera) notifications are muted you would not get these either. Need to add a different tier for different notification mutes. For example do not disturb on the cameras but doorbell and sprinkler are active.
@WyzeShanee Something else that might be very helpful is if in the individual zones you can set a default run time. That way when programming schedules you can either adjust that parameter or leave it as needed. The offline schedule would also be able to draw run times from that otherwise possibly?
Just thought of this last night as I went through and redid all my scheduling and kept having to go back and reference run times for zones per schedule to make sure they were the same.
Another needed feature would be to have the ability to schedule watering events every X amount of days when using a fixed schedule. I’ve owned several sprinkler controllers over the past 30 years and that functionality has always been available. It just doesn’t make sense to have it water on certain days of the week and if you choose odd or even days, then it’s going to water every other day which is too often.
