It's time I upgraded my sprinkler timer in California. I see in my house cameras that the sprinklers are going on during the morning hours when they shouldn't be as I set the timer to start at 4 AM. I imagine there was a power glitch to make that happen. In any case, I'll be going there in 6 days so it's a good time to buy a new timer and get it installed when I'm there. It would be nice to control it with Wi-Fi when I'm in CO. I think David (Scooterboy) mentioned a timer back when I was having other issues.



^2024: One of the outside light timers and the sprinkler timer on the right.

 

I use a Rachio 3 controller. I can control my sprinklers from anywhere.

Rachio 3

 

Thank you, David! I saw that brand mentioned on a Google answer.

 

I ordered the Rachio 3 on Amazon.

Do you have any suggestions for light timers to replace the one on the left in the photo? I have one that's used for my low voltage lights in the backyard based on the daylight. The one in the photo is not for low voltage, if that matters.

 

I made a similar jump from a manual Hunter unit to their Hydrawise PRO-HC model. While David is using the Rachio, the Hydrawise offers similar WiFi features that let you monitor and program the system remotely.

It’s much more reliable than the old timers because it uses local weather data to decide whether to water or not. It also saves me a ton of time during winterization; I can just use my phone to advance from one station to the next rather than having to run back and forth to the garage!

 

Oh Sure!! go ahead and brag you have enough water to have sprinklers...

our stupid well only produces 4.7 gallons a minute which is nowhere near adequate for sprinklers.
My neighbor two doors over has 25 GPM 200 feet away from my well.
If I wanted to, I think I could actually drop another well that would about 30 feet from his.
I'd add teh generator before I ever did that.

 

Umm, do you need sprinklers? You have rain. Don't you have a storage tank that keeps you in water? I have a storage tank for my well at Kennedy Meadows.


I'm talking about water that I pay for from Irvine Ranch Water District. It's another case of service fees taking over. For $22.65 worth of water my bill came out to $99.38. Following is my latest bill, my monthly average usage and the bill when I had a broken pipe I wasn't aware of.




^Water bill for 34 days, Dec 2025 and Jan 2026.





^A year's worth of monthly usage.





^The bill when I had a water leak. My gardener told me something was broken and he turned off the valve for me. I was fortunate to find a local handyman who went to the house and repaired the broken sprinkler pipe.

 

We have a well no irrigation bills.

 

Do you even use sprinklers?
Do you have a storage tank for water from your well?
Do you have enough water pressure from your well to make sprinklers work?

 

I have a pressure tank for the well but that is only ~25 or 30 gallons.
Yes we do have rain. a lot of it but that doesn't mean it rains when the lawn needs it.
We can go 6 weeks without rain and get 5 inches on a long weekend.
July and August typically are dry when the lawn truly needs it.
Instead it just goes brown and dormant. a look I'm sure you know Patty.