Hello guys,
Anybody seen or using this new device?
Pricey. Also looks like you can’t control it locally, which is a big negative for me (look at first review)
http://www.lowes.com/pd_631200-43155-SDCRW1.0_0Z1z0vizn__?productId=50271449&pl=1&Ntt=skydrop#img
One can get a Rachio cheaper
Yes, you can. There is a video on YouTube showing that.
Ok, cool. Still, what advantages does it have over a Rachio, which by now is turning into a mature product?
I had a Rachio and while I never had any problems with it, I switched to a Skydrop based on how they said it watered. I think the easiest way to explain the difference is when it goes on. You’d set the schedule on the Rachio, and it would adjust how long it would water each zone based on the weather (or not water when it’s raining). My skydrop does that, but it also decides WHEN it needs to water, not just for how long.
I’ve gone almost 2 weeks without the sprinklers coming on in certain zones, because skydrop says those zones don’t need water yet. It’s been about 3 months with the skydrop and my water bill is about 25% lower than it was with the Rachio (which was till about 20% lower than before the Rachio). The skydrop is definitely using less water than the Rachio, which I had for almost 6 months. Grass is nice and green and the flowers are bright and happy.
I’ve searched but can’t seem to find an API Skydrop. Anyone?
Got my answer, so one advantage Rachio (and others) have over it is an open API:
Thank you for contacting Skydrop Support.
We currently do not have an open API. While it is on the roadmap as a possibility it is not currently available.
I hope this answers your question, and thank you for choosing Skydrop. Please feel free to contact us again or visit our website for additional information: www.skydrop.com
Best Regards,
XXXXXXXX
Skydrop Customer Support
I use open sprinkler, which uses weather underground. They have also just added the California drought schedules.
It’s half price then whats posed here. Not sure what other downsides there are.
Ditto to opensprinkler. I’ve not used it to automagically adjust my watering needs based on moisture levels but it does have that feature. You set how much moisture you want and using data from Weatherunderground, it’ll determine if watering is needed on the day you set it for or not.
Again, I haven’t used it enough to see if it as “intelligent” as Skydrop to adjust the watering schedule plus it doesn’t have an intuitive local display (must use the app or computer for best access) but it is a cheap and effective option for getting your irrigation in the “smart” world.
The main reason I don’t use the weather forecasting is because it often shows rain for our city but unless there’s a high percentage, the clouds have dissipated by the time it gets over to my side of the city that I end up with nothing.
This and other small quirks aside, for the cost of OpenSp, I can suck it up! 
[quote=“helraiser, post:9, topic:187513”]Ditto to opensprinkler. I’ve not used it to automagically adjust my watering needs based on moisture levels but it does have that feature. You set how much moisture you want and using data from Weatherunderground, it’ll determine if watering is needed on the day you set it for or not.
Again, I haven’t used it enough to see if it as “intelligent” as Skydrop to adjust the watering schedule plus it doesn’t have an intuitive local display (must use the app or computer for best access) but it is a cheap and effective option for getting your irrigation in the “smart” world.
The main reason I don’t use the weather forecasting is because it often shows rain for our city but unless there’s a high percentage, the clouds have dissipated by the time it gets over to my side of the city that I end up with nothing.
This and other small quirks aside, for the cost of OpenSp, I can suck it up! :)[/quote]
Best part about it using weather underground is unless you live in a city with only one weather station you should be able to find one close to you or even use your own. Mine is at a private school 1 block over. And the airport has one 1.5 miles away. In a 5 mile radius I have around 7 to choose from and don’t have my own.
So there is normally alot of stations to choose from. Also Open-sprinkler not only goes by rain fall, but temp and humidity to determine how dry the soil is. More info here.
https://opensprinkler.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/5000017312-using-weather-adjustments
Another OS user here. Quite happy with it …
According to the link posted,the weather adjustments made by OS are still crude/simple and not based on evapotranspiration formulas/methods like some other products. The method of water conservation can make a difference, as indicated by @salbcrumb’s post.
Can you point me to SkyDrops method/formula? Formulas are crude and if you really want to get the truth you need to put a soil moisture sensor in. None of the three systems seem to fully support that. Open sprinkler being open source does have people using it but it’s not out of the box supported.
Weather based water budgets can only be done in a usable (notice I didn’t say accurate) fashion with controlled weather stations on at least 1ac of alfalfa grass or equivalent reference crop. ETo is then dependent upon the ratio of what you are irrigating ETc. I have been writing software that calculates water budgets for years and if you want a water budget that represents anything close, the reference ETo needs to be accurate.
Penman-Montieth, the most common method of calculating ETo, is dependent upon consistent solar radiation and wind run that is not affected by the things that are in the environment of the bulk of the PWSs such as structures, asphalt, and a myriad of other things. Once a valid reference ETo is calculated then the soil must be tested for perc and the facing adjusted for microclimate topography. Only then will a water budget represent the refill points for soil moisture reservoirs.
For the most part if the controller is claiming to perform water column estimations and indicating there is x in/ft of water in the root zone or even a % of management allowable depletion (MAD), then it is simply a joke. As this controller claims. I suppose you cold buy one then spend a year or so testing with a neutron probe to calibrate it. Better yet you can simply use a controller that uses a hybrid weather calculation and fuzzy logic to come up with a percentage within the norm. Keep an eye on the health of your lawn/plants and adjust normal watering time until it is right. Either way if you are in California this year you will be employing a deficit irrigation method.
I have been using RainMachine, and I am happy, but I still can’t find a way to monitor water consumption over wifi or zwave. Any suggestions?
I bought the Skydrop now. Got it up and running. Looks sleek and works. The integration into the NEST monthly report doesn’t work at the moment as they found a bug but once that is done it should report with the NEST report which is I think what you are looking for.
Can you point me to SkyDrops method/formula? Formulas are crude and if you really want to get the truth you need to put a soil moisture sensor in. None of the three systems seem to fully support that. Open sprinkler being open source does have people using it but it's not out of the box supported.
Sydrop’s algorithms were developed in conjunction with the University of Utah, which is one of the top horticultural schools in the country. It uses Weather Underground to pull real-time data for temp, precipitation, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation, etc. It combines that with each zone’s settings of soil type, plant type, shade level, slope severity, sprinkler type with precipitation rate, and more. You can dig even deeper to enter plant coefficients, custom sprinkler efficiencies and more to determine evapotranspiration rates. And of course you can set however many manual programs you want for very precise control. It also uses any watering restrictions you enter in its scheduling calculations.
Other smart controllers take your set schedule and use their ET and weather data to adjust how long they run, but still within that schedule. The Skydrop does the opposite. It starts with the weather and ET calculations, and then creates the schedule from that. So each zone gets a custom schedule of when to water, and for how long. It has proven to conserve significantly more water than the competition. Any plant expert will tell you that deep & infrequent watering is the key to long-term health. Make the roots reach down to get to the water, and they grow stronger. If you’re watering on a set schedule (even adjusted for time) the water stays close to the surface, which isn’t as good for the plants.
Nothing will ever be as exact as probes and sensors and constant monitoring and adjustments of sprinklers. But for 99% of people, the ability to “set it and forget it” while still getting excellent results will trump anything else.
And Skydrop does integrate with Nest. I’m not sure about plans to open the API.
That sounds like fun to play with. However, it also sounds a lot like constant tweaking. Simple loam testing and crop coefficients even on cool vs warm season grasses get pretty involved. On a deciduous tree, crop coefficients and effective root zones vary greatly between bud break and canopy. When you throw in distribution uniformity vs precipitation rates the average user may find it a bit confusing as to which value needs adjusting when stress is noticed. Getting it wrong won’t show up right away and an effective model will prove elusive. For that reason, you may find that you are constantly tweaking.
That’s also why empirical testing is typically performed with permanent and semi-permanent plantings until the models stabilize. With row crops the irrigators get to know the land, pull a root or two, and bomb a few leaves to be sure. Empirical testing is constant. A mistake on when and how much can spell the difference between a profit or loss. Most residential landscapes are a combination of the two but the stakes aren’t nearly as high.
Keep in mind that I have done this in practice for over a decade on thousands of test points. In most cases irrigators find that they have been irrigating too infrequently and too deeply during the highest reference ET periods. When it comes to the professionals all this science is great but interpretation of it is very much based on years of experience.
I’ll be looking forward to watching how this works out. Maybe I’ll even get one to fart around with.
I bought the Skydrop now. Got it up and running. Looks sleek and works. The integration into the NEST monthly report doesn't work at the moment as they found a bug but once that is done it should report with the NEST report which is I think what you are looking for.
I’m one of the beta testers and I know v1.8 of the Skydrop app is supposed to be released wide probably next week. And the Nest integration will be all set. There will also be reporting directly from Skydrop
rstrouse
what are you using?
I found someone compiling a comparison page of MANY controllers…
I’m trying to decide what I want. Leaning to Skydrop, not sure I really need Vera integration since I can’t see any real benefit… if you see use cases, let me know.