Do I really need to have a rain sensor?

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Michael

June 01, 2017 13:17

So far I really like RainMachine 8 that I just bought. My question is do I really need to buy another rain sensor hardware to connect to the Rain Machine in order to detect rain?

 

Can the Rain Machine know if there is rain in the radar?

 

THanks

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  Jeffnhelen June 04, 2017 05:17

  I purchased the RainMachine more for its predictive ability to not water right before a good rain, but the controller I replaced with my Mini-8 already had a rain sensor so I figured I would connect it also since it supported one. I can't say I have tested to see if disabling the sensor allows the logic to negate the need for a sensor, but I figured having a backup incase the hyper local data was incorrect couldn't hurt. I do see where a nearby PWS shows more rainfall than the rainmachine so if anything the sensor might prevent it from running when it thinks it should due to the inaccurate/lesser accumulation. If you see that it's running before the soil can take it then there are some adjustments that can be made without getting a rain sensor. I just feel that having a fall-back method for detection is a safe bet to prevent running a program in the off chance the "weather man" is wrong.

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