Hello Funkykit readers! Been awhile since my last review. Recharging myself was definitely something I needed, therefore, the family and I decided to go on a vacation and go off the grid. No facebook, twitter, emails or anything work/school related was allowed per the wife’s rules. I found out that I really didn’t need or miss all that stuff. Of course a vacation is just getting away and at some point you have to come back to your usual life. Returning from vacation can be very stressful. Your so far behind on things that you are basically busy trying to catch back up. However, the days leading up to vacations are 10 times worse!
A lot of preparation goes into a vacation. You have to pack your clothes, check on plane tickets, get a dog sitter, pay bills ( you never want to come home to one of you utilities cut-off), and even call the post office. Having one less thing to worry about helps tremendously! There are smart devices out now that gives you a set it and forget it mentality. Most of the smart devices allow you to control many different devices while you are away from home such as unlocking your house and car, setting your DVR, and even turning your sprinkler system on and off! This is where the product I am reviewing comes to the fold. I have received the touch HD 12 sprinkler Irrigation controller from RainMachine. I was lucky enough to receive the HD 12 a week before we left. Our old sprinkler controller was on its last leg, therefore, you could probably guess how ecstatic I was to test this baby out. The touch HD 12 supports up to 12 different zones, is weather aware through NOAA climate data, has a 6.5 ultra bright touch screen, 2.4 Ghz, wifi compatible, Android based software, and has Android and Apple applications.
I would like to thank Rainmachine for providing the review sample. This is what Rainmachine has to say about themselves on their website:
The Network is The Computer” The home of the RainMachine.“Green Electronics was formed in 2010 by a team of determined hardware and software engineers from Silicon Valley. The goal was to provide a modern, more efficient way of watering and controlling gardens. Based on the notion that “The Network is the Computer”1 the RainMachine product was designed from the ground up to be a powerful tool that empowers people to conserve the most precious resource on this planet: Water. As the ultimate gardening device, the RainMachine empowers the gardener with the most weather aware, iOS and Android capable, multi-valve irrigation device on the market.
Welcome to our Family. 1 garden at the time.
Above picture is a map of California based Rainmachine Touch HD-12 devices operating in the US since from 2013 to 2014. Tens of thousands of garden zones turning on and off daily, ‘modulated’ by weather data provided by NOAA. This all adds up to substantial water savings! OpenData, Open Source, Python and Embedded Linux. Code. Share. Evolve.As we make our evapotranspiration formula source code freely available, our work is verifiable and can be trusted. User contributions from around the world continue to support the RainMachine community and enhance the produc By using Python—a high level scientific interpreted language—we encourage readability and provide instant verification, which are core values of the Open Source movement. All RainMachines run on hardened embedded Linux operating systems. The RainMachine is using only open data sources from Governmental, National and International weather research institutes. We believe that free and open platforms are the only way to promote sustainability and advancement of the SmartHome.” |
Now lets see what this sprinkler controller is all about.
