SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers

To operate manually from the control unit, its easier (I think) than on my old RainBird which had a rotary dial. On the Cyber Rain, just just press a single arrow button to scroll through the zones. When you're at the zone you want to run, you hit the big middle button on the controller.

I have the inside-mount 8-zone controller, so I can't speak to the Pro or Exterior units and their attributes.

This morning, I woke up to grey overcast skies and a dreary April morning. Normally a few zones would have run this morning at 5:15am. But today, dead silent. It hasn't rained yet today -- but Cyber Rain is showing a 100% water savings today and "weather hold" until Monday morning. The view out my kitchen window suggests rain is certainly coming today, and its also much cooler than yesterday.

In my very simplistic view of yard care, it makes more sense to hold off on watering when rain is predicted (within a threshold setting), instead of running the heads this morning then filling up a rain sensor this afternoon and witholding irrigation tomorrow.

So, it looks like a washout of a weekend in terms of weather (Cyber Rain already knew that). I'll settle for kicking back and watching some baseball instead.

Actually, the computer user interface is very well done and quite user friendly. I didn't have to read anything to set it up and it was all very intuitively obvious to me. There are a number of ways you can activate a controller's zone(s):
1) From the controller itself using a 4-way keypad on the controller. 2) From the cyber-rain computer interface. 3) From an Android, Apple IOS, or Blackberry smartphone or tablet app that they provide (or you can login in to the webpage directly). In the last two cases, it is protected by a login name and password.

Quoted from "Central Irrigation"

As long as the user interface is more user friendly than the other "Smart Controllers" (i.e. Intellisense, and RB SMT controllers). Too much time wasted on the phone explaining how to work them.
Is there any type of a manual override for these controllers? As an owner/tech myself, I have been curious to know how one would activate the controller without having access to the computer itself. Is there a way for a Tech. to login to, in essence, use his smartphone as a remote?

As long as the user interface is more user friendly than the other "Smart Controllers" (i.e. Intellisense, and RB SMT controllers). Too much time wasted on the phone explaining how to work them.
Is there any type of a manual override for these controllers? As an owner/tech myself, I have been curious to know how one would activate the controller without having access to the computer itself. Is there a way for a Tech. to login to, in essence, use his smartphone as a remote?

I have had my Pro for about six months and it has worked well (see my earlier review here). Unfortunately, I seemed to get a bad batch, first with a Gateway that was defective and would not talk to the Controller and then later with a Controller that was throwing false high temp errors and failing to activate the second set of valves (9 through 16). In both cases, Cyber-Rain Tech Support was very helpful and immediately sent me a replacement unit, even including a prepaid return sticker.

One note on the comment about requiring Silverlight... Cyber-Rain is working on moving to a new cloud system and that system will NOT require Silverlight, just a standard ol' web browser... They are also planning some upgrades, improvements, and additions to the system as part of the transition...

My other comment is that the outside enclosure could have been a little better thought out but that is a very minor point and of no real concern... I'd also like an Android phone app with a little more functionality but I suspect that will come with time.

Quoted from "Ricambi America"

I installed a Cyber-Rain Pro (Cloud) version about 3 weeks ago to replace a dying Rain Bird controller that was about 12 years old. Impressions? **WOW** !!!

1) Shipping from Cyber-Rain was very fast. Purchased on line on Thursday afternoon, had it in North Carolina on Tuesday.

2) Installation instructions? I was like, "WTF, how do I install this thing??" Guess what? It was dead simple. Very clear one-page install sheet and easy-peasy wiring. Match colors, plug it in. I'd estimate 20 minutes in the basement mounting the new unit. Upstairs at my router, the Cyber Rain plugged in and "found" its controller very quickly. The total configuration time for this step was like 5 minutes, or less. (I went to my router's IP address and very easily spotted the DHCP assigned Cyber Rain, so then configuration was a snap)

3) A word about the wireless... I don't know what frequency the Cyber Rain runs on, but is sure isn't normal wifi, because the range is quite good. My controller is about 150 feet through thick concrete walls and lord-knows-what in a 110+ year old house. My wifi doesn't reach to the location where I've got the Cyber Rain controller, but their wireless thing sure does fine! Bravo!

4) I kinda wish the Cyber Rain had an ethernet port directly on the controller. I don't like any wireless technologies, and I would have enjoyed the "option" of hardwiring it to my router and pulling ethernet myself.

5) Cloud software configuration: simple. The interface is nicely designed and very easy to use.

6) Cloud software configuration uses Silverlight. I use Macs + Chrome, and Microsoft Silverlight isn't supported. Boo. So, I just popped over to the Safari and Firefox browsers on my Mac. Both worked perfectly with the Cyber Rain.

6.5) The Android app also works perfectly and is dead simple on my Droid Bionic and Nexus 7 tablet.

OK, so how does the thing actually behave? VERY nicely!! It silently adjusts watering and soak times based on daily temperatures, humidity, and rainfall. On a day where my old RainBird would have used 25 minutes (no intermediate soak time), the new CyberRain throttles back to only 16 minutes with an intervening pause/soak time, based on the slope of my landscape. A few days ago, we had some lousy weather predicted, and Cyber Rain smartly put the whole system on "Rain Stoppage" for 48 hours, because Mother Nature was taking over the lawn care. Nice!

So far, so good. I am delighted to have a modern system that can save me some money. It is far easier to "program" and understand that my wonky RainBird controller. I can check the system from my phone or a computer, regardless of where I am physically located.

Thumbs up

p.s. Want me to say something "bad" about the Cyber Rain? Umm... hmmm.... oh, ok, here's one: the LED panel doesn't seem to have a dimmer option, so it has brightly lit up my basement 24/7. The bugs and rodents down there are probably scared off by the blueish hue.

I assure you, I am not related to the company in any way.

I am a small business owner myself, in Winston-Salem, NC. I sell Ferrari, Maserati, and Lamborghini car parts.

When I find a cool product and I think the service is good, I'm happy to post about it. The internet can be a brutal place for small business folks, and those who have a neat product and service ought to be recognized as such.

Reads like ad copy to me, but then again, I've seen those same kinds of posts appear here and there.

Fantastic first post!

I installed a Cyber-Rain Pro (Cloud) version about 3 weeks ago to replace a dying Rain Bird controller that was about 12 years old. Impressions? **WOW** !!!

1) Shipping from Cyber-Rain was very fast. Purchased on line on Thursday afternoon, had it in North Carolina on Tuesday.

2) Installation instructions? I was like, "WTF, how do I install this thing??" Guess what? It was dead simple. Very clear one-page install sheet and easy-peasy wiring. Match colors, plug it in. I'd estimate 20 minutes in the basement mounting the new unit. Upstairs at my router, the Cyber Rain plugged in and "found" its controller very quickly. The total configuration time for this step was like 5 minutes, or less. (I went to my router's IP address and very easily spotted the DHCP assigned Cyber Rain, so then configuration was a snap)

3) A word about the wireless... I don't know what frequency the Cyber Rain runs on, but is sure isn't normal wifi, because the range is quite good. My controller is about 150 feet through thick concrete walls and lord-knows-what in a 110+ year old house. My wifi doesn't reach to the location where I've got the Cyber Rain controller, but their wireless thing sure does fine! Bravo!

4) I kinda wish the Cyber Rain had an ethernet port directly on the controller. I don't like any wireless technologies, and I would have enjoyed the "option" of hardwiring it to my router and pulling ethernet myself.

5) Cloud software configuration: simple. The interface is nicely designed and very easy to use.

6) Cloud software configuration uses Silverlight. I use Macs + Chrome, and Microsoft Silverlight isn't supported. Boo. So, I just popped over to the Safari and Firefox browsers on my Mac. Both worked perfectly with the Cyber Rain.

6.5) The Android app also works perfectly and is dead simple on my Droid Bionic and Nexus 7 tablet.

OK, so how does the thing actually behave? VERY nicely!! It silently adjusts watering and soak times based on daily temperatures, humidity, and rainfall. On a day where my old RainBird would have used 25 minutes (no intermediate soak time), the new CyberRain throttles back to only 16 minutes with an intervening pause/soak time, based on the slope of my landscape. A few days ago, we had some lousy weather predicted, and Cyber Rain smartly put the whole system on "Rain Stoppage" for 48 hours, because Mother Nature was taking over the lawn care. Nice!

So far, so good. I am delighted to have a modern system that can save me some money. It is far easier to "program" and understand that my wonky RainBird controller. I can check the system from my phone or a computer, regardless of where I am physically located.

Thumbs up

I have the Pro, cloud based, 16 station version of the Cyber Rain in the outdoor enclosure. It was easy to install and program, and took me something like 2 hours all together. (I'm using 13 zones at my house.) I did have a problem with the Internet Gateway when I first got it but the technician at Cyber-Rain actually dropped a replacement unit off to me on his way home! Great customer service! It has been flawless since.

It has been in operation for nearly a year now and has done a good job of adapting to the weather and watering just the right amount for my yard. I previously had an Accurate Weatherset smart timer which had become flakey (they are out of business now) and the Cyber-Rain does a better job of adapting and watering the correct amount than it did. I also like the very comprehensive usage stats that the system compiles, You know exactly what has happened and when. The most important part, however, is that it has reduced my water usage by more than 35 percent and the yard still looks great! And this is over and above the reduction produced by the smart weather timer I had been previously using!

I installed an optional rain sensor that I already had (a mini-clik) and also an optional water flow meter that I found on Ebay for $45. I love being able to monitor and record both the water flow, water usage, and current flow because they have alerted me to problems with the system a few times over the last year (a broken solenoid wire, a defective vale, and a leaking pipe and head). The fact that it will email me an alert when there is a problem is very convenient.

I also have a weather station at my house and the Cyber-rain can use my data (via Weather Underground) which is also a plus.

A little pricey (Sprinkler Warehouse has it cheapest) but I'm very happy with it. The LADWP rebate made the final price far more palatable...

P.S. I should point out that this is the newer cloud version of the system and does not require a computer to routinely operate. It uses an internet gateway that connects to an Ethernet port on your network and then talks to the actual sprinkler controller wirelessly. You only new a computer to initially program it and this is done via a web page in your browser. After that, it automatically runs on its own exchanging data with the internet, weather service, and its cloud server as necessary. You only need a computer after that to make changes or view the numerous reports, stats, and usage logs.

You can also control it and run valves and zones manually from a free app for your Android, Blackberry or IOS device. That feature is very handy!