Dim or turn off lights on the box

Hello everyone! I just wanted to respond to this thread because rachio despite getting complaints about the excessively “bright” LED over 2 years ago they still haven’t addressed and resolved this design issue/flaw. I purchased a “rachio 2” over the weekend and love the functionality. A couple of nights later I went into my garage and literally blinded by the bright blue LED from across my garage on the wall. Of course after experiencing this two nights in a row I decided to write rachio about this design flaw. Below is the response I received a day ago.


Thank you for contacting Rachio Customer Support. My name is Matthew and I would be happy to assist you. The lights are not something we are able to adjust (as their functionality is implemented in hardware), and would only be able to be adjusted in future iterations of the product.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have other questions, comments, or concerns as well.

My thing is that for such a great product they should researched addressing this issue with their 2nd generation controllers and certainly addressed it 3rd only to find out that they experience the issue also. I think I’m going to respond to them that they need to investigate it further as simply saying its a hardware issue isn’t cool.

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I just purchased the Rachio 3 and installed yesterday. Reached out to support because my garage remains lighted by the Rachio after I turn the lights off. Support / Matthew pointed me to this community thread.

I find the hardware answer BS, at least for the 3. When I installed it, the bar was sectioned into 4 partitions to act as a progress bar. The current step would be light blue and then turn bright blue when complete - 1. It was controlled by software 2. The bar could be light blue instead of blindingly bright blue 24x7

I personally want the light off, unless the unit is running or I press a button (1 minute timeout)

I’m sad that support has pointed me to an old thread where folks are discussing tape and covers to fix such an easy software correctable problem. If tape is the only fix, I’ll be using for the box to send it back to Amazon.

Hi @jpcarey & @tharvey53,

Thank you for the feedback! I have relayed your feedback on the intensity of the lightbar to our product team. That being said, I want to be transparent and make you aware that we currently do not have a timeline for this feature. We hear you loud and clear, but we have a few other priorities that take precedent at this time.

In the meantime, we do have a couple interim solutions for you:

  • Light Dimming Sheets - Get them on Amazon for only $6

  • LED Tape - Get it in a variety of colors from Amazon for only $6

Thanks a ton for the continued support :slight_smile: Happy Watering!

-Lo :rachio:

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I use black construction paper on my DVR box to block the light. An even cheaper low tech solution. Electrical tape would also work.

Another more expensive solution would be to mount the unit using an outdoor enclosure box. Then all the lights would be covered, but you can still open it up at any time to view the unit.

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@Linn

Of course! The outdoor enclosure. How did I not think of that? Can’t even use no coffee as an excuse since it’s 4:30 p.m. :crazy_face:

:100: points to you! Great suggestion!!

So it’s been 2 years since this request was made. I guess we can assume it won’t get implemented :frowning:

I wrote about this issue on this thread as well. Rachio 3 - Always On LED
It clearly is a software issue as @jpcarey has suggested and I doubt it is a very complicated one to address. That being said, the fact that they never addressed it with the Gen 2 and the delay in addressing it now for the Gen 3 does not bode well. This is clearly an issue that many users have with both products and it is very disappointing that Rachio has chosen not to address it.

The Rachio 3 only has 265 reviews on Amazon. I’m sure you can use your voice to provide a review, I did. I think if all the complaints here were duplicated to reviews, I’m sure their product managers / engineering would listen.

Reviews on Amazon don’t help. I started this topic along with a few others over 2 years ago and they don’t listen. Just look at the reply from @laura.bauman . “I want to be transparent and make you aware that we currently do not have a timeline for this feature. We hear you loud and clear, but we have a few other priorities that take precedent at this time.”. What she is saying they don’t care about end users request or that the product hurts peoples eyes, or that users went as far as printing out there own covers to try and fix the issue. If they did, they surely would have fixed it with the Gen 3 hardware, but that didn’t happen. They only care about what they think and not the users. Same as having a pool fill zone, choosing what zones the master valve controls, or having more than one master valve. The way they see it is you shouldn’t use it to fill your pool and you should only have one water supply. They don’t care what actually works for the user. Innovation ended with adding Wi-Fi to a sprinkler system. What more do you expect?

@Danny21 @jpcarey

Wanted to provide a link responding to this issue from our Director of Product.

:cheers:

https://community.rachio.com/t/rachio-3-always-on-led/12273/31?u=franz

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To most people the lights hurting their eyes is more important to fix than having improved soil moisture graphs, which are a guess at best. The only hardware improvement is the flow meter, but it’s only wireless and only on the gen 3 which means you have to buy a whole new box (which still has bright led). Why no wired meter for the Gen 2? Most people already have wires going to the master valve and the rest of the system. Making a wireless flow meter that then requires you to buy a new system, keep up with batteries and have connections issues doesn’t work out for most of your users. The things listed from the Director are simple software things. I was referring more to the hardware side as having no new features. Now if you come out with wireless zone valves to go with the wireless meter, that would be something.

@Danny21 Just to be clear, with the launch of the wireless Flow Meter we added full software support for wired flow meters on both Gen 2 and the Rachio 3.

This means you would have all the functionality of the Wireless Flow Meter including calibration, usage breakdown and leak detection.

We support a good majority of the consumer meters on the market. https://support.rachio.com/hc/en-us/articles/115010378947-How-do-I-install-a-wired-flow-sensor-or-flow-sensor-Generation-2-

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Yes I am aware of the 3rd party flow meters that cost few hundred dollars. Where is Rachio’s wired version that can be locked down to only work with Rachio and sold for under $100. That would help set you apart from other systems. If you can’t make a wired version, at least make a wireless adapter for the gen 2. It would also show that you are moving the sprinkler world forward. While getting a lot of software updates is nice, Rachio is lacking in setup options and new useful ways that the system works. All of this is off topic from what started this thread. It’s been 2 years and a new Gen has been released, but yet blinding lights is still not a priority fix. People with this problem don’t understand how some other software updates that truly only take a guess at what it shows and severs no use to most takes priority over the lights annoying anyone in the room.

I just would focus on something else in your life. Cover the controller. Don’t look at the light. It is not blinding whatsoever.

I got my Rachio 3 a week ago I really love the LED my controller is installed in the boiler room and I use the LED light as a pathway if I need to go to the boiler room and from the outside window looks even better.

I see your life is focused on being an internet troll. I was simply bringing attention to an anomaly I found with the product that I learned others have brought to Rachio’s attention the past two years earlier that they still haven’t addressed.

Hey everyone! Lets make sure to keep these conversations positive. The product and engineering teams continue to listen to all input!

:cheers:

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I am not an internet troll whatsoever, based on my positive participation in this community . Not nice at all. My point is there are more important things to focus on than the brightness of a light on a controller in a garage. Examples of improvements I have recommended are beefed up wiring terminals, on board wifi hotspots to take advantage of light commercial applications and a cover that closes like traditional controllers.

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@robertokc - Correct me if I am wrong, but you are talking about hardware and design changes of future versions and iterations of the product while we are proposing software changes to existing products. These are two different things and involve, what I assume to be, two different departments. Therefore focusing on one shouldn’t impact the other.

Yes, I personally think hardware changes are imperative because you are competing against the major irrigation manufacturers who have quality cabinets, good wiring terminals and buttons on the faceplate. I think Rachio made a bad decision to go with Ewing as your wholesale distributor, too. You should increase your wholesale distribution partners. Hunters Hydrawise line continues to expand into the larger controller models like ICC2. Although not a fan of Hydrawise. I would also add an on board wifi hot spot so you could capture the light commercial market at sites without wifi. Rachio might also consider a marketing partner like Toro who has a weak wifi controller (Evolution) and sell Rachio under another model name, while Rachio continues to sell the Rachio brand on their own.

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