RAINPOINTWiFi Water Timer - TTV103WRF Brass Inlet Sprinkler, Use with TWG004WRF WiFi Hub

Introduction: During summers, I go outside to pull hoses & turn on water drip irrigation for thirsty plants & trees in the heat. I’ve done this for dozens of years, even though I have a full sprinkler irrigation system. It was built when plants weren’t in areas that now need water. If I wanted to extend the system, then you have to figure out how to make the older timer work with a new spot far away from the others. I think there are more professional Wi-Fi systems but they start costing hundreds of dollars to start adding a remote Wi-Fi system. Forget that!Unfortunately, for me I’d often forget about the little drip running water. I would have several faucets doing it for the areas that I was leaving on. Indoors timers would ring, and ring, & I’d say to them & myself, snooze, or maybe I’ll be outside soon. A few minutes would pass by & I’d forget or since it’s hot when I needed this the most I’d leave my multiple hoses on, running, and running, so all my neighbors plants grew wonderfully — but my water bills were like I was watering turf at a baseball/football/soccer stadium (pick your fav!).Early this year I tried to stop wasteful spending of money for just having water drip down driveway & streets, & curbs, & neighbors properties, flooding them. So I shopped on Amazon where you can see all reviews like the one I’m writing, checking out & comparing all different water timer companies & with each company all different types of timers that were developed. I had no idea they connected to cell phones too so that was a great new invention for me. I could’ve bought a timer years ago & had it just turning on and off outdoors & still having to go in and out, in and out, to push a button or something. Amazon had many to offer & for variety,power, different types of programming & prices & everything else! After careful comparison, I picked the RainPoint company.I later found out a relative of mine actually has one of their people who never put in their own professionally installed sprinkler system so they got RainPoint all over their yard, so everything was covered. They are elderly & they don’t have to go in or out, or anything so they’re they probably won’t write a review because they don’t do those things. Therefore, they confirmed I made the correct choice before I even purchased it with their good experience with it. They said they love it, so this is really being reviewed by two families as excellent.Now I don’t do reviews well, or often.1. First off, I do have a complete underground watering system drip irrigation. The entire professional system works all the time during the growing seasons here, but for decades if it’s too hot, & I want to add extra water to the areas most effected, wilting lawns, plants, etc., I didn’t want to or need to turn on parts of the whole system for a short time to water suffering plant areas, as that system would automatically turn off the manual watering setting. Because that larger system waters more than just the one or two areas I want to target, that are getting too much heat & not enough water will get to the desperately dry areas. Other than nice deep green areas, there are now many little mini desert areas & you could see the grass, plus nearby plants, turning brown. The main system that I'm certain is similar to ones out there HAVE already a large sprinkler system, where it all pops up and everything works and comes on & it’s Disneyland water show with all the sprinklers going all over the place & the neighbors have their sprinklers going. There’s some neighbors that don’t do any watering at all, have no underground systems, & they’re perfectly happy with their dried up burnt little grass during the summer months, & their spring & fall they get a little bit of green they say OK that’s fine.2. Returning to the main point of the review, so what I was searching for & didn't know existed, was something to limit my running in and out during the hottest parts of the day, to move hoses, turn on & off extra spigots watering through those hoses. But there is no "stop" button for these. Unless I run out & manually turn off the hose.With Rainpoint I discovered that as long as I lay out the hoses the cool evening or night before where I want the extra water to go, while its hot outside, I just sit indoors, & push that "manual" button on cell phone, & it times exactly how much water I want to add in (depending upon rain, or predicted rain) I can keep the grass & plants from dying inbetween the natural precipitation & that comes free, so now I just add only enough water, exactly where needed, when needed, to keep everything from drying out during the summers. Then I’m guaranteed that not only turns off but let’s the water soak in so that the water goes on my property And too bad about the neighbors trees and other things they don’t need the water or me to pay for their water. I want my areas to look good. Isn't that OK?3. Plus, with the Rainpoint systems, there always is the capacity to add in a soil sensor (which I never had with my professional system) to stop watering when ground gets too wet. I don't think It works with me, as whatever I put at top of hill just runs right off, so the soil monitor would get very wet and turn off. My regular system has a "rain gauge" that gets wet only when rain falls on the top of it, at a higher elevation. Then it turns off until it dries out (I can turn a manual regulator to control how fast it dries out). Maybe Rainpoint can design one of those for people like me to use?For me then, from the above, you see I'm impressed the Rainpoint company has done their homework with device development & programming. I know that by buying into this system with their entry "one zone" device, that I can always expand to as many extra zones as I have spigots, hoses, & expand to let these new devices take care of the dry areas, organically growing larger as required for new weather patterns, killing off plants (I've lost five in 1 1/2 alone!) experts tell me due to drought stress killing them, despite my best watering efforts so far.So I haven’t taken full advantage of this intelligently created system, other than testing it out the first few weeks, just to see that I can control it. I can confidently say I know how to use it, the manual system, & the timer watering. Inside this small unit, & app on my cellphone, system it has several different applications. This has been a benefit for me that I don’t have to turn the lowest spigot on each time because I’m on a hill & if you put one of the hoses at the top of the hill, we have to turn up the water pressure higher at the spigot outdoors, or else the water does not go up the hill against gravity to give drip irrigation at the highest levels. Turning on the hose faucet, to come out at drip rate means I have to use higher force. But then any other hose use outdoors, decreases the pressure at the first one....so it becomes a matter of walking back and forth (!) to regulate the pressure between the two. That is one reason why I say I overwater when I forget and leave it on too long, as always somewhere there is water being used by someone, and that effects the water use and speed at these extra areas. Main sprinkler comes directly from a different source pipe, its always full power no matter what other usage there is, so I struggle with simple additional watering.4. The answer, I say, again is: Rainpoint! Its taking care of all these problems with one singular device.I've never had this option before, to regulate the speed, quantity, timing of water at the outdoor spigot end, as I'm becoming concerned about costs I can’t control, so without any automatic rain gauge on system, I'm running in and out, to turn it on/off before rains come, or are predicted to come. When they don't I'm back out again with my hoses, moving them around, taking them in so they don't leave long snakes of dead grass under them, after it rains, for lack of sunlight and pressure/weight on the ground, whatever is doing that damage.The whole process where you’re turning it off before it rains and doing all sorts of things, in & out, in & out, that’s a lot of work to do all that & remember to do all that so this thing says time effort, money, I mean, what else do you want something to do? It looks great too.5. Let me not forget the modern design of the unit(s). Its compact in a nice, yellowish color, [there ARE other colors depending upon different units' features], so I can notice where it is (especially when I eventually get the two zone or other zones all operating outside. I see from a distance, a little ring of LED flashing around the manual button--actually see in the daylight. It blinks very slowly, so doesn’t use up batteries, & lets you know the system is working. Plus the notifications on the cell phone are a plus to let me know too. Right now I turned on "fully notify" me, so maybe I'll be getting too many banner notifications, but I can always regulate these things later on, as I learn to use multiple units of Rainpoint. Even better, on the manual system, it tells you exactly how many gallons of water you are using.I do agree with other reviewers, that the gallons on the manual are on too short a time, I must be looking at the right moment to catch it before it goes back to its regular "off" mode, i.e. showing its ready to water again manually. Plus it would be nice on manual (as well as on automatic system) for it to show a history of watering times/gallons used. You have it in one part of system, is it too hard to get it on whole system? Not asking for much, I like to know the data now that I have it. My older system just shows time watered, nothing about gallons used at all, so that is new, in our current time of watching every penny, it helps to know, how much I need to water to keep alive things, & yet maybe not over doing it.6. Also, battery compartment is great I think because batteries are housed in one tray of four AA size, that pops out, versus other devices. I used to have flashlights & other battery operated devices built like that I loved them that you didn't have to insert into tubes, in case one battery gets stuck down there, or manufactured wider than it should be by a millimeter. But companies stopped making them that way. Four AA batteries gives Rainpoint power for a long life. I've not changed my one unit yet, I'll find out if I get a notification of low battery level, as it appears on the phone app as full battery right now. The door to that battery compartment faces downward, & is sealed with a rubber ring. Someone did their design work well, so its weatherproof & waterproof from the hose or sprinkler systems watering the walls to get everything wet & that is perfect for one of my locations when I get the second unit (hopefully a two zone one for there).7. I intend to take in the entire unit with my hoses for the winter. I’m not going to test how long I can keep it out once the weather starts getting cold -- leaves start falling — then it’s time to take it in until Spring comes. I’ll figure out the first official non-freeze day & get it watering some of those locations earlier than when the major visit by the sprinkler company occurs so that I can water the earliest flowering items so that they do better than they have in recent years, earlier in the year too.To be honest, I was going to buy that second, multi zone (will start with the two zones one), unit because I still have more areas to water outside of the professional system, and I have to put up trees. It’s a long story. I have to put up extra trees. Don’t ask why. [But appreciate the gifting of a single zone second one which I will use in that location right away not waiting for more trees to come later].Whether I do the alligator bags to keep alive those young trees (I can't let them die, else that is more replacement trees, with more expenses, more digging holes), thus even with the alligator bags I will still need Rainpoint! [Not a review for any competitor, just inserting the official name here on Amazon for these bags, I found out from neighbors experience that the bags work, but eventually you need something "more" and the more is exactly what the Rainpoint system is for! I can dial up over time to slowly add in more water per week as the bags get old & tear & not function after time outdoors.....reference here for those who don't know what I'm mentioning:https://www.amazon.com/Treegator-Original-Release-Watering-Trees/dp/B0006GT6C6/ref=pd_bxgy_d_sccl_1/135-6078760-2866356?pd_rd_w=yvEqE&content-id=amzn1.sym.c51e3ad7-b551-4b1a-b43c-3cf69addb649&pf_rd_p=c51e3ad7-b551-4b1a-b43c-3cf69addb649&pf_rd_r=4P0EAAQB4XJWTPK9RFPD&pd_rd_wg=i7gtW&pd_rd_r=6a52b3c1-51be-4f92-a7e2-fc51b5844a06&pd_rd_i=B0006GT6C6&psc=1]8. So I still plan to purchase the two zone unit as that would be perfect for that second location.Again, I will buy it from RainPoint either at its own site, or here on Amazon, but this time I recommend from reading reviews to make certain both the inlet and outlet hoses have the brass screw tops on them. I read more of the reviews after I got the unit, so if you are reading into my long review, please choose the improved model with brass screws on both ends, its worth waiting for, as they were sold out first time I was here, so I did just get the older one, but not realizing the benefits of two brass inlet and outlet screws.While I'm on the topic here of other reviews: A reviewer of the larger unit says that the unit breaks at a weak point just under the top brass inlet. Oh no! I’m not going to buy it, because just one person out of 5000 in Amazon reviews mentioned a design flaw.[Again this is not an ad or review for another different product, I'm just suggesting upon my history and experience, what I'm going to do to solve the problem, pointed out by one of the reviewers, until Rainpoint increases the strength level of the plastic part next to its brass screw stronger pieces. This one foot flexible section should take the stress off the unit from unintentional movements as you are coiling & uncoiling the hose(s) attached to it. One should just use caution as its just a plastic box attached to your home's metal spigot that is not going to move no matter how much pressure is on it. Its called: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08749NM1S/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=A2WQOY2WO6UXVD&th=1 [Maybe in future, Rainpoint could include something like that "in" the box so everyone can decide if they want or need that "extended" stress relief upon their unit's location.Its an Amazon's choice too--others have been satisfied & I'll be trying it for that second unit (as then I'll buy the two pieces set)]The stress relief hoses I have are ancient, they don't make them anymore, so I found the modern day version of them. By the way, while describing this, I know Rainpoint developers have other issues with making sure the unit is "vertically" placed so the battery compartment is downward facing, & the system works properly. I thought about the locations of other spigots I've seen in homes, some can be just inches from the ground. Not a problem! Just arrange for a "hook" to be a few feet higher on the wall & hook this one foot hose extension with spring (maybe you'll need a longer one that they sell, measure your distance). Then the Rainpoint unit will hang properly in a vertical direction, with the exiting hose at the bottom, & many of the problems I noticed in negative reviews would be entirely eliminated. Just my helping out when I know how these things are supposed to work and the variety of situations they may find themselves installed around the country/world.9. I don't want to skip over or miss the fact that this Rainpoint system is much more versatile, actually composed of two parts. The one that is indoors, is the "hub" that connects to your 2.4 GHz WiFi system. Telling too much, but I knew my one potential problem with buying/installing this system is that I have a "dual" 2.4 AND 5 GHz system. I called Rainpoint customer service & found a very eager, helpful person who answered most of my questions including this important one, how do I get my dual system to recognize just 2.4 GHz & pair correctly with Rainpoint hub? Well, for my model, they actually had an answer, so if you have something called eero , then ask them for the details, but it worked exactly how the Rainpoint person said it would. If I wrote how to do it here, it won't include all other WiFi models, I went far over character limit in my review, but it definitely works, no problem--a fix-- for dual systems.Additionally the hub actually has a new feature (I like, just haven't used it yet) which is a powered outlet! This outlet can be turned on or off via your cell phone so anything attached to it gets power or not. It also has a timer button. The inventors/developers of Rainpoint system have built in these extra surprise features, I hope others out there have daily uses for. I love the bright blue LED so you know its on/off as a safety function, mine is hidden so very safe.Inside this mention of the helpful customer service, what the manual does not clearly say, & I've been told (and will shortly find out), is when I receive the second unit, & pair it, how will I know which unit I'm setting to turn on manually, or program? The answer is simple, that adding second unit it will appear as Rainpoint 2 to indicate its at second location, & third, & fourth etc... I'm going to build this organically as needed to cover all the dry areas like I mentioned earlier, with room the trees.I left off mentioning about installing the "hub" that a few others had problems with setting up their 2.4 GHz version on dual systems. My solution: try it first time.....then it looks like it "almost" made it (maybe it takes you 2 times). You install the system. If it does not work, then "uninstall" the system from the "hub". Then just "walk away"--find something else to do... let your home WiFi system recycle itself ....when you get back & it shows your WiFi everything is functioning with your other units & "nothing" appears with this one, THEN try it again. For me, that worked! 100% easy the second time around, it takes 2 tries with a space between them (Successfully done with other WiFi pairings). So for Rainpoint's hub, that is how it worked for me, unlike others who tried it and wrote negative reviews.10. Finally, I keep repeating that Rainpoint system, as it is, as it will expand later, will save me both time & money as I've mentioned earlier how I keep going in and out having to re-adjust the strength of the various outdoor spigots to keep it on a steady drip rate, but one that changes as more spigots are opened up and used in one day. Now with multiple units, I hope to save time walking back & forth inspecting how fast the water is existing the hoses and adjusting the spigots to match the lowering of the water pressure by more usage. And the money saved? Its from opening valves from zero, to fully open to force water uphill, then lowering it back down to a certain drip rate, that all destroys eventually the outdoor spigot turning valves, such that every two years, like clockwork, I replace a valve that just won't turn off for winterizing.With Rainpoint, its like popular TV oven ad: "Set it and forget it". I'll just open the various hoses to set to certain level, & walk away till the end of the watering seasons. The auto/turning on of manual feature & automatic feature will make certain no matter how far the spigot is turned on, exactly the amount in gallons, or time (take your pick!) comes out of the hoses without destroying an outdoor spigot in the process from daily rotating valve. Saving future plumbing costs right there.

I would say this is the best Wifi timer on the market. I use this to run a sprinkler on lawn. I have under ground drip watering in lawn. It gets some of my lawn more than other parts. I use this to water the parts of the lawn that need extra help during the hot summer. My kids love to run through the sprinkler. This wifi timer allows me to turn it on and off easily when they aren't using it. It also allows me to turn it off automatically so I don't forget about it. The unit itself seems durable and waterproof. It now comes with a brass inlet (you get an extra filter and o-ring too) for added durability. There is a rubberized button that allows you to manually turn on/off the water if needed. In a couple of minutes I connected the unit to wifi and got it working. It comes with a hub (the plug). Your WiFi actually connects to the hub and then the hub emits an RF signal to connect to the actual yellow timer unit. What I really like about this unit is that the range of the connection is quite long and stable. Much longer than bluetooth. I plugged in the hub into an outlet in my garage and I'm able to connect to the timer whether it's in my backyard or front yard. I haven't had any disconnects or issues with the connection to the unit. As a plus, you get an extra smart plug on the hub. That's nice because you don't "lose" a plug when you plug in the hub. The app interface is nice and intuitive. Here are some things I like about the app1. tracks gallons of water used for any given watering2. gives you a battery status. Note: 4 AA batteries are required for the WiFi timer (yellow unit) to work. You'll know when to replace them through the status so no water schedule interruptions.3. Manual water mode. Allows you to run the water for a certain amount of time on-demand.4. I really like the setup for an irrigation schedule. You can choose the days of the week, time, and whether you want to run the water for a certain amount of time or for a certain amount of gallons. Often times when you research how much to water your lawn or garden, you get information about how many gallons a week or for certain days. Now, you can actually water based on gallons so that you don't under or over water based on expert advice. You can also delay the schedule. If you have a storm coming through and don't need to water, then you can delay the watering schedule 24 - 72 hours on demand.5. I also like one innovative feature of this wifi timer. You can get a water sensor that goes into your soil. That will allow you to only water when you need it and prevents over watering. That's remarkable feature compared to other wifi timers. You have to purchase water sensor separately. I haven't done that but good to know that's an option.6. The wifi timer is responsive. If it run an on-demand watering or turn it off, it works immediately.7. Based on my impression, the flow coming out of the wifi timer is great. I don't notice any restrictions.8. I have no leaks in the unit at all. I've been using it for a month now.What I think needs improvement1. I can water on-demand for a certain number of minutes, but I can't water for a certain number of gallons. Since they have this functionality in the scheduling, they should add it to the on-demand run as an option.2. I prefer the rain delay to be an entire day instead of hours. So if I didn't want to water for two days, I'd like to select those whole days. The reason is that if I delay water for 48 hours at noon. Then on the last day, the watering afternoon will still happen. To me it makes more sense to not allow watering for the entire day just so you don't get partial runs if you run morning and evening.If you want one of the best wifi water timers out there, then get this.

Overall, the product works as it should. I am able to connect my sprinklers and set timers with multiple times and days and let it do the work for me. Set up is really simple however wifi set up was a pain for me, because this device only connects to 2.4 ghz and not 5ghz. I had to dig up an older wifi router just to connect the timer to my network. However, once connected, haven’t had any issues after.I wish the app had a widget so that I can easily access the manual function in case I want to run the sprinklers outside of my scheduled times.Finally, it is worth noting that when the timer is done and it shuts off, it’s an abrupt shut off rather than a slow close which caused the pipes to shutter due to the sudden change in water pressure. To remedy this, I’ve had to purchase a water hammer arrestor separately and attach it to my DIY irrigation system. I wish there was a way that the timer could physically slow down the shut off function to prevent potential damage to the pipes.All in all, I think it’s a great product aside from the minor issues mentioned.

Love it!! Everything works pretty good so far.Very easy to install and monitor everything through the appThis is definitely a MUST HAVE for your garden and lawn

I got this to control remotely my backyard irrigation. It is working as designed and show you the volume of water used

Wish it ran off 5 g instead of 2.4

The media could not be loaded. I’ve had at least 3 different other brands of wifi controllable water valves, this one way out performs the others in terms of speed reliability and ease of use.There are a few annoying quirks hopefully they’ll sort out.First of all, in Canada, you can’t purchase a standalone valve without a hub, which is annoying as this is my second unit, I suppose I can use the other as a spare.The app itself could be improved for use if you have more than one valve on a single hub.Lastly, it’s not Apple HomeKit supported which is a big shame.Overall though, it’s quick, and responsive either using the valve button or the app.

You can only turn on the water for 1 hour in manual mode. Ridiculous.From their support team:"We are sorry to inform you that for the TTV103WRF, the maximum duration for manual watering is limited to 1 hour. After this period, you will need to manually turn it on again if you wish to continue watering."Buyer beware!