Rain Bird - WR2-RFC - Wireless Rain/Freeze Sensor Complete Kit

I purchased a combo pack of this item along with the Rain Bird ESP-TM2 12 Station WiFi Ready Indoor/Outdoor Controller | TM2-12 and the Wi-Fi snap in to control the our 20 year old Rain Bird control panel. I left a review on the controller and it is a huge improvement over our original Rain Bird controller which was starting to wear out. The moving parts had started to break off and the controller had some issues with a couple of the zones. They worked most of the time, but occasionally they would not work for a couple of days we’re allowed to water. Here in Texas , we are on water restrictions almost every year now. This is a great unit for turning off the water if it’s raining outside. The design is far better than our original add-on model on our 20 year old Rain Bird controller. The whole system, except the pipes were made by Rain Bird. The witless rain sensor was another brand and it didn’t last for two seasons. The design was terrible as it took a C cell battery and the battery was installed through the top of the sensor. I tried to change it and the sensor was full of water. Basically we had to go into the garage and manually turn the system off. After 3 years , the sun had baked the whole sensor and it just fell off the molding strip at the roof line near the area where the controller is located. This model is plastic as well,but seems like it is thicker than the original one. It can be attached to a gutter with the mounting hardware or lower down to make the much better battery design easier to change out. The outside unit has a coin type battery that loads on the bottom, so I don’t think it will fill up. I mounted ours on the backside of the controller and it is in a hidden location from sight and it will not get baked by the Texas sun. Basically the indoor control panel is on the wall inside with the outdoor sensor mounted right behind the whole system. The indoor module was mounted close to the new controller and it has a way better method of letting you know when the outside sensor gets low on power. So far it has worked great and it still shows that the rain sensor battery is fully charged. This was actually a really good deal for the three devices, but we have a smart home controller and outdoor camera units that we can see if it’s raining and turn the system off with an App. We water our yard starting around midnight and into the morning. So, I still like having this sensor installed as if we are going away for a few days, it will not run if it’s raining. I have the inside module that connects to the main controller and I can see if the battery is getting low or should be replaced. The old model was an afterthought and the battery was up really high , so it got neglected. The inside was screwed onto the box and the indicator was a red and green light. So it would be green and turn red in just a minute or two. You basically didn’t know the battery was going dead until it was completely dead. Well made sensor and works very well with the Controller we purchased. The sensor is not mounted up too high that you need a ladder to change and it doesn’t get nearly as much sun as the old model. Highly recommended for any of the compatible models and the design is much better than any other sensor we have owned.

Fantastic product, it shuts the system down when it rains saving water and energy. easy to install and connects to Wi-Fi flawlessly.

Purchased this item several months ago to attach to a Rachio Sprinkler system. The instructions were clear and easy to attach to the sprinkler system. The unit is roughly 25 feet from the device that connects to the sprinkler controller and we've never seen any sort of connectivity issues. It's setup is basic, but it's very straight forward and easy to use. There has been several storms with hail large enough that we've had to replace our shingles, however the wireless sensor has remained undamaged. This may be slightly due to luck that a large piece of hail didn't hit the wireless sensor, but it has held up well considering the drastic changes in weather we get here in Nebraska. Over all, it does seem to be quite durable. We will see how it holds up during the winter. I'm giving it 4 stars since the connector for our gutter system was a bit tricky to get on and we had to bend a small metal lip on the edge of the gutter to secure it. It seemed like the plastic piece that hooks to the gutter was almost about to break before we were finally able to hook it on. Over all a good product, and I would recommend it as a good addition to any sprinkler system that can accommodate a rain sensor.

I just received and set up the WR2, attached to my Rachio Sprinkler Controller. Installation was quite easy, especially with YouTube videos that proved helpful. Rachio provided a pictorial guide to wiring the WR2 to it, which was very straightforward and worked fine for me. The manual called for me to pair the units, but it seemed that they were pre-paired, so I skipped that step. I mounted the transmitter to an eave point that will not push too much water in its direction, and is relatively close to the receiver. It shows 3 bars at that point, so I'm pretty comfortable with that. I left the water level at the default 1/4" for starters. I'll monitor it against my rain gauge to see it calibrates against it, and perhaps tweak the setting later. I had considered the Hunter unit, but the feature set on the Rain Bird is just much better, I think, especially the fact that the battery is user replaceable, the receiver signal strength indication on the remote transmitter, for easy installation point selection, and the helpful displays on the receiver. I didn't opt for the Freeze Detection unit, since I expect to shut down my system late every Fall, before we get to the time when freezing is a risk. It's all brand new, so time will tell how it performs over time, but I have a pretty high confidence in the Rain Bird brand. The vendor, Sprinkler Supplier of Idaho, Inc,, did a good job of packaging and shipping it promptly, and they used Priority Mail 2-day service, so it arrived about as fast as it would have using Amazon Prime service.

Integrated well with my present system as a replacement. Just followed the instructions. I only used the outside sensor.

ND

The rain sensor unit is mounted remotely outdoors and needs no wires between it and the receiving unit. The connection is string and no issues. The receiving unit (highlighted in red border) is easily installed and comes pre-programmed for both freeze temp and rain volume. The pre-programmed points can be easily changed within a few seconds too.

The setup is quite simple with basic hand tools. It works as advertised. It would be nice if Rainbird offered a variable rain sensor that would adjust the amount watering based on the total rain fall rather than just an on off switch. Or better yet, a soil moisture sensor.

same as the original works fine