Melnor Water Timers
By If you are a home gardener it is now much easier than ever to keep and maintain healthy lawns, have beautiful flowers and lush gardens. Thanks to smart technology! Melnor embraced smart technology to be a leading brand in Wi-Fi water timers. With the new Melnor WiFi Water timers you can use a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer, where there is an internet connection, to water your garden. The latest innovation is the Melnor Rain Cloud 16043-RSC!
Melnor Water Timer Reviews
Melnor is renowned for its innovation in water timers and they have taken that innovation a notch up by embracing the wireless technology. This latest model of their water timers is no more a simple wifi water timer only, Melnor now has a second generation smart water timer that can be given voice commands!
Melnor RAINCLOUD Internet Controlled Smart 4 Valve Water Timer – 16043-RSC
The latest Melnor smart water timer called Rain Cloud is a wifi sprinkler controller, a smart irrigation controller, a wireless hose timer… a multi-faceted nifty gadget that can do 4 different chores independently at the same time. From one faucet you can connect your;
- irrigation system to the vegetable garden,
- oscillating sprinkler to the lawn,
- pulsating sprinkler to another zone,
- soaker hose to a different part of the garden.
You can also expand to 8 zones! And the beautiful thing is you can control all these 4 areas remotely from your smartphone, laptop or tablet as long as you have an internet connection. Each connection, zone, can have its watering schedule.
You set it according to how you want it. Not only that, if you don’t want to use your fingers to tap your commands you can speak to it. Melnor RainCloud is Alexa compatible, you can give it voice commands to do exactly what you want it to do.
The Melnor RainCloud Smart Water Timer is the easiest and most flexible solution you can have as a gardener. There is more you can do with this device. For a detailed review and to learn how you can completely automate the rain delay feature, click here – Melnor RainCloud Smart Water Timer
Melnor Wifi Aquatimer 15043-RSC
The Melnor 15043-RSC WiFi Aquatimer is earlier wifi enabled innovation in the art and science of lawn and garden care. It was the next best thing a gardener can have, a smart controller for an irrigation system.
Melnor WiFi Aquatimer model# 15043-RSC is now replaced by the 16043-RSC model mentioned above, the Melnor RainCloud. If you have not yet bought this wifi sprinkler controller for drip irrigation rather buy the latest model, 16043-RSC.
Green Thumb Smart Water Timer – you will notice that there is another WiFi Aquatimer bearing model number 25043 GT and it might cause confusion especially that it is a bit more expensive than the 15043-RSC at Amazon.com. If you compare Melnor 15043 vs 25043 GT and wondering what the difference is, there is no difference.
If you already own Melnor wifi aquatimer (15043-RSC) the good news is, it can now be integrated with Alexa. You can talk to it, you can give it instructions! This is a new addition and development so that you may not be left behind!
Melnor Digital Water Timers
Before introducing the wifi enabled water timers, there are earlier versions, the digital water timers which are also a delight to have if you do not have internet access. There are 2 types with 3 models each. There is the Hydrologic line and the Aquatimer line. However, the aquatimer line has also been modified. We will discuss that when we talk about AquaTimer Water Timers below!
Each type has a companion soil moisture sensor to help save water even more by not watering when there is still enough moisture in the soil. Here is a brief look at these water timers.
Melnor HydroLogic Water Timers
The Melnor Hydrologic water timers come in 3 versions. There is the 4-zone, 2-zone and 1-zone. All these are easy to install, setup and program. They come with a big enough LCD display screen to see what you are doing. The inlet connects to the faucet and depending on the number of outlets (for zones) your timer has, you can program each zone independently.
Despite that you would have connected the Hydrologic water timer to the faucet, you can still operate the faucet manually with a simple twist of a knob. Apart from programming, there is a breeze, they retain their memory even when you remove the batteries.
Melnor 53280 – HydroLogic 4-Zone Digital Water Timer
The Melnor 53280 is a 4-zone digital water timer, meaning from one device you can control 4 different zones as if you had 4 different hoses or sprinklers. Each zone is independent of each other and you can connect it to anything you normally would.
That is to say from one outlet you can connect the sprinkler system for the lawn, another the drip-irrigation system for the garden, etc. You set the times and lengths of how long and when to water. Each zone independent of the other.
The Melnor 53100 will give control over 2 zones and the installation, programming, and setup are the same as with the 53280 model. The difference between the two is that 53100 has lesser zones to water.
Melnor 53015 – Hydrologic Digital Water Timer
The Melnor 53015 controls one zone and more like a water timer without the benefit of giving you control over different zones. However, it still is operated like the above.
You can program for individual days of the week, works with Melnor Hydrologic Soil Moisture Sensor to help you save water by not watering if the soil is still moist enough. It also has a manual rain delay feature so that if there is a forecast of rain you can skip a cycle.
Melnor Hydrologic Soil Moisture Sensor
The Melnor 15339 Hydrologic Soil Moisture Sensor is a device that you can use to save even more water by telling the timers when not to water even when the settings allow watering. This soil moisture sensor, model 15339 is compatible only with the Hydrologic Digital Water Timers, not the Aquatimer range.
Melnor AquaTimer Water Timers
In the same way as the HydroLogic Water Timers, they work the same way. There is 3 types – 4-zone, 2-zone, and 1-zone. They are not very different in how they operate from the above. The big difference that one has to be aware of is compatibility issues with soil moisture devices and that there are two versions that co-exist and this seems to create problem and confusion.
Melnor Water Timer Problem
There is a problem with the Melnor aquatimers in that they can be confusing as to which is which. Here are the two versions of the AquaTimers;
Melnor Advanced Digital Aquatimer Water Timers – this version is higher than the one below. Though it seems like it is a higher version, it is not compatible with Melnor 3300 Automatic Rain Delay And Soil Moisture Sensor as is with the version below. To recognize this model you find that its model numbers have 5 digits.
Melnor Original Digital Aquatimer Water Timers – This is the “original” version in comparison to the version above. this version can be adapted to make watering automatic by coupling it with the Melnor 3300 Automatic Rain Delay And Soil Moisture Sensor. This seems to be the main problem with these Melnor water timers.
Another important point to note with this line is that they have predecessors which can be easily confused with the current versions. The updated models of the AquaTimer Water Timers bare 5 digit model number while their precessors bare a 4 digit model number.
In other words, the latest version of a 4-zone AquaTimer is 33280 while the earlier 4-zone Aquatimer model number is 3280, notice the extra 3 in the newer model. This could be confusing at times but the 33280 is the updated version of the 3280. They also do not look the same as in design. The image below is for the older version of the Aqua Water Timers!
It also appears the older version was not as easy to program as the newer version. The buttons on the newer version a smoother and softer to press. Watch the following video for troubleshooting….
It comes with a metal coupling nut with rubberized grip to avoid slipping if you have wet hands. It also has a large enough LCD screen to let you see what you are doing without a struggle.
AquaTimer 2-Zone Digital Water Timer – Melnor 33100
The Melnor 33100 allows you to water 2 areas from 1 faucet and works the same way, in terms of programming, as the 33280 model. The LCD screen is still large enough and programming is a breeze.
AquaTimer Digital Water Timer – Melnor 33015
The Melnor 33015 has only one outlet and is ideal if you do not have zones that need different watering requirements. You just program it to water according to a schedule.
Melnor 3300 Automatic Rain Delay And Soil Moisture Sensor
Melnor 3300 is an Automatic Rain Delay compatible with the AquaTimers discussed above. The purpose of this device is to halt the watering if there is enough moisture in the soil. If it has just rained or raining you don’t have to worry, the watering will stop.
Why You Should Use Automated Melnor Water Timer
Once you have setup everything like connecting the hose faucet, programmed the device to schedule watering of the different zones, you can sit back and let the watering be done for you.
The Melnor RainCloud is the latest version of the Melnor water timers. The Rain Cloud is SMART to the extent that you can talk to it. It integrates with Amazon Alexa.
