Rain Bird WR2-RFC Wireless Rain/Freeze Sensor & Irrigation Timer Interface - Smart Watering Control for Lawns & Gardens in All Seasons

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.