Orbit 57915 B-hyve 4-Zone Indoor Smart Sprinkler Controller

There’s a part of me that resists giving this unit a 5 star review, but I honestly don’t know why. So far my B-hyve controller has performed flawlessly. I replaced an old unit that I had installed in my laundry room. So I already had 24v power and wiring (to solenoids) in place. I’m using all 4 Zones. I love being able to control the zones or change the programming remotely. Examples: 1) I switched from my summer to winter schedule while on travel - 2000 miles away. 2) I can put the system in rain delay mode whether I’m at home or not. 3) We have a hose bib that is controlled by this unit which I can now activate “manually” without running back to the control unit. Etc. Our unit has had no problem maintaining WiFi signal. I found the programming to be intuitive. Installation was straightforward. My only concern was the reports of inconsistent “smart watering” - where the unit can decide to skip watering if there is rain in the forecast. Being that our house is in Phoenix, we can’t afford any poor decisions to halt watering when our specific property doesn’t get the rain that was forecast. So I chose to defeat that feature (a programming option). But for those who are interested, you can change/program the threshold that the unit uses to self-activate a watering delay. Bottom line: I’m quite satisfied with the unit and I recommend it - assuming you have an indoor location for it (or an appropriate outdoor protection box).

This is an early review. I've only had it for one day, and so far so good! I replaced an older controller failed on me and worked well initially. The one I replaced was a rain machine. Eventually that failed and connectivity was abysmal. My next step was a rachio 3 controller. I tried two of them and I could not get them to connect to my wi-fi. I am using a deco mesh Network 6E. Moving on to this unit. There are definitely some improvements they can make, but the fact that I got it connected within 10 minutes, was great! I became so frustrated with the last attempt from the other brand that I was starting to give up and getting ready to go back to a manual controller. I only have two zones. I used to have about six zones but I found out that I didn't need them. So I consolidated them to two zones and I decided to get the four zone controller. Can activity was a breeze. I had to wait about 5 to 10 minutes for a firmware update. Please be patient and make sure you do not turn the power off while you are doing the firmware update. I haven't used any of the automated features yet. I just simply wanted to control these from my phone I achieve this within minutes. Some of the things that I wish this thing had. The screw down terminals would be better if they were just spring clips. This is not a deal breaker but if you are working in a tight space it could make things a little bit more difficult. Since I was working in a tight space, it didn't help but wasn't the end of the world. The build quality seems fair, but the cable management could also improve. Not really sure what the purpose of the ring clip at the bottom is for. The app seems really easy to use. Based on the reviews in the app store, I don't see it being an issue. If you're hesitating, get one

We own a 10 acre blueberry farm. I wanted to convert my sprinkler system to a smart system, that would use the weather map, current soil conditions as well as remote access via my phone. This was the perfect unit for our farm. It has probably paid for itself this week, as our weather has changed many times from Hot to hard rain. The unit put the farm on water hold for the last 3 days, which is exactly what I would have done manually. It is easy to program and run. One thing to mention is the unit is too far from our house to pick up any WIFI. I located an old cell phone that we no longer use. I purchased a SIM card for data only for $5 per month. The B Hyve picks up the wifi from the cell phone while on Wifi share mode. The only thing I wish the unit had is a battery backup system. I use solar panels to power the B Hyve, but sometimes we don't get enough light in the PNW to charge the backup battery system for this unit.

The hardest part of the entire installation & setup process was connecting it to our wifi. Pretty easy to set up, set a schedule, set manual watering. So far no issues at all. Only thing I'd caution people on is the rain and wind delays are set by weather FORECASTS and not actual rain (or wind)

The B-hyve 4 Channel Water Sprinkler replaced a 20 year old rainbird. It's about 1/3 the size of the Rainbird by volume (good). I admit I had some trepidation, based on the few bad reviews, but figured I'd take a leap of faith. A wifi sprinkler system that I could monitor and control while travelling sounded very attractive, esp when "home" was hit with a heatwave! The eventual garage destination for the unit is about 45' from my home TPLink AX50 Wifi-6 router, and crosses through two walls, one floor, and a garage shelf stacked with paint cans. My phone gets 1-2 wifi bars from that location, so I had some connectivity concerns. In the end wifi signal strength was not a problem. Before Amazon delivered the B-hyve, I downloaded the Android app, but stopped when it reached the point where it tried to initiate contact with the (B-hyve) device. Lesson for others, it's not worth downloading the app until the unit is in-hand and powered on. When the B-hyve was delivered, I connected the unit to the 24VAC adapter and powered it up in my living room. I started the Android phone app and continued through the process of setup.. initially through Bluetooth. As mentioned in another review there is RISK involved in connecting the unit to Wifi because you enter your wifi SID and password into the phone app that is transmitted to the B-hyve unit. The B-hyve license agreement (aka terms) appears to follow strong European Union GDPR Personal Info (PI) regulations. I've contacted Orbit and asked if they collect or retain my router password. if Orbit doesn’t reply or replies affirmatively, I’ll have to think about whether the risk is worth keeping the unit. There’s NO reason why the router password needs to leave my home network and collecting it on Orbit servers would be an absolute breach of trust. I spent at least a couple of hours trying to program the B-hyve the first time. I was interested in watering my lawn (2 circuits/channels) using the "smart watering" feature, which uses inputs like soil, plant type, location info, and weather data to determine when and how to water. I was willing to abandon my wired outdoor Toro rain sensor that I used with my Rainbird controller. However my hanging plants and planters need every day, 2-3 times daily watering, once at 3p at the hottest part of the day. After over an hour of dicking around with "smart watering", I set up a manual program for the planters. Oh, btw, I had to go online to find out that you set up manual programming from the app Home screen, which is an Industrial Engineering FAIL since the app starts you on the Zone screen on first time startup (as in WTF Home screen? Oh That Home screen!) The thing about Smart Watering is that it forced the start time for my lawn watering at 6am. Apparently it's not smart enough to work around my planter manual program, and after much effort trying to change the Smart Watering start time, moved my manual program start time instead. That took about 30mins of dicking around. The Smart Watering system broke up my lawn watering into 3 cycles, repeated back to back. I guess that's to help the water sink in and reduces run off. Ok. I can deal with that, even though my yard is relatively flat. When I moved my control wires from my Rainbird to the B-hyve, I screwed up the order. But when connected for the first time, only #3 controller worked. And then when I cycled through the zones, only #3 turned on a circuit. After some trial error, it seems like the B-hyve gets confused if you power it off and on and DON'T close and restart the app. That said, I was more careful to insert the control wires fully and tighten it down with the (included! thx!) mini screwdriver. The cavity behind the cover was able to accommodate all the extra wire (power and control), so the finished installation is very neat (excellent!) I will say, the wifi convenience is nice. I can test/check the sprinkler system from anywhere in the yard, whereas in the past I would be running back and forth like a chicken with his head cut off. And I can monkey with the settings while relaxing in my living room. I also run a copy of the Android app in a Windows Bluestacks emulator session, for the rare instances I'm on my laptop and am too lazy to reach for my phone. And I resurrected my Toro rain sensor for one of my manual, backyard circuits, where all plants receive rain. (Update 5/1/21) Email reply extract from Orbit, regarding the B-hyve app's use of the router password: The password is not saved at all. It is only used to access the router, and it is never seen on our end by a person. That information is not stored. S****** D. B-hyve Project Manager

Same unit as 8 zone. Just less taps

I had an old Rain Bird timer that required the manual in my hand to program or change. This is much more user friendly. Only problem I have had is it wants to water twice. I think that is because I added a second schedule and use smart watering. That is user error. Otherwise, the interface is intuitive and easy to use. I can't say how long it will last, but for the price it is worth the chance.

Easy to set, program and control your sprinklers. Also can connect to your flume water monitor if you happen to have one of those I got the 6 zone unit so you have plenty of zone control Excellent price for what you get

Funcionó muy bien para regar 3 jardines con una bomba centrífuga. El programador, configurado previamente con la app b-hyve en el celular, activa la bomba a través de sus terminales pump y com que dan los 24 voltios que activan la bobina de un relay o contactor que conecta la corriente de 127 voltios a la bomba. Hay que tener cuidado con los días que supuestamente va a llover porque el programador no se activa, según para ahorrar agua, entonces en la aplicación hay que deshabilitar está función o activar el riego manualmente si no llueve.

I have purchased this product to replace an old Orbit 1024 controller. The connection was straight forward. One to one connection, as my old controller, 1 wire per zone and the common wire. With an additional pair for the power which is ac, so there is no positive or negative to worry about. I would have liked to use my old transformer as the wires were already nicely anchored along the wall but the old transformer was a 26vac 600ma while the new one is 24vac 750ma. Close but to avoid potential issues with the wifi module, I have replaced the old transformer. The programming was simple because it uses similar principles as my old controller. With the ABCD groups and the Zones. If I hadn’t seen this on my old controller, I presume I would have had to look up programming instructions. Seeing other reviews (which are old and maybe outdated) who report issues with rain delays and smart watering, I have disabled all these features for now. My primary goal was to be able to manually force watering remotely. So for now all went well, setup was good, it used Bluetooth to my phone app to get the wifi setup. And first night of scheduling worked as expected. It is highly customizable as for even / odds / selectable week days / multiple watering schedules on same day. My only concern so far is that the logo on the controller which is illuminated by an LED seems to have a very slight flicker. This is barely noticeable unless you stare at it from close (yes i did that). This is not a problem, but I wonder if it hides an issue waiting to emerge. I will do an update if anything else comes up.

Fácil instalar, hasta el momento me ha funcionado de maravilla

Easy to set up. Easy to program. Worked right out of the box. Really great upgrade from my old sprinkler timer.

Funciona de maravilla y fácil de programar con la app, y a una fracción del costo del RainBird y otros.