Orbit B-Hyve 12-Station Smart WiFi Sprinkler Timer - Review 2022

If you have an in-ground sprinkler system, there'due south a good chance information technology's being controlled by an Orbit Irrigation Products controller. Orbit has been in the business concern for more than xl years, though it'south a relative newcomers to the smart home loonshit. Its first continued controller, the B-Hyve 12-Station Smart WiFi Sprinkler Timer ($119.99), lets you lot plan your sprinkler system from anywhere using your smartphone, and offers a Smart Watering feature that keeps tabs on the weather condition, amid other factors, to determine the best watering schedule. The B-Hyve works like a charm, supports Alexa vox commands, and is easy to install, but it lacks the detailed water usage reports and third-political party integration you get with our Editors' Choice, the Rachio Gen2 Smart Sprinkler Controller.

Design and Features

The B-Hyve tin can be installed indoors or outdoors and offers congenital-in error and surge protection. It'southward housed in a gray IPX5 weatherproof enclosure that measures vi.2 by 8.7 by 3.two inches (HWD). The door panel opens to the left and has a locking mechanism and three sturdy hinges. A 55-inch heavy-duty three-pronged ability cord juts out of the bottom of the enclosure, and there are two knockouts for running your sprinkler cables into the box.

Behind the door is a control panel with a iii.v-past-two.5-inch monochrome LCD console, iv large rubberized buttons (Prog ABC, Back, Articulate, Rain Delay), and a large jog punch for accessing the carte and entering selections. With the Prog ABC push button you can create separate watering programs for dissimilar parts of your yard that require specific needs (similar lawn, bloom bed, and vegetable garden). Pressing the Rain Delay push volition cancel all watering for up to 32 days, and the Back and Articulate buttons are used to select menu items and navigate the menu system.

The entire command console swings out to the left to provide piece of cake access to the wiring terminal, which contains connections for 12 watering zones, iii common terminals, a pump terminal, two 24-volt output terminals, and a terminal for attaching a rain sensor (a six-zone timer is also available for $99). The rear of the enclosure has a built-in hanger for mounting it on a nail, or you can use the pre-formed mounting holes for a more than secure installation. The timer comes with two mounting screws and anchors, a screwdriver for securing wires to the terminal, ii keys for the door, and a user guide.

As with the Rachio Gen two, the B-Hyve offers weather-based watering cycles for each zone. Orbit'south Smart Watering feature uses information almost the soil, lord's day/shade ratio, institute type, and sprinkler type to create a watering schedule for each zone, and WeatherSense engineering uses local conditions data to conform the schedule based on past and expected rainfall totals. For example, it will initiate a rain delay if a sure amount of pelting has recently fallen or is expected to fall. You lot can also initiate your own rain filibuster from within the app or at the controller, or you can only have the timer follow a agenda-based schedule.

B-Hyve 12-Station Smart WiFi Sprinkler Timer

The B-Hyve tin be programmed and controlled manually using the onboard LCD and buttons, or with the thoughtfully designed mobile app (for Android and iOS). The app opens to a home screen that displays your scheduled watering programs and any rain delays. At the bottom of the screen are Calendar, Programme, Home, Zones, and Settings buttons.

Use the Agenda button to view programmed watering schedules and the Program button to set the schedules. Here you can configure start times, select zones, and assign watering days (every day, odd, even, interval). You can also turn Smart Watering on and off for all or specific zones. When y'all tap the Habitation button twice the app volition display all zones. Tap a zone to initiate transmission watering for a specific period of time. Utilize the Zones button to view the watering history, scheduled run times, and soil moisture level for each zone, and the Settings button to configure account and Wi-Fi settings, enable notifications, and view watering history for all zones. The history shows dates and length of watering times, simply lacks the water usage and cost reporting that you get with the Rachio Gen 2 controller.

The B-Hyve doesn't integrate with other smart home devices such equally thermostats and abode automation hubs, and information technology doesn't support IFTTT recipes, but if you have an Amazon Echo, Tap, or Dot, you lot tin can use Alexa voice commands to initiate a bevy of actions. You can use your vocalization to water all zones or specific zones for a certain period of time, initiate and cancel a rain filibuster, skip a zone, turn the timer on and off, and run a specific program. You can also have Alexa tell yous when the lawn was last watered and when the next scheduled watering will take place.

B-Hyve 12-Station Smart WiFi Sprinkler Timer

Installation and Performance

Installation was easy. I have a five-zone organization, so before I removed my existing controller I took a moving-picture show of the wiring to make sure each zone was wired correctly. I connected each zone wire to its respective terminal, and the white wire to the common terminal. I hung the controller on a screw and plugged it in. At outset information technology looked like it wasn't getting whatever ability because the LCD panel didn't lite up. As it turns out, the LCD panel isn't backlit and can be very difficult to read in depression calorie-free, so bring a flashlight if you're putting it in a basement closet like I did. In one case I had light I could see that the Wi-Fi indicator was flashing. so I downloaded the app and created an business relationship.

In one case registered, the app prompted me to add a device. I chose This is a New Device and used my telephone'due south Wi-Fi settings to connect to the B-Hyve'south SSID. When I returned to the app the timer was immediately paired and I entered my home Wi-Fi information. One time I was continued to my dwelling house Wi-Fi I was prompted to enter my zippo code (for local weather forecasting and atmospheric condition) and how many zones I was using. It and then ran a 1-minute test on each zone and asked me to name the zones equally each test completed. When testing was finished I set up up a Smart Watering plan for each zone.

The B-Hyve worked perfectly in my tests. The timer reacted apace to my commands to manually water zones via the app and followed my calendar-based schedules without missing a beat out. I received prompt push notifications when each watering bicycle was completed, and when watering was cancelled due to a rain filibuster. Alexa voice commands also worked without a hitch; I had no problem getting the B-Hyve to h2o or skip a specific zone for a designated period of fourth dimension, or to run all zones for a period of time, and I was able to easily initiate and cancel pelting delays.

Conclusions

The Orbit B-Hyve is a solid smart sprinkler controller from a company that's been in the business for more xl years. Information technology tin can be controlled from anywhere using a mobile device and offers extensive Alexa vocalism commands, and information technology uses Smart Watering and WeatherSense technologies to create watering schedules based on your lawn and garden backdrop and the local weather. It's weatherproof and can exist installed indoors or outdoors in a thing of minutes, and information technology comes with a handy mobile app that makes programming the timer a snap. Yous don't get the detailed water usage statistics and integration with other continued devices that you lot become with our Editors' Pick, the Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller Generation 2, just it costs significantly less and is an excellent deal regardless.