LinkTap G2 Smart Sprinkler Controller Review
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- Опубліковано 6 чер 2020
- If you're looking for a Smart Sprinkler controller for managing and scheduling your irrigation then the LinkTap G2 deserves a look. With multiple scheduling options, smart weather awareness and integration with Alexa and Google Home the LinkTap G2 Smart Tap Controller is a brilliant addition to your smart home.
Available here: www.amazon.com/LinkTap-Wirele... - Навчання та стиль
Link Tap started selling on Amazon in the US last month. It has excellent reviews. I’m glad to see your UA-cam review as that gives me more confidence to make my purchase. TY
I love both the units I have even after a couple of years. In the harsh conditions outside they still look good and work flawlessly. Enjoy! 👍🏻
Very helpful video. I am asking myself how the leak detection is working. E. g.: Is there an alarm if the hose behind it is leaking? We use some cheap hoses where the adapters sometimes slip off. And then the water flows uncontrollably into the garden or - even worse: into the garage.
Yes. I have had that too. There is a flow detection meter in the device so when water is flowing through, and it should be, you get an alarm. It’s worked for me twice now and saved me. Hope that helps!
The video is very helpful. I was looking for a product like this and my main concern was pipe burst. I was looking for a water timer with leak deduction. I believe this device manages everything. Does it automatically stop the water flow if it deducts a change in water flow or pressure in case of a pipe burst.
Hi Joseph - thanks for the feedback. It does manage what you need but not 100% sure of auto cut off. I believe you get notifications but it won’t auto shut off. Worth checking with LinkTap. You get notifications and others can also get them too e.g neighbours, family close to you home so they can check the fault that linktap have noticed.
@@MakeLifeClick Thanks for your reply. I need to say this again that is a good video. I sent an email to LinkTap and they told they will look into it. The Programmers can add an option to shutoff water if a fault in found and people can do a firmware update. Sounds simple to me. Thanks.
Please find the reply from LinkTap.
Thanks very much for reaching out. As shown below, our device can detect unusually high & low flow rate. The detection thresholds are user configurable. In our current implementation, when an an abnormality is detected, only push notification and email are sent out. The device won't shut off automatically. ... Maybe we should add an option in the app so user can choose to use it or not.
How far is your timer from the gateway? I ask because LinkTap claims 200m line of sight range, but I saw a review where someone said they were close together on opposite sides of a wall and they kept losing connectivity. I'd need to have them about 30m apart and through a wall.
Hi Jamie - I have it in the garage at one end of the house and it travels to the other end of the house and outside. It travels through 1 brick wall and through a range of walls and a hallway to get to that wall. There is also a door closed next to it so that's another blocker.
I also have a ridiculously wired house. I have a 2.4ghz wireless surround sound speaker set up, z-wave units, zigbee units, 2 smart home hubs (abode/SmartThings), wifi bulbs and a custom abode radiofrequency cutting through the house. My z-wave struggles a bit but the LinkTap, after at least a month of solid use has not once failed. Physically it's about 22 meters from the hub I'd estimate.
Like a 'walkie talkie' unit, anything performs well with line of sight outside with no interference so like you, I never believe the hype in real-world situations.
It is very cool that the unit gives you a strength indicator and mine goes from green to orange a lot, but even on orange it's not failed yet.
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have more questions.
Mine is about 5 meters away through a brick wall
No issues what do ever
thank you, very useful. Been using the Orbit Bhyve smart water controller for the past year and not very impressed with it. Keeps dropping wi-fi and then tells u that when you are far away on holiday. Happens every month or so. I have 4 units in contact with the gateway. I also find the programming logic overly tedious. Think i will try the Linktap system
I’m happy. The smartphone app isn’t super intuitive but the connection and reliability, after 2 years, has honestly been flawless.
@@MakeLifeClick thanks mate, i ordered 4 of these last week
i'm having the same issue now trying to connect my third and fouth, however LinkTap devices are very chucky which causes a problem when you have 4 faucets next to each other :(
I'm back again :) Have you ever tried the Netro Pixie or the Orbit B-hyve smart hose timers? With the LinkTap G2, these are my top three contenders, but I've not yet seen a side by side comparison of them. I have all of their specs but that doesn't always tell you the whole story.
I haven't tried the Netro Pixie which looks good and I may get one to review as the solar really appeals to me. Both the Netro and Orbit b-Hyve had similar concerns for me.
!: They didn't have advanced fault reporting - e,g if the unit falls off the tap, a hose is blocked or leaking.
2: And, most importantly there were too many reports of WiFi connection issues which is why I chose the LinkTap G2 for it's solid connection. It's been flawless even thought the zigbee hub is far from the tap. My WiFi would never been that consistent when the Tap is outside.
Not taking anything away from either them as they are well made products, just outlining my decisions. Hope that helps.
Make Life Click, that’s very helpful. Thank you!
@Vidivici Veni How far is/are your hose/tap outlets from a WiFi point? If they are close enough then it might be enough to give you the confidence to take on the Pixie or Orbit bHyve? I also chose the LinkTap as it has the fault protection options so I don't have a tap running unchecked and I can have neighbours and family informed if there is an issue and I am away. Also, keep in mind you only need one LinkTap hub which can power a large number of taps which might ease the pain?
Just bought a bhyve from Lowes for 69 dollars and tried it this morning. Wish I had read more reviews on it before I bought it. Not sure what the problem is with it because I never really got it to work because of connection issues. Despite being very close to a wifi hub, it could not be networked and the optional bluetooth connectivity would not work either. Back to the store it goes.
Update : I did get it to work after I viewed some youtube videos from the company about re pairing to the network ( even though it never paired in the first place ). So, ran a test on a 10 minute manual setting and it worked flawlessly. Going away for a week so I hope it works remotely or my plants will be toast. I will update this when I get back
@@rogerdubois1457 thanks for the comment. Sorry to hear that one didn't work out. I don't care what people buy, I just really hope it always works for them which in turn is good for the innovators trying to make great products. The Linktap G2 is more expensive than the deal you got on the bHyve at $69 but perhaps it's worth a shot? amzn.to/2YaEKfa
Given that this timer uses Zigbee, do you know whether or not it can integrate with Hubitat?
Hi Sarah - good question! At this time I believe the LinkTap does not support integration with other Zigbee hubs like hubitat, SmartThings, Abode, echo Plus etc.
I expect the reason for this is that it is not simply and on/off device (well it is but...) as it has lots of other features including the fault detection options and advanced weather detection. Perhaps in the future it might happen but for now I can see why they have developed their own Zigbee Hub for this.
Make Life Click, thank you!
Can you set the app to dispense a volume of water ? For instance, fill a bucket up with 5 gallons of water, and then shut off ?
Hmmm...that felt like a trick question it was so specific ;) I don't see anyway to do this unless you do it manually. That is, you can turn the tap on and watch how much water flow goes through until you hit close to that amount (what ever that water amount is) and then click off on the tap.
Does that help?
On mine you can. It lets me choose to either set a watering cycle for a duration of time or a quantity of water. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell I can't use the Eco mode (water on for a minute then off for a minute, to allow for better water absorbtion) if I set it for a quantity/volume. That feature only appears to work with the duration setting.
G2 is twice the cost of competitors. However it includes fault detection and notification. So, that feature kinda’ makes up for some of the difference, I suppose.
The connectivity is also excellent. No dropouts even from a decent distance. I now have 2 running and have no issues. So, maybe a bit more expensive but battery life etc - worth it IMO.
if I am in my other home can i control it via internet
Yes. The local operation is Zigbee but the app is cloud based so you can control it from anywhere.
Great video. Just purchased one off the of this video, waiting on arrival.
I sense a kiwi accent in here? 😀
👍🏻😬
can the water be manually turned on/off without the app?
Hey Adam - thanks for the question. Realistically, not really. You can use voice with Alexa/Google but that's not really your question. What you can do, which we all seem to do with units like this, is get a host splitter. On one side you have the LinkTap connected and the other outlet you could have a regular hose attached. That way you can control what you need better as the splitter has sub taps. If that makes sense? Something like this: amzn.to/31cPvyT or this amzn.to/3k3by3L
This way the hose to the LinkTap stays on permanently but you can control the second normal hose outlet using the on/off option there - so it's like a normal hose function with the splitter on it.
Couldn’t you just close the tap?
Yes, there is a button on the unit for manual on/off switching. (G2-s Is the latest unit with the red on-off button on the front)
The latest does now allow for this. A great update.
I have five bhyves and they work fairly well I've got no real problem.
I do find it the application that they come with is pathetic and not very intuitive at all.
Have you tried to connect the link tap to something like webcore where you can actually manually code up automation.
Hey Claire - the Google Home and Alexa integrations are intuitive enough for my use. The app offers all the options I could want but, in relation to your comment, I would like to connect the sprinkler to the Ring camera set up I have. Not sure webcore would do what I need and I don't really have a lot of time for manual interventions...probably why I gave up on home assistant. :)
I just purchased another LinkTap G2 which runs of the same hub. Still runs faultless and I've had time to try out more of the fault detection settings, including the fall detection, which worked very well.
Glad the bhyve is working for you, of should I say bhyves. Doing 5 must have also require some gardening skills!
how much did they pay u for review
Nothing. I’ve purchased 2 with no compensation. Still rave about them and their support is awesome.