🌿 Stay connected, stay green — control your irrigation from your pocket!
The Rain Bird LNK WiFi Module is a plug-in accessory for ESP-TM2 and ESP-Me irrigation controllers (post-November 2016) that enables full remote management of watering schedules via mobile devices. This WaterSense-certified module offers easy installation and smart water-saving capabilities, empowering users to optimize irrigation anytime, anywhere.
R**R
Rainbird WiFi very pleased
exactly what I ordered with fast delivery! Works like a charm. Easy to connect to my network and now I can control my irrigation from anywhere on the planet!
C**S
Makes using the system so much easier
I read the other reviews before purchasing this, so I was hesitant, but decided to take the plunge anyway.It just annoyed me having to go out to the garage and mess with a cumbersome interface to program and run the irrigation system. To set a program would take forever it seemed.With this device, I can do it with my phone, it only takes minutes, and is much more intuitive. I can also run the program anytime I want from anywhere in the world. It also helps with maintenance as I can activate any zone while in the yard so I don't have to have someone else turn it on for me. Each zone can be manually activated for as little as a minute at a time and turned off instantly.I know a lot of people talked about connectivity issues with the controller, but so far I haven't experienced any. However, we do have a mesh wi-fi system, so we have excellent coverage throughout the house. The closest node is in the laundry room next to the garage and is probably about 20-25 feet away through a wall and gets about a -55 dbm signal strength.Sometimes when trying to connect to the controller from the app, it can take about 20 or 30 seconds before coming up, but it's not an issue at all. Setup was easy through the app and only took a few minutes.Overall, I highly recommend this product if you want better and easier control over your sprinkler system.
B**G
Just right!
Perfect. Allows wifi to sprinkler control box!
S**R
Works great w/ nearby router or wifi extender
First off, I was a little hesitant at first to buy this because of the oft mentioned issued with wifi. I went ahead and did it anyway, wanting to give it a shot.I quickly found out that these issues with the wifi were very much correct. I had all sorts of issues trying to set this up with my router in the closest room to the Rain Bird module.I ended up buying a wifi extender for my Nest camera and with its placement in the garage, decided to fiddle with the Rain Bird again.With the extender literally right underneath the Rain Bird module, I have had zero issues and couple with the app, am able to quickly and easily mess with the sprinkler system. It’s awesome and I really enjoy how easy it is to use.I am often sitting in the couch when birds aplenty come into my backyard to eat my grass seed...I quickly open the app, then the back yard zone on manually, and within seconds the birds are gone!Really pleased with this purchase, but the issues with wifi are real. With an extender, though, I have had no issues and am very happy.
M**K
Needs Permanent Hot Spot Mode - Has to be constantly rebooted.
09 October 2020 update: I searched and searched on the Rain Bird site and could find no solution to this sleeping hot spot problem. But out of frustration I just put "rain bird LNK WiFi permanent hot spot mode" into a search engine and up popped a page on the Rain Bird site explaining that a firmware upgrade in June 2019 added this feature. Put that phrase into your favorite search engine and you will be able to put your LNK WiFi into permanent hot spot mode so that it is actually available when you try to connect. I added a single star to the review now that I have found a solution to this problem. This was not in the LNK WiFi literature and was extremely difficult to find on the website. If it had been easily available I probably would have given this 5 stars.28 September 2020 update: with a little more trial and error the LNK WiFi module can be placed back in hotspot mode without rebooting the system. Pressing the LNK WiFi button will again put it back into hotspot mode without rebooting the entire controller. This is slightly less klugey - but still requires me to go down to my basement first before operating my sprinklers remotely from outside or editing the program from somewhere other than the basement, etc. Not a significant improvement and I think I was still too kind on the rating. Rain Bird needs to fix this behavior and needs to replace my unit once they do!The app is not terrific, but acceptable. The LNK WiFi module has an acceptable range - would be better if my controller wasn't located in my basement utility room. But the system is, effectively, never available. Rebooting the system (unplugging for a few seconds) it works fine. I can walk around the yard and manipulate the irrigation zones - and I really didn't want a lot more than that. But within 20-25 minutes after disconnecting the WiFi link module the module stops broadcasting its SSID (perhaps even powers down?) so the only way to use the unit again is to unplug and reboot the system to get the LNK WiFi broadcasting again. It then works perfectly fine.In an attempt to get around this problem I added a WiFi Extender, hoping that if the WiFi Extender maintained connection to the LNK WiFi module the module would keep broadcasting its SSID. And I wanted to extend the range further into my yard as well. That worked fine to extend my range, but failed to solve the SSID problem. The LNK WiFi module invariably stops broadcasting its SSID between 20 and 25 minutes after it is no longer actively used. And, again, the only way to get the LNK WiFi module rebroadcasting its SSID again (so that it can be used) is to unplug the entire controller for several seconds and plugging it back in to reboot the LNK WiFi module. This works, but is really unacceptably poor behavior.The latest update of the app also seems to have broken one of the functions. To test RSSI signal strength I tapped on the WiFi symbol on the app - but it reports "No Signal RSSI 0 dBm" even when I am clearly connected to the controller (at a distance of a few feet!). And it reports 0 dBm whether I am connected directly to the LNK WiFi module or I am connected to the WiFi Extender, which for this testing was also plugged in just a few feet away in the same room.For the images, the LNK WiFi module has SSID RAINBIRDxxxxxx and I gave the WiFi Extender an SSID of RAINBIRDxxxxxx_EXT. The system was rebooted and I connected successfully to the app through both the LNK WiFi and the WiFi Extender shortly before 0830 and disconnected at 0830 (telling my phone WiFi to forget both hotspots). I turned my phone WiFi on again to display available hotspots at 0835 as shown in one of the images. I rechecked the available WiFi hotspots every 5 minutes after that until, sometime between 20 and 25 minutes after 0830 the LNK WiFi module stopped broadcasting its SSID. The WiFi Extender is still and always does broadcast its SSID, but looking at the WiFi Extender the light that indicates it is connected to its host also goes out between 20-25 minutes after disconnecting the Rain Bird app from the controller indicating it also no longer sees and SSID broadcast from the LNK WiFi module.I have given the module 3 stars because it does do what is is supposed to do. I should give it 2 stars because of the poor design, but it does function correctly when it functions and there is an easy work around to keep it functioning correctly, even if it is an annoying work around.
N**4
Good product, easy to use
This product works well. I popped in to the Rainbird controller slot and followed the instructions to set it up. When configuring, remember there are two different networks that you need to work with, one in an ad-hoc mode that allows you to configure, change passwords etc and regular network that allows you to control the controller from the app. Also, when selecting password for the controller, keep it without any special characters and there is a length limit too. It did not give me any errors when I had those but later when tried to access it, it would fail to access the controller (if I want to change anything), until I reset the password. Other than that it is easy to setup. App however could be a bit better with proper features and better interface. But it does the job. Happy with the purchase.