Rain Bird Irrigation ESP-TM2 ESP-Me Controller LNK WiFi Plug in Module(Open Box)

I wish I would have order a few years ago. It works great, highly recommend.

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.

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.

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.

I was over the moon when I found that RainBird had the plug-in device. Set up was simple, I was worried about controlling from another country, but used it the first days with no problem. Cancelled one watering day due to rain and am able to check it ever day. Excellent product and I will use it often. Thanks!Update July 26, 2019.Been back home in Louisiana since the end of May. No problems while abroad connecting and watering using WiFi from our Air BnB. Lawn and gardens looked great when we got home. No problems with WiFi here at home that others describe. My router is ATT located on the opposite outside wall of our home approx. 40 feet from controller and both are were new in Oct. 2017. We have occasional power outages where we live, but everything functions as it should when modem/router/bridge receive power again.I am fairly tech savvy, but no programmer, and this device was really easy to install and set up zones. We have many zones, but only 4 that I use actively for both lawns areas and flower beds.PS I am a non-retired almost 76 year-old-woman, working from home for realtors in another state.

As a follow-up to my previous post, I called Rainbird Tech Support and was delighted to speak with a person who was knowledgeable and helpful to my particular configuration. It took about twenty minutes and numerous non-intuitive to me steps to integrate the Rainbird controller into my wifi. Happily it all worked and I able to see and arrange the watering schedule we want. Seeing it on my iPad is so much more understandable than sequencing manually through the Rainbird unit. Thank you Rainbird.BobI should have read the earlier review that berated the Rainbird Apple IOS interface as not correctly designed. First, almost everything we use in our home is connected at the 5ghz signals for speed and security, and it had to be disabled while connecting. Rainbird’s WiFi only connects to 2.4ghz signals. When both signals ran simultaneously the Rainbird wouldn’t connect to my iPad. I spent much time on configuration of my Orbi router which no consumer should have to do to connect anything. The connection is still unstable.Second I programmed everything to water my simple seven zones on Program A and I wanted to make sure nothing else was programmed to run o B,C, and D. Well, Rainbird demands each program has to run at least one day. Egads! So when I looked to see what each program had, I was surprised to find a lot of irrigation planned that I hadn’t specified. The only alternative is to have one zone water on one day for a minute or two just to satisfy how the program is written.I wouldn’t mess with this, but the control panel methods are even more foreign to my way of using internet based home automation systems. On the positive side Philips Hue lighting is even tougher for me to understand.

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.

The Good--- First thing. I LOVE Rainbird sprinkler products and recommend them. I use them for several properties. Rainbird plastics engineering knows their stuff. The ESP controllers are well built, modular expansion, and excellent build quality. Five stars all the way.The Bad--- ZERO stars... for the WiFi module and software on IOS. Without hesitation the the worst software to control a simple task ever created. Sadly Rainbird hired the wrong programmer and s now stuck with an epic software lemon and has been rolled out worldwide. I finally gave in and threw the whole system in the trash and bought the competitor with R in their name. I highly doubt Rainbird management has walked through setting up and using the competition. It is night a day. Rainbird knows plastic and is saddled with HORRID software that barely functions. The R competition is a software first company , and it's a dream to use. Trust me, avoid this WiFi module at all costs.------ older reviews, after still waiting for Rainbird to update software, a near total fail ----SUFFERED through 2018 year with this horrible software, hoping they would see comments and fix things. Nope. I'll just stop with one example. The first screen has pencil, raindrop, envelope, and trash can. THATs It. Press the can and you deleted your programs. Press envelope to invite friends. Now that is important. The pencil takes you into edit mode (which you find later is also control mode), and the raindrop is manual station control (the only thing that kinda works as it should). Touch the controller picture and it does same as edit, and more pencils, camera, and trashcan. Plus now lists programs. Press run works. But the only other option is Skip Next. Skip Next WHAT? Day, station, month, meal? And try to shut a sprinkler event off (like neighbor walking up to house) and good luck.IMHO This software is a dog. Written by a novice programmer to show off their skill. This ialone is reason NOT to but this controller. I am buying a different brand. I'm tired of Rainbird being so bad. --Tah tah. Oh, forgot to mention this software contacts railbird every ten seconds. I have more contacts in my logs to railbird than ALL of my Netflix sessions. Why does my sprinkler need to contact railbird every ten seconds, and bog down my network. I could go on..... STUFF is bad folks.After several months of use, the Rainbird WiFi solution with ESPme is the BIGGEST disappointment of any product in the last 10 years. The software component (IOS) is easily the worst user interface of any product I have ever used.Pros: WiFi does work and the idea of adding this to an ESPme controller and use the same modules is great. Yes you can connect and the IOS software will talk to the controller. So YES, it does work and gives you control over the front panel. BUT...Cons: Good luck in doing anything except setting programs and letting it run. The user interface is nearly impossible to understand. You cannot see What Happened (no logs or listing of what events occurred). And the software is written from an engineer perspective, not a user perspective. This software is such a mess you must spend hours of sifting around, wondering if it is working. Absolutely terrible.Con2: The software talks across your network 10X the amount of Netflix. It slows your WiFi to a crawl with queries back to corporate every few seconds. The engineers don't have a clue what they are doing here.PLEASE.... If you do any thing to improve your life today, your best decision is DO NOT buy this product thinking you will enjoy simple control over your sprinklers. If you want pain and anguish, and good luck stopping a sprinkler in an emergency (someone walking by) or feeling a little in control. Rain Bird should be ashamed of this. They make great plastic products but the product manager and engineer for this solution blew it. And bad.Love Rainbird other products, including the controller itself. Only the software component is the problem. I hope they fix it. Moving on.

Die zahlreichen Hinweise über eine teils recht schwierige Inbetriebnahme kann ich bestätigen. Bei mir war es so, dass ich zunächst den Rain Bird Controller RZXe ohne WiFi-Modul betrieben und manuell konfiguriert habe.Die Installation der Rain Bird App auf dem Handy lief problemlos, jedoch kam zuerst keine Verbindung zw. Handy und Controller zustande. Nach zahlreichen Neustarts des Controllers funktionierte es endlich, doch wurden die über die App eingestellten Werte nicht übernommen. In einem Blog habe ich gelesen, dass der Zugriff auf GPS in der App freigeschaltet werden muss und ja, danach war eine Kommunikation zw. Handy (Android 12) und Controller möglich. Es ließen sich jedoch keine Netzwerkparameter für das WLAN konfigurieren und plötzlich funktionierte auch das Passwort des Controllers nicht mehr.Lösung: Reset auf Werkseinstellung. Danach ließ sich alles problemlos einstellen und auch die Kommunikation über das WLAN funktionierte sofort. Es erschien jedoch immer wieder die Meldung, dass das WLAN-Signal zu schwach wäre?! Der Router steht nur 5m vom Controller entfernt. Und auch die Abfrage der WLAN-Signalstärke in der App zeigte "stark". Ist wohl ein Bug.Die App ist selbsterklärend und funktioniert gut. Sogar die Beregnungssteuerung über die Wetter-App funktioniert tadellos und reduziert die Beregnungszeiten je nach Wetterbedingung. Über ein VPN läßt sich der Controller auch außerhalb des eigenen WLAN steuern und überwachen. Sehr praktisch während des Urlaubs.

Simple easy to follow installation, worked like a charm straight from the start. The internet connection factors in outside weather reports when following set irrigation schedules, putting watering on hold if rain is reported.

Con este equipo vuelves inteligente el riego, cale la pena aunque ya hay nueva version

This brings easy use and set up of your home watering systems - I am very pleased adding this was a good result.

Utilissimo per gestire a distanza il programmatore dell'irrigazione, facile da installare (eventualmente anche in proprio se in grado). E' da prendere a parte rispetto al programmatore, per cui il tutto non è proprio economico (circa 200 € il programmatore 12 stazioni più circa 150 € il modulo wi-fi), però è una vera svolta rispetto alla mia vecchia centralina.N.B.: è importante prima dell'acquisto del modulo wi-fi verificare bene la ricezione nel punto di installazione, altrimenti è ovviamente inutile ... sembra scontato ma non lo è, a volte non ci si pensa o si dà per scontato.