Rain BirdESP-TM2 12 Station WiFi Ready Indoor/Outdoor Controller | TM2-12

We had our original sprinkler system installed in like 2004. The control panel was installed at the same time and it was a good system as well for many years. Mostly it just was outdated and needed to be replaced. The rain module stopped working after the outside sensor was basically broken down by the intense Texas sun. This spring it was around the 20 year old time frame and I have essentially been unplugging it in the winter months and reprogramming it every spring. I was an Electrician and had my own company until 2012 or so and so.d it. I just purchased the Klein Tools wire marking labels so that I didn’t get the zones out of order.We have 11 zones and I didn’t want to get them out of the sequence they were originally placed in. The installer made a great mapped chart of our yard and where the heads are located and what zone they are on. We recently had a sprinkler guy come out and do an “audit” of the system as we have planted some trees and bushes that are now much more mature than they use to be and some are blocking large areas of the yard that aren’t getting enough water due to the trees trunk size and the growth of the bushes. We are going to have some head’s replaced, some moved from out of the bushes and more directly onto the lawn. He found a broken pipe , so I’m g.ad we had him come out and do the audit. He’s going to move some of the heads out of the bushes and put them in a better position for proper watering. I changed the control panel out in like 15 minutes or so actual time as it was a hot day and I would go inside the house to cool off. I’m very impressed with how well and easy this system is to program. Our old system had a bunch of manual switching and knob turning required to set it to water on the days we’re able to water. I was completely shocked at how little water was actually getting into the yard and how much water was being blocked by trees. The cost to fix the damaged heads and move them out of the bushes and trees was a whole lot cheaper than I expected it to cost. He’s going to clean each head, replace a couple that are not moving and move four heads out of the blocked areas for far less than I expected. He’s also going to raise some of them up and straighten out some that are not level.I bought this as a system with the controller, the rain detector so it doesn’t run if it’s raining, and a Wi-Fi module. A lot of people have been complaining about the Wi-Fi module not getting a signal from their modems and even not working with an extender in the garage. Fortunately, I have not had any issues with connectivity to my modem as our smart home controller is linked to this and it can be used either with an iPhone or iPad from anywhere we are at or controlled by the smart home controller.A huge improvement over our previous panel as some of the switches had broken off and the rain sensor had been broken since around two years after installation. The rain sensor is nice, but if the battery is low and we’re not home our on vacation, we can turn off the program for that evening. Quite impressive and very well designed for easy homeowner installation as well. This is like 1/8 th the size of our old controller and there’s plenty of room inside the device to put the wires in without having to modify them. I looked at another controller and the first issue that was mentioned was that the controller was hard to get the wires in the unit and get the cover on. Do I went with what I’m familiar with and I’m extremely glad I did.The sprinkler guy who checked our system and will be doing some modifications said it is one of the best and easiest models to install and use. He also said that he had a similar model, but he doesn’t have the Wi-Fi model and he plans to buy this identical system. Every component of the system originally installed except the pipes is Rain Bird and the rain sensor was not , but added on and it didn’t last long. It initially got rain inside the outside sensor as the battery ( a C cell battery) was put in through the top. The Rain Bird has a coin style battery that goes into the bottom. So getting a good 20 years out of the old control panel was pretty good. The broken sprayers are ones that are by the edge of the driveway, do I’m sure they have been run over a few times. But otherwise, the rest of the sprinkler heads are still running fine. I’m very pleased with the new system and I am very glad that I bought it over the other model I looked at.

Easy to install. Worked on all of my zones

I highly recommend this adapter for anyone who has this rain-bird sprinkler system. Installation was quick - you just pull off the front panel and plug it in and then download the app and follow the instructions to connect. It hooks into your wifi so once it's set up once you can control it from anywhere as long as your phone and the device has internet. The application is much more user friendly and intuitive than entering in all of your zones and settings directly on the device and it's super easy to change on the fly.

We put our sprinkler system in 21 years ago and the controller worked like a champ……until it didn’t! I’d never even looked at sprinkler controllers until it died and when I came across this one with WiFi capability I jumped on it! My controller is under the house in the crawl space and whenever I needed to change run times or turn the system on or off or whatever, I had to go under there with the creepy crawly things that live in a crawl space. My imagination always went wild when I opened that door! Fast forward …….pulling the old control box out and installing this new one was as easy as could be, especially since the wires(on the old box) were already labeled with the correct zones, so we just hooked them up to the corresponding zone on the new controller. I bought the WiFi module separately since it was cheaper than as a a combo deal…go figure. Downloaded the Rainbird app, synced it to my phone and I was programming in record time! We have a 3 acre yard and I can walk around the yard and if I see something that needs an additional runtime or adjustment it’s as easy as pulling out my phone and making the adjustment right there and then without walking back up the hill and under the house. Oh my goodness!!!!!!! Where has this thing been for the last 21 years of my life?! I checked on the system when I was out of town last weekend to make sure all was good just because I could! I like this controller so much I am going to order one for my Mom’s system.***This controller/app gave me a message that one of my valves shorted out and the zone couldn’t run. Had no idea it would do this. I would never have known otherwise until plants in that zone started looking dry! Technology is great!

Nice controller. Changed from Irritrol brand to this and I'd rather have the Irritrol make as the configurations are simple however, this unit does all it says it will do.

Rainbird is living up to its name! This unit was easy to install and setup. Wiring things was easy too. Just follow the instructions or look up a YouTube video.

Love being able to remotely use and set my controller.

Never worked right.