[dana]

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I deleted the hub and timer, put the hub in reset, then added the hub and faucet timer. Now it works!

[dana]

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It seems the firmware updates with the new IOS app. However, I have not been able to connect to the device. I tried removing it and adding it again, but no luck. Pressing the button five times causes the LED to blink blue then green then off.

[dana]

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I just talked with a customer service rep that claimed that the units flashing the white LED will work once they have resolved the firmware issue. So the advice is to wait, timers do not need to be returned or replaced. It would be nice if they could advertise when the fix is made. But when it is, the update should work.

Also, I was told that the timer gets its wifi settings from the hub so the phone’s wifi settings shouldn’t matter.

[dana]

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Also, I should mention that I was never contacted by customer support after the escalation of my issue. I was promised they would contact me in 24-48 hours. Clearly Orbit is lacking maturity in both software processes and customer support processes.

[dana]

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I am very annoyed that the chatbot hangs up on me after providing my email address. When I try to do a warranty request via the website, I am forced to to chat system.

[dana]

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I’ve had similar problems with the chat interface too. Very frustrating! I wonder if this problem is specific to IOS?

[dana]

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update: With the assistance of customer support, I have bricked another unit. She told me that she would escalate the issue and someone should contact me in 24-48 hours. 🙁

[dana]

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Orbit sent me a replacement faucet timer for the original one I bought oner a year ago. I returned the ones I recently bought to amazon & home depot as defective. I am going to call customer service tomorrow to see if they can work around the problem. I was told on my last call that they could push the update from their end, somehow sidestepping the app based firmware update.

[dana]

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Update: I tried setting up a timer with my phone connected to 2.4G and that didn’t work either. The rep suggested calling tech support to assist in the setup, I will try to endure that with the next timer tomorrow.

[dana]

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Once the hose timer is in the state of flashing white led for a long time, the unit is “bricked” and can’t be fixed by customers. In this state, pulling the batteries has no effect and pushing the reset button (five times) won’t work. It seems this failure is that the firmware has been erased and so the boot loader can’t restart the timer.

I think the way to avoid this problem is to have your phone connected to a 2.4G wireless network before installing the timer. From conversations with a knowledgeable customer support person at obit (!) I learned that the timer inherits the wifi settings from the phone during setup. In my case, I now have pretty good coverage at 5G and had my phone on that network.

Part of my confusion is that the timer does have wifi… I thought it connects to the wifi hub via bluetooth.

Obviously, the app should determine whether the network is suitable for the timer, else fail out of the setup process. Also, the timer shouldn’t delete the current firmware image until it verifies the downloaded code, or at least it could test the wifi connection before committing to the update.

When I get the next replacement timer, I will see if setting the phone to 2.4G network works as expected.

It would be nice if customer service could chime in on this discussion.

[dana]

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I have bricked three timers as well. The app doesn’t let you sidestep the firmware update. I am using IOS and I selected connect (control?) by wifi in the setup process. I wonder if it matters if one chooses the bluetooth option or if this is an IOS related problem? Customer support doesn’t seem to be aware of this problem and I don’t know how to contact someone competent.

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