[tombammann]

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I think consider this: XTAR New 8-Pack 1.5V AA 4150mWh Rechargeable Li-ion Batteries with Low-Voltage Indicator (LC8+8-Pack 1.5V AA 4150mWh)

In my local currency it is on sale and great value.

Actually, I’ve ordered a NiMH cross-compatible version of the above, which is more expensive, but allows for me to use my old batteries also in this charger. I will potentially only buy 1.5V lion rechargeables from hereon, as required.

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Here’s an example of engineered voltage drop.

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[tombammann]

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They would certainly work, but won’t give you the low voltage indicator.

“1.5V Constant Voltage Output ♻️: AA lithium batteries are continuously stable and output 1.5V voltage for the whole process until the charge completely depletes.”

Check out XTAR, they give a low voltage output indicator. I’m considering XTAR but they only do AA and AAA, not C, D, and 9V which I’d also like for a few other things around the home. Hoping to fully convert to a single brand and not mix and match. I might end up with XTAR for AA/AAA and Pale Blue Earth for C, D, and 9V. (Note, you can get ‘spacers’ to convert AA batteries into C or D batteries, but, 9V batteries are a bit more tricky to replace – might be easier for me to change my two devices that use 9V batteries to more modern alternatives!!)

[tombammann]

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Better to use disposable in that they are 1.5V, but, if you regularly change the 1.2V rechargeables then it isn’t a problem, and you reduce your environmental footprint. However, if you use 1.5V lithium rechargeables (only available in recent times, not too many brands available yet), then disposables have absolutely no advantage. Other than being cheaper up-front. So, you really could go to whomever gave you the advice of “best to use disposables” and update them on modern 1.5V rechargeable battery options. It really just depends! In fact, some of the 1.5V rechargeables now will seriously outperform a lot of the disposables, in many ways. It is really not that clear cut.

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Sorry I don’t have any solution, but this is what I’ve learned.

It’s an interesting question. The devices do not know the remaining capacity of the battery, they can only measure the voltage. Rechargeable NiMH batteries which are 1.2V, will only display as about 70% to 80% when fully charged. Some rechargeable batteries like the LiOn which are available in a regulated 1.5V, will run at 1.5V until they suddenly die. Or, some better tech rechargeable batteries intentionally drop the voltage when teh capacity is low so that electronics devices can tell when they’re about to die and display a low battery warning to the user. (Note, no devices can measure the battery capacity, only the battery voltage). Disposable batteries are generally going to show a low voltage until they die, but some of the new lithium disposable batteries I think will push out 1.5V all the way until the very end until they suddenly die. So, for the bhyve to display a low battery warning prior to dying, they have to have batteries in which the voltage will slowly decay before dying. Note that the bhyve faucets work even for 1.1 to 1.2V. I assume that there’s a particular voltage state in which the bhyve sends out a low battery warning, but that there is not a particular voltage in which it prevents them from turning on, or, if there is, it is very close to the voltage in which the device can’t close or turn them off again. This is sloppy engineering for sure, and it’s bitten me twice. Before I go away on holiday, I will be changing all batteries over. I don’t rely on the % indicators at all, I just currently have NiMh rechargeables which every 2 months I remove them all, and charge them all up. (Actually, I have plenty spare, so I can remove-replace-charge in batches until they’re all replaced). But if going away on holiday for a month or so, you’ll probably want to grab some new 1.5V disposables to be sure that they last.

For what it’s worth, proper irrigation solenoids work by *requiring* power to stay on, but, for a battery powered device, this would be quite draining to require power to hold a solenoid open. With those, a loss of power results in them closing. You can also use irrigation main electric master solenoid valves, which open only when using the sub-circuit valves. This adds redundancy just in case a sub-circuit solenoid fails, particularly useful if you do go away for long periods of time I suppose.

Unfortunately for me, I have not worked out an easy way (yet) of converting to such a superior system, and hence why I have a whole bunch of these temperamental tap faucet valves. It is just sad that bhyve have never implemented the feature they promised that they would when the devices first came out, which was for them to work as a cohesive system working one at a time. But alas, they deleted the old user forum to cover that up, and here we are, still not smartly detecting the type of battery and cutting out at an appropriate voltage to prevent damage to things from leaving a zone on for days at a time until a good neighbor notices.

[tombammann]

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Those who have got the updated iOS (or Android?) app, and your firmware updated, what model faucet and what firmware revision are you now on? I’m on Android, app updated 26th May, Faucet model HT25-0000, Firmware 0041, and it still keeps wanting to update firmware, but failing. “Your firmware update is taking longer than expected”, and never completes. Hub is the v1, BH!-0001, Firmware 0030, no updates available for it.

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Is there a fixed android app yet?

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Hi imabanana, welcome! Now, heed my advice. If you’re within your return period, do it. Buy something else instead. This is the best advice you’ll get all year from anyone. Most of us here still suffering through issues are people that started buying these devices many years ago, slowly bought into it more and more and completed our whole house gardens with these faucet controllers, all on the promise that there were more features coming (such as where they all will behave as a single device, not as individual controllers, so they are supposed to be able to prevent concurrent watering). But the company was sold years ago, and is no longer invest 1 cent in R&D, or feature improvements via firmware. It’s old firmware on old tech.

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I think the fact that they deleted the vast knowledgebase of the community forum and replaced it with this forum, which no longer has any Orbit staff helping people, answers your question succinctly. The answer to your question is, nothing is going on with b-hyve. Correct me if I’m wrong, but there has been no active development on the bhyve app for years.

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Only by setting Watering Restrictions or by setting Preferred Start Time. Orbit lied to customers years ago, saying that they would implement a feature to avoid concurrent watering. Even their staff replied on the forums stating it would happen, and the original packaging said it already does this. But the feature never came, and then this exact forum was 100% wiped and deleted with no notice, presumably to bury the evidence. Some retailers still believe that the devices can be set to avoid concurrent watering as originally advertised years ago.

It is really sad, I bought more of these devices on the basis of their promises, which never came to fruition. I 100% intend to convert over to another system in due time and no longer recommend them for exactly this reason. Other brands provide smart tap outlets with such functionality so I don’t understand why Orbit can’t provide the same. The ‘hub’ is nothing more than a gateway for each one to access the internet, there really is not interfacing of data exchange between these “smart” devices, they only provide WiFi mesh, that is all.

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If your drippers aren’t individually pressure regulated, then the flow rate will wildly vary. Pressure regulated drip heads in drip lines cost more, but are available. The cheaper drip lines will not be individually pressure regulated.

In the bhyve app, you can only reset the flow rate by doing the “Recalibrate Flow Rate” option, go into Zones, select the zone, and then Recalibrate Flow Rate, and hit the big Test button.

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In the app, click on My B-Hyve in the lower right corner, then B-Hyve Account, then scroll all the way down, and select Metric.

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I’m not quite sure hoe to help but this step might be useful as a process of elimination. When using the app on your phone to setup the wifi on the bhyve device, turn off your mobile data, run your phone purely from WiFi. This way you can be sure that the bhyve device can get the WiFi SSID and password from your phone.

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This forum never gets Orbit’s replies. They were many hundreds of posts in the “old forums” from customers that had bought the faucets based on Orbit previously advertising that they will work to make them function as zones. But then that flipped around and now they’re saying they never said that and never will. Then they deleted the old community forums with zero notice to us users. You tell me whether or not that’s to erase all history of the false claims they made to their loyal users? Either way, this is the new community orbit forum they provide for us, where no Orbit support person ever participates in.

We are well aware that there’s other controllers out there. The issue being that if you’ve already invested in the Orbit system, and just have a little bit more to expand to complete your property, then you may as well stick with the one platform. Unless you do a complete replacement over your installation of course. I think you need something for your homeowners association with some real product support. BHyve seems to be very much in a declining state, as if Orbit was bought out by an investment holding company and they axed feature development many years ago.

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My understanding is that they form a WiFi mesh. Only the hub needs to have good access from your WiFi router or WiFi access point, and then at least one of the bhyve faucets needs to be within range of the bhyve usb hub. Then every other bhyve faucet needs to be within range of at least one other faucet which in turn is within range back to the bhyve hub.

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