What is the difference between the 1st and 2nd Gen B-hyve Indoor/Outdoor timer

While both generations of the B-hyve Indoor/Outdoor timers look almost identical, they have 2 main differences. You can tell the difference by looking at the PROG button on the timer. If it says ABC, it’s a 1st-Gen and the ABCD is the 2nd-Gen. The letters stand for how many programs can be created.

The second difference is how the timer is set up through the B-hyve app.

    First Gen Activation

The 1st-Gen Indoor/Outdoor Timer uses WiFi to pair, so the timer will broadcast a temporary WiFi signal from within, which the customer will connect to on their phone from their WiFi settings.

On both iOS and Android, the app will ask to connect to an Orbit_SmartHome_XXXXXX network (the X’s will be part of the MAC Address). On iOS, you will go into the phone’s settings to find the network, and on Android,  you will stay in the app.

This step is because there is no Bluetooth, so the way they connect to the timer is by locating this network. After locating/connecting to the Orbit network, they’ll be able to connect to their personal WiFi network.

Second Gen Activation

2nd-Gen Indoor/Outdoor timers use Bluetooth to pair instead of connecting to the Orbit_SmartHome network. When you begin pairing the timer, it will search for the Bluetooth signal coming from the timer. You need to make sure that Bluetooth is enabled on the device you are using to set up the timer.

Once it finds the timer, it will ask to confirm the MAC Address of the device. (This also means that the 2nd GEN timer can be used with Bluetooth only, if you are within range)

One additional feature that the GEN 2 B-hyve Indoor/Outdoor timer has is that it can be used as a 1st GEN hub for our B-hyve hose faucet timer.

Back to Support page
Tags: 1st-gen, 2nd-gen, abc, abcd, b-hyve, bhyve, difference, indoor-outdoor