Eve Aqua Review: Easily Turn Any Hose Into a Smart Irrigation System
The Eve Aqua is a great way to keep your plants or lawn watered without needing to lift a finger. You simply attach it to any outdoor faucet to automate watering. Compatible with Apple HomeKit, you can use the Apple Home app and Siri for quick and easy control. The Eve app is a great way for more control options, including scheduling, along with additional features like showing how much water has been used.
The key to keeping your lawn or plants healthy is something we all love to hate: frequent watering. Especially in the summer, when we all want to stay cool and comfortable, it’s probably time to head outside and find the sprinkler for the grass or the hose to keep your flowers hydrated.
Thankfully, Apple HomeKit fans can take advantage of the Eve Aqua to help automate the watering process, to save time while keeping your patch of the great outdoors healthy. Let’s take a look at the smart irrigation controller.
What Is Eve Aqua?
Eve Aqua is a small irrigation control valve that screws into any existing hose faucet on the outside of your home. Before doing that, you’ll need to insert two AA batteries into the rear of the controller. That should provide you with up to five months of power before needing to be replaced and should last through the spring and summer. You’ll want to remove it during winter to prevent it from freezing up.
Another big plus of the Eve Aqua is that it doesn’t need a full-time internet connection; especially important since your Wi-Fi signal might not reach the furthest areas of your yard. Once you set it up, it’s completely autonomous and doesn’t need any additional internet connection.
To get the most use of the controller, you’ll need an Apple Home Hub. Once youset up a Home Hub(which can be an Apple TV, HomePod, or HomePod mini), you’re able to unlock a number of other features including scheduling and additional automation features.
While the Eve Aqua will normally communicate with a Home Hub via Bluetooth Low Energy, it can also use the Thread network if you have a compatible hub and another full Thread device like a lightbulb. A Thread network provides several advantages, including longer range and more stability than Bluetooth. I’ve been using the Eve Aqua on my Thread network and have been impressed with the stability of the connection.
Eve Aqua Installation and Setup
Getting the controller set up takes just a few minutes. After installing the batteries, attach the Eve Aqua to the hose faucet. Then attach the hose to the controller itself.
If you haven’t already, download the Eve app for iPhone. While you can stilladd the controller to Apple HomeKit using the Home app, the Eve app is a must-have. Along with being able to add the device to your Home setup, it provides a number of other features not available through Apple’s app.
In the Eve app, head toSettingsand choose the+in the top right-hand corner. Follow the instructions to complete setup.
Using the Eve Aqua
As mentioned, the Eve app provides the most functionality for anyone using the Eve Aqua. First up, you can easily turn the water flow on and off. While the controller uses HomeKit and the Eve app, you can also turn the flow on and off with a button on the front of the Eve Aqua itself.
Another great feature is the ability to schedule watering. You can create up to seven different schedules with a specific time to begin and the watering duration. There is also an opportunity to use times around sunrise and sunset.
I’ve been using the scheduling feature for a few weeks, and it has been great. While I have an automated sprinkler system for my lawn, I have a large flower pot that needs to be hand watered. I’ve set the Eve Aqua to water for a few minutes late at night for maximum water retention. You can set a maximum of seven watering periods per day. While I just have a single flower pot, you can easily add a larger irrigation system.
Below the scheduling feature in the app, you could see exactly when the Eve Aqua was turned on. You can also customize the default duration for how long the Aqua will turn on after manually starting the water. If you’ve ever started watering and forgotten to turn off the hose and woken up to a flooded lawn, that feature is priceless.
At the bottom of the Eve Aqua control settings is a quick view of approximately how much water you’ve used with the control valve.
You can also use the Home app to control the Eve Aqua, even though there are fewer features available.
Through Home, you can turn the controller on and off. You can also change the default run time and view the battery. One of my favorite HomeKit features of the Eve Aqua is Siri control to turn the hose flow on and off.
My hose faucet is tucked behind a number of bushes and is difficult to get to, but I can use a quick Siri command to turn the water flow on or off from anywhere. That has turned out to be massively helpful when watering and even washing my car. Even if I don’t have an iPhone nearby, I can just use Siri on my Apple Watch.
A Built-in Shortcut in Case of Rain
The Eve Aqua is a great way to help automate your watering on a daily basis. But there may be days when rain is forecasted, and you don’t want to over water. Eve includes a great way to help you easily suspend watering for the day when the weather is rainy. you may use a Check Watering shortcut that taps into Apple’s own built-in Shortcut technology.
To install the Check Watering shortcut, open the Eve app and select the Eve Aqua. Next, chooseScheduleand select the gear icon under Schedule. Scroll down and then tapSchedule Suspension. Finally, tapInstall Siri Shortcutand then follow the on-screen instructions. You’ll need to set your home’s location and the chance of rain threshold above to pause watering.
When set up, there are two ways to run the shortcut. Along with a quick Siri command, it can also be accessed through the Shortcuts app. If you run the Shortcut before 12 p.m., the chance of rain is checked for the day in Apple’s built-in Weather app.
If the precipitation chance is above your set threshold, watering will be paused for that day. When accessing the Shortcut after 12 p.m., it will check the forecast for both today and tomorrow and adjust the watering accordingly.
I’ve used the shortcut since I installed the Eve Aqua, and it’s worked exactly as advertised. It is a nice way not to use water when it’s not needed.
Eve Aqua Makes Watering Easy in Any Season
While the Eve Aqua is a bit expensive for what it provides, it does exactly what it promises. Even though you’ll need to be an Apple HomeKit user to take advantage of the watering automation features, it provides a truly set-it-and-forget-it way to keep your lawn and plants healthy.
Along with making life a bit easier indoors, smart home technology also makes working outside your home simple. So, enjoy keeping cool indoors while the Eve Aqua takes care of the thankless watering task.
A smart sprinkler system can help you save money and water. What’s the best smart sprinkler system for your home?
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