Rachio Smart Lighting Controller

A Rachio Smart Lighting System combines the Smart Lighting Controller with compatible low-voltage outdoor lighting fixtures, allowing you to control landscape lighting, schedules, brightness, scenes, and automations from the Rachio App.

Whether you're installing a new system or upgrading existing landscape lighting, the system is designed to make outdoor lighting easier to manage and customize.

The Smart Lighting Controller includes the controller hardware and mounting accessories.

Lighting bundles include the Smart Lighting Controller plus compatible low-voltage fixtures, dimmable lamps and waterproof wire nuts. Low-voltage landscape wire is sold separately.

Fixtures are the light bodies (pathway, accent or flood) that house the lamps, which are the bulbs. Rachio pathway and flood fixtures are compatible with G4 lamps and the a accent light is compatible with MR16 lamps.

Rachio fixtures come with compatible, dimmable lamps.

In many cases, yes. The Smart Lighting Controller is designed to work with standard low-voltage outdoor lighting systems and is compatible with both LED and incandescent fixtures operating at 12V by default and up to 15V.

No. Most homeowners can install the Smart Lighting Controller and fixtures themselves using standard low-voltage landscape lighting practices. If you already have outdoor lighting, upgrading is often straightforward. As always, we recommend you take all electrical work seriously and if you do not feel comfortable, please contract a professional.

Yes. Using the Rachio App, you can:

• Turn lights on and off
• Adjust brightness
• Set schedules and automations
• Group zones into Areas
• Create custom scenes
• Manage multiple controllers as one

No additional app or subscription is required.

Yes. The Smart Lighting Controller can automatically adjust schedules based on local sunrise and sunset times throughout the year. The Smart Lighting Controller adjusts automatically for daylight savings.

Yes. You can create schedules for everyday lighting, holidays, seasonal changes, entertaining, security, or nighttime routines.

You can also create custom scenes that control multiple lighting zones simultaneously.

Yes. The Smart Lighting Controller supports dimming and custom brightness levels for dimmable lamps.

For best results, use compatible low-voltage fixtures and lamps designed for PWM (pulse width modulation ) dimming applications. The minimum and maximum brightness can be calibrated in the app.

Each Smart Lighting Controller supports up to 3 independent lighting zones.

Zones can be controlled individually or grouped into Areas and Scenes for simpler management.

The controller provides up to 200 watts of total power across all zones combined.

The exact number of fixtures depends on the wattage of each light. For optimal performance, we recommend operating at 70–80% of maximum capacity. This is standard practice for all lighting systems, not just Rachio.

Yes. You can expand your lighting system over time by adding compatible low-voltage fixtures, provided your total lighting load remains within the controller's power capacity.

Rachio offers three primary fixture types:

Path Lights

Designed to illuminate walkways, driveways, landscape borders, and garden paths with a soft, welcoming glow. They prioritize safety and ambiance.

Accent Lights

Designed to highlight landscape features such as trees, architectural details, walls, statues, and garden elements. Accent lights create depth and visual interest.

Flood Lights

Designed to provide broad illumination across larger outdoor areas such as patios, driveways, backyards, and recreation spaces. They are commonly used for security and visibility.

Path lights are typically used for walkways, garden paths, landscape borders.

Accent lights are typically used for trees, walls, architectural features, and visual focal points.

Flood lights are typically used for patios, driveways, backyards, security lighting.

Many outdoor lighting designs use all three fixture types together for layered lighting effects.

As a general guideline, we recommend 2–3 accent lights per tree to create balanced illumination and highlight structure and texture.

Often, yes. In landscape lighting, "accent lighting" describes the lighting effect, while "spotlight" refers to the fixture used to create that effect. The terms are commonly used interchangeably.

Yes. Flood lights provide broad, even illumination and are commonly used to improve visibility around the home and deter unwanted activity.

Clear lenses create a sharper, more focused beam and maximize brightness.

Frosted lenses diffuse light to create a softer appearance, reduce glare, and improve visual comfort. Rachio Fixtures come with a frosted lens.

Absolutely. Most professional landscape lighting designs combine path lights, accent lights, flood lights, and different lens types to create layered lighting that balances safety, functionality, and curb appeal.

However, we recommend each zone use only one lamp type. This is because you may want to adjust the brightness for accent lights different than pathway lights.

Yes. The Smart Lighting Controller is Matter-compatible and can integrate with major smart home platforms including Apple Home, Google Home and Amazon Alexa.

The Smart Lighting Controller supports 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi

Yes. The Smart Lighting Controller is designed for outdoor installation and features weather-resistant construction. Compatible outdoor fixtures are also designed to withstand rain, dust, and changing weather conditions.

After power is restored, the controller will return lights to their scheduled state based on your settings. Matter integrations may also be configured to restore a preferred lighting state automatically.

The Smart Lighting Controller supports up to 200 watts of total connected lighting across all three zones combined.

*For optimal performance and long-term reliability, we recommend designing your system to operate at approximately 70–80% of the controller's capacity (140–160W).

The Structure & Show bundle comes with 2 Accent, 2 Path, and 4 Flood fixtures. The approximate total power is 28 watts, about 14% of the total controller capacity.

The Feature & Focus bundle comes with 6 Accent, 1 Flood, and 2 Path fixtures. The approximate total power is 39 watts, about 20% of the total controller capacity.

The Guide & Glow bundle comes with 4 Path, 2 Accent, and 1 Flood fixture. The approximate total power is 25 watts, about 13% of the total controller capacity.

Each bundle uses only a small portion of the Smart Lighting Controller's 200W capacity, leaving plenty of room to add more fixtures as your landscape evolves.

You may want to add a second controller if you:

• Exceed the controller's 160-watt recommended max load
• Have a large property with lighting in separate areas (such as the front and backyard)
• Want independent control of different lighting systems
• Plan to expand your lighting system over time

Multiple Smart Lighting Controllers can be managed from the same Rachio App and grouped together using Areas and Scenes for a seamless lighting experience.