Gardena
Gardena Water Control Bluetooth
- Native integration
- Local control
- Bluetooth
Prices verified November 2026
Our verdict
A battery-powered tap timer with no Wi-Fi, which is exactly why it suits Home Assistant: the core integration talks to it over Bluetooth with no Gardena cloud account. The price of that is range. Home Assistant needs a Bluetooth adapter or ESPHome Bluetooth proxy within roughly 10 m of the tap, and the timer will only accept connections from adapters it has already paired with (up to 10), so swapping a dongle or adding a second proxy means re-pairing. It is a simple one-valve timer, not a multi-zone controller: if you need more than a hose-end valve, look at a wired controller instead.
What can Home Assistant control on the Gardena Water Control Bluetooth?
Built into Core as gardena_bluetooth (local polling). Home Assistant's docs list the Water Control as model 01889-20; the UK listings and the Amazon link we use are 01889-28, and the docs do not mention that code, so treat -28 as the same product by Gardena part-number family but not as doc-confirmed. The docs do not list the entities this device creates. Documented limits: offline scheduling settings cannot be changed from Home Assistant, pairing may need a factory reset first (remove the battery, hold Man., reinsert, hold ~10 s), and the official Android app can lock Home Assistant out until a factory reset or until Bluetooth is turned off on that phone.
Specs
| power | one 9 V alkaline battery (not included), about one year per UK retailer page (Tooled-Up) |
|---|---|
| range | Bluetooth, about 10 m to a phone via the Gardena Bluetooth app |
| sensor | optional Gardena Soil Moisture Sensor, sold separately |
| watering | up to 3 cycles per day, 1 minute to 7 h 59 min, up to 3 programmable schedules, rain break (Tooled-Up listing) |
| tap thread | 26.5 mm (G 3/4) or 33.3 mm (G1) |
| model number | 1889-28 (UK retail article number) |
| operating pressure | 0.5 to 12 bar (Tooled-Up listing) |
How does the Gardena Water Control Bluetooth compare?
| Product | From | Protocol | Local control | Integration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gardena Water Control Bluetooth (this product) | £66.95 | Bluetooth | Yes | Native |
| Aqara Valve Controller T1 | £69.99 | Zigbee | Yes | Zigbee2MQTT / ZHA |
| FrankEver Smart Water Valve (powered by Shelly) | £107.8 | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Yes | Native |
| Gardena Smart Irrigation Control (19032-20) | £251.69 | Bluetooth | Yes | Works with HA |
Frequently asked questions
- Does the Gardena Water Control Bluetooth work with Home Assistant locally?
- Yes. The Gardena Water Control Bluetooth is controlled locally in Home Assistant through a built-in Home Assistant core integration (gardena_bluetooth), so it keeps working if your internet connection or the Gardena cloud goes down. Control and state updates stay on your own network.
- Which protocol does the Gardena Water Control Bluetooth use, and do I need a hub?
- The Gardena Water Control Bluetooth uses Bluetooth. To pair it with Home Assistant you need a Bluetooth adapter on your Home Assistant host or an ESPHome Bluetooth proxy. Gardena's own hub is not required when you integrate through a built-in Home Assistant core integration (gardena_bluetooth).
- How much does the Gardena Water Control Bluetooth cost in the UK?
- The lowest price we have listed for the Gardena Water Control Bluetooth is £66.95 at Tooled-Up. Prices were last checked in November 2026 and change often, so confirm on the retailer's page before buying.