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Hello, i have just ordered a OpenSprinkler PI to create a automatic watering system for my flowerpots (indoor usage). Im a programmer, so i dont know too much about electronics and stuff like that.
As far as i have understood, the board has output to power a number of (solenoid) valves on 24v. The ones found on the videos on your site requires pressure from a garden hose, and are also a bit too big in diameter for my use. So I have the following questions
– how much current (or power) does the valve output provide ?
– Could you you think of any valves that would fit my use, and where to buy them ?Any answer would be greatly appreciated 🙂
Most larger hardware stores, in their watering/garden section, sell watering timers such as Orbit, Pope, Rainwise, Toro etc. Most also sell the 24 VAC valves which are generally setup to connect to 19mm poly pipe.
Most dripper type applications use a 19mm main feed line & then run the smaller 4mm dripper lines teed off the 19 mm mainline. The valves, poly line, drippers, connectors etc are generally all sold in the same watering/garden/irrigation section
As additional information, this page contains some tips on sprinkler valves:
http://rayshobby.net/?page_id=207#sprinkler_valvesThanks for your answers, but they do not completely answer my questions. All the valves i find at Orbit, Pope, Rainwise and Toro requires pressure (from a garden hose or pump) to function, and since im operating indoors i dont have pressure (only gravity). I could ofc skip the valves, and instead start and stop a pump. Is there any chance i can power a pump from the output stations like the 24v pump here:
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_11151_10001_34118_-1#.UYg59Csd5NA (500gph 24V Bilge Pump, 3/4″ Port, 1.0A Draw, 1.5A Fuse, 3-1/2″H x 2-3/8″W)So you are looking for ‘pumps’ not ‘valves’. I don’t know much about pumps, but if it works with 24V AC, and the operating current is below 800mA, then it should work with OpenSprinkler.
What are you trying to do? Those pumps at West Marine are all going to be DC and not AC so they definitely won’t work directly connected to the OpenSprinkler. Even if they were AC instead of DC, they are too high of a power draw. They would need their own power source that you’d control with a relay.
Explain what you are trying to do and I’ll try to give you some ideas.
Thanks a lot for that Brandon. Im planning to create a indoor irrigation system for my plants. I live in the middle of a city and have no access to a regular garden hose outlet. So my plan is this:
– Some kind of water reservoir that sits above the plants to make use of gravity to get the water flowing.
– Out of this reservoir I will have several small plastic tubes since the different plants needs different amount of water.
– To be able to stop the water from flowing from the reservoir out the tubes i need some kind of valves on these tubes.
– These valves are operated and powered from the Opensprinkler PI
– And last, i program the Raspberry PI with some kind of schedule (or webinterface). This is the easy part since im a programmer 😉but as explained, all the valves i found requires pressure from a garden hose to be able to open/close the solenoid valve. Ofc, i could make the water reservoir so big that it creates a pressure just by the weight of the water, but i probably have to talk to the neighbor above to make that happen 🙂
So thats why i started talking about pumps. If im not able to find valves that operates without water-pressure, i need to create that pressure. And yes, I discovered that the pumps draws to much current for the Opensprinkler. But i guess, if a pump is the solution, im better off with a PiFace digital to operate a switch to power the pump on/off. And then maybe use the OpenSprinkler PI to operate valves if the pump creates enough pressure to make them work.
But obviously, i prefer not to use a pump
I think you’ve got a few options.
1. Find a low pressure valve. I did see some candidates on the web but couldn’t find manufacturer spec sheets right off so that would need to be verified to see if they would work. Some of them appear to require at least 2 or 5 PSI which would be tough to achieve with gravity alone indoors. Still that’s a lot better than the 10-15 required by a lot of sprinkler valves. Some of them appear to have options to work with 24VAC but if you can only find one that’s 24VDC then you could rectify the 24VAC from the OSPi to DC with some diodes or a pre-made rectifier. One example I found is a Dayton 2CZZ9 at Grainger and another is labeled “ELECTRONIC SHUT-OFF SOLENOID VALVE WITH QC FITTINGS 24VAC” at freshwatersystems.com. If you look at the ones at Grainger be sure to click through to the catalog page as it seems to have clearer info than the web page to me. They do seem pricey though.
2. Find a way to hook sprinkler valves into your pluming. You can get tees that screw in to regular faucet hookups for example and with the right fittings you could just hook them up to regular sprinkler valves. Depending on your water pressure you might need a pressure regulator to bring the pressure down to whatever level your outlets need – ie some drippers require max 25 PSI, others might be lower. Look at homedepot.com item 100156718 for an example.
3. If you have to use a water pump – I’d look at the sprinkler pump relays (ie Orbit 57009). If you get one of those it would just hook into the OSPi as a master valve and it would cut electric in and out to the pump. You’d need a pump that uses normal 110 volt AC power. Get a small inexpensive extension cord, cut it in half, and wire it in to the relay. Then you can just plug the pump in easily. If the pressure it outputs is high enough to operate standard sprinkler valves then you should be good to go, or just get some of the lower pressure valves referenced above.
HTH,
BrandonBTW if you can’t find a suitable 110 volt pump but can find a 12vDC or 24vDC one, you can still use the pump relay with an additional power supply dedicated to the pump.
Would something like this be part of your solution?
http://www.dripdepot.com/drip-irrigation-kits-for-clean-water
It’s not quite what you are looking for but you may be able to adapt some ideas/parts from it.
That picture has a rain barrel. If you wanted to have an indoor rain barrel you could attach a pump to it. That would get you the pressure needed to connect regular valves to.
Craig
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