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Hello,
How can I set up a programm, to run 2 Stations at one Time?
It works only for the first 2 Stations.
Also if i make different Programs
As soon I say sequential the 3rd Station runs together with the first one.I would like to run Station 1 and 2 at once than Station 2 and 3 than 4 and 5 and so on.
Thanks in advance
GeorgThere are two ways: the first is to do it the ‘hardware’ way: you can insert two zone wires into the same port, and those two zones will always turn on or off together (they are parallel).
The other way is what you’ve already experimented with, the ‘software’ way: you can set each zone as ‘parallel’ zone (uncheck the ‘sequential’ flag). Keep in mind that any ‘parallel’ zone is allowed to run at the same time with other zones. So if you want zones 1 and 2 to run together, 3 and 4 to run together, then you will need two programs, one for zones 1 and 2, give the start time; then a second program for zones 3 and 4, give the start time (this will be some time after the start time of the first program if you don’t want all 4 to run at the same time).
If the two programs have the same start time, then zone 3 will always run together with zones 1 and 2, whether zone 3 is sequential or not. The reason is that ‘sequential’ only work with other sequential zones, any parallel zone will run whenever they are programmed to run. So the only way to separate group 1-2 and 3-4 would be to give the two programs different start times.
Thanks for your reply!
The thing is when I set the zones to sequential, and set a different start Time for the 2nd pair, than I need to set the start time of the 2nd pair at the end of the previous program.
But now in case the weather level says 50% than I have breaks between the programs.
I expected that the following program waits till the previous is finished.So the only solution is to change the Hardware 😒
Isn’t it possible to change the Software, and set a group number at the zones?
Than you have a very high flexibility!Kind regards
GeorgHi,
I’m facing the same problem, I really would like to be able to program easily multiple lines at the same time.
I’d like to use opensprinkler in my farm, and when you’re using a pump you are sometimes bound to open multiple lines at the same time.
Could be a useful new function for next release ?
Thanks a lot !
Have a nice day.Hello,
I was wondering about such an issue as well, recently.
I would like to have the option to set up two irrigation “groups”. One with the high volume consumers and another one with low volume consumers. Within the groups, the zones should run sequentially, whereas the groups themselves run parallel.
Anything like that in a future release would be great.Many thanks.
Regards,
MatthiasResurrecting this old thread. I have the exact same issue. My pump is a fixed flow rate and need to run 2-3 stations at once. I use weather adjustment and can’t have a gap between the programs. Is there something that can be done Ray?
I saw another post with someone who edited the cron job to specify the stations and times together. This works on the pi, but I don’t see how to access cron jobs on the embedded 3.0 product.I am also in need of this feature. I was hoping it would be as easy as just grouping stations together when setting up a program and they would act as one zone, but that does not appear to be the case. I have 20 zones, 18 of which run off of a well. I had to add a pressure tank in order to add some well fed water spigots in our garden, so now it would be much more ideal if I could combine zones in order to minimize well cycling as much as possible. Pairing zones would likely eliminate the cycling almost entirely, but having the ability to still only turn one on at a time is preferred, so wiring them together is not a solution I want to have to go with. Not to mention, finding the right zones to pair would be much more convenient if it was able to be done in the software.
Depending on which firmware you are using, earlier firmwares have a ‘sequential’ flag per zone. By removing the ‘sequential’ flag you can have the zone run with other zones in parallel. The current firmware has a ‘sequential group’ feature which is more flexible. You can put zones into different sequential groups. Zones in the same sequential group are serialized and run one after another; zones in different groups can run in parallel.
A lot of customers have a huge variety of different features they want. It’s literally impossible to have one firmware that fits everyone’s need. In the worst case, you can set every zone into ‘parallel’ group and create multiple programs to manage the zone running patterns manually.
Also, I’ve seen quite a few customers who want to run more than 10 zones at the same time. I would absolutely NOT recommend doing this. The controller is NOT designed to run a lot of zones in parallel. It’s not a software issue, it’s more of a hardware limitation. The power adapter needs to withstand a huge amount of impulse current to open that many zones simultaneously. Also, the circuit cannot withstand that much current either. So while I understand there is such need, I wouldn’t go crazy on having too many zones open at the same time. If you really need to do that, you should use an external relay, which can withstand a huge amount of current.
Hello, Ray.
I’m one of those people who want to run 3-4 zones at once. (well, 3 sprinkler zones and 1 start relay).
The inrush current issue is one of the reasons why I commented on this post: https://opensprinkler.com/forums/topic/fresh-install-unable-to-save-the-station-handling-station-delay-setting/#post-76340
By staggering the zones 1 second apart it helps with the inrush current and should theoretically allow us to run more zones at once. The current limit of 5-second minimums starts to lose some efficiency. I also don’t like to start my master pump and run it for 5 seconds into a closed system because it’s quite powerful. I just need a 1-second head start to build up a tiny bit of pressure.
Any chance we can set a minimum for stagger time of something closer to 1 second for zones even if they run in parallel?
In terms of stations, ideally, we could create “logical zones”. For example put zone 1, 2, 3 into logical zone “front yard”, zones 4,5,6 into “backyard” and then take actions on that zone as if it were a single zone, such as starting a master pump or running things in parallel, or adding it to a schedule.
That way we can keep our programs nice and tidy but have better granular control of parallel zones.
You can set a master on adjustment to have master turn on a few seconds before zones.
I understand the idea of logic zones, but it can significantly complicate the firmware and UI design. We have to think of a lot of cases and how they should be handled. For example, should logic zones have their own attributes? (i.e. master activation, ignore rain delay etc. and sequential group), if so does its attributes take over each zone’s attributes? It also creates complications when the logic zone is being turned on or off while the user also wants to turn on or off one of the zones that belong to the logic group. Which one takes priority? So if we implement it, there will have to be some very strong restrictions on what are allowed and what are not allowed.
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