Dry Run Observances

[Herman Meyer]

First, thanks for all your work on the project. As much as I would have liked to build this myself, I would never have the time.

I already have a Pi, so I downloaded the image and booted it to do a “dry run” before I make a purchase. The first one I get will be for a family member who is wheelchair-bound and cannot go outside to adjust the settings. I’ll probably get a second one for myself later since I have seven zones and a six zone timer plus one of those outlet dial timers for the 7th zone.

I uninstalled the built-in timers and installed the unified software.

Overlapping Programs Dropping Last Zone

I set up two programs. One for my garden’s drip irrigation running every morning running four times and the other for the rest of the property (six more zones) running Sunday running three times. Both start before sunrise but the daily program starts earlier. On Sunday when both want to run, it staggers the zones like I would expect, but the daily program only runs three times and the Sunday program cuts off the last zone on the third iteration. It looks like there is a time limit and won’t start a zone if too much time has passed. I attached a picture showing the schedule preview.

Watering Restrictions

Where I live in Florida, we have watering restrictions that state we can only water a specified two days a week and we cannot water between 10am and 4pm. (I heard the reason for the time restriction is that the water droplets create little lenses on the grass and the already intense sun actually burns/browns the grass) It would be nice if those restrictions could be defined and a warning given if programs might conflict. If not a warning, then a setting to prevent the sprinkler from running during that time to prevent a possible hefty fine.

Rain Delay / Rain Sensor

I don’t quite get the rain delay / rain sensor option. With my current timer, the rain sensor is just wired in line with the common wire and when it is wet, the circuit is broken and nothing is watered. The timer has no clue that the watering does not occur. Since OpenSprinkler reads the rain sensor directly, it has the power to do what it wants. So, when the sensor is wet and watering is supposed to be happening, does it simply not water or does is delay the program until the sensor dries and still water based on weather adjustments?

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