First Impressions and Suggestions

[mb42]

Hi Ray,

Following the installation and programming of my new OpenSprinkler and two expansion modules, I wanted to let you know it is working flawlessly thus far. I hope to post a few pics of the installation soon. I also wanted to provide you with the following suggestions based on my 10+ years of experience with a number of commercial grade controllers and a landscape with 30 zones. I hope these are helpful for you and your ongoing innovative efforts. I’d be happy to discuss or continue to contribute in any way that may help.

Most of my suggestions are related to programming, however, a few are more general.

1) Give each program a “Name” as created
– Default could be “Program 1”, “Program 2”, etc. but the user can edit these names
– Sort by this name in the Programs view

2) Change “Every” to “Run Every” (Add a New Program page)

3) Implement the “Run Every” option as either on or off (If turned off, #4 below is enabled)
– It is confusing (IMO) to “set a very large interval to ensure the program doesn’t run more than once” per the user manual.

4) To complement the “Run Every” option, allow the user to set Multiple Start Times for each program
– Multiple start times allows the user to run the program up to (For instance) 6 to 12 times each day at times of his/her choosing
– For example, the user could run the program early in the morning and then twice during the hot afternoon at specific times, but not at equal intervals
– This is common on other/traditional controllers and, in my experience, a must

5) Change label of “Time” field to “Program Start Time”
– Why is it necessary to calculate and then input the stop time? This should auto-calculate based on the Start and total Duration of all stations
– Furthermore, (IMO) the program stop time is irrelevant if the controller queues-up any overlapping programs and runs them following the preceding program

6) With the current method (All stations run the same duration) “Duration” should be changed to “Program Run Time”

7) And as previously noted in other threads, each station should be allowed an independent duration or “Run Time”. PLEASE! 🙂

9) Display Station Numbers in “Select Stations” section of Add a New Program page
– Recommend you display them as one column, not multiple, to allow for individual station “Run Time” to be entered to the right of the Station Name

10) Preview per station
– Preview (or other view) should flag named stations that are not a part of a program
– In other words, it would be easy to miss a station without this feature

11) Run-Once Program, include a “Start In __ minutes” option
– Allows to queue up a run-once event for a delayed start

12) Program Preview, add “Previous Day” and “Next Day” buttons
– I figured out how to do it via the Address Bar, however, it’d be great to be able to simply press a button to scroll from day to day

13) Set Stations, add checkbox to disable a station
– Means station is ‘down’ and will be skipped by any programs where it is included
– Once the station is re-enabled (Just uncheck the box), it returns to normal operation within programs
– Easier than going into each program and removing, then manually adding back later

14) Navigation
– Include link to the current user manual on the firmware home page
– Include link to firmware homepage on all pages of firmware interface

Thanks again,
Mike

[Ray]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your suggestions. Sorry that it took me a while to get back to you since I needed some time to respond to each item on the list. See the relies below:

1) Give each program a “Name” as created

Yup, this can be added. It will take up more EEPROM space, but can be managed if we limit the length of the name. Sorting in the preview can be supported either (just a matter of changing Javascripts).

2) Change “Every” to “Run Every” (Add a New Program page)

Agreed.6) With the current method (All stations run the same duration) “Duration” should be changed to “Program Run Time”

3) Implement the “Run Every” option as either on or off (If turned off, #4 below is enabled)
4) To complement the “Run Every” option, allow the user to set Multiple Start Times for each program
5) Change label of “Time” field to “Program Start Time”
6) With the current method (All stations run the same duration) “Duration” should be changed to “Program Run Time”
7) And as previously noted in other threads, each station should be allowed an independent duration or “Run Time”. PLEASE!
9) Display Station Numbers in “Select Stations” section of Add a New Program page

Yes, these are all being considered as a major revamp of how programs should be specified. See the related discussions here:
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=693&hilit=repeat+count

10) Preview per station

This may be a bit tricky to implement, but something easy to implement is to add the support (in the preview page) such that when you click on a station it highlights all time blocks that this station is scheduled to run. Not exactly a per-station view, but is perhaps sufficient.

11) Run-Once Program, include a “Start In __ minutes” option

Sure, this can be done.

12) Program Preview, add “Previous Day” and “Next Day” buttons

This is already available in the mobile app’s preview feature.

13) Set Stations, add checkbox to disable a station

This can be easily implemented when the station attributes feature is introduced. See the relevant discussion here:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=401&p=2659&hilit=attribute#p2659

14) Navigation

You are absolutely right! This should be done right now, and I will definitely get to it tonight or tomorrow.

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