Flow Monitoring

[evan71]

I currently have a RainMachine controller and have been thinking about switching for some time. I have a Hunter HC flow sensor and am trying to understand how it is monitored in OpenSprinkler. Does OpenSprinkler monitor for both flow when nothing is running and no flow when the system should be running? I have a well pump and would like to make sure there is flow when the pump is running.

[evan71]

Attached is similar to what I think I am after.

Attachments:

1. 

   Rachio-FLow.jpg
   

[dkkim]

Hi Evan,

Actually I am wondering the same thing. I just wired in a RainBird in place of my OSPi as we are renting the place and it will be more familiar to contractors. I did a dual-box installation where I am interested in leaving a RasPi in place for flow monitoring and wondering if I can just use OSPi vs. a custom solution.

Curious if anyone’s done any mods or observation in this area?

FWIW from my prior experience when the zones are running you can see deviations from prior usage.

Thanks,
David

[Ray]

OpenSprinkler firmware displays the real-time flow rate at the bottom of the homepage, whether zones are running or not. When a program finishes running, it logs the total volume during the program run (unfortunately it doesn’t log per zone because zones are allowed to run in parallel so there is no easy way to tell which zone consumed how much water).

[evan71]

Thanks for the reply Ray. For this I just want to check that there is flow when a zone is on or no flow when all zones are off.

[dkkim]

@Ray thanks for the response to both of us.
It seems like (to clarify for me, and for anyone else wondering about a “monitoring only” application), one could create programs that run at the desired monitoring interval. E.g. every 4 hrs, every day, etc, that don’t connect to any valves. That would create a “logging window” that would tie to the observed overall flow rate. I.e. for keeping track off bills, etc.

And if one knew the existing the program on another controller, one could match the windows to see what those zones were actually running, too.

Thanks,
David

[Ray]

Yes, you can. You can create a program that turns on a zone that isn’t physically connected to anything (you can enable more zones that there are physically, and use one of those extra zones as a dummy zone to do so).

[bena]

Just to clarify, OpenSprinkler does log the flow rate per station. However, as Ray said, if you run more than one station at a time, the flow information will not be accurate.

But if you are like most people and run stations sequentially, the information is there.

Check the API document, the “jl” command returns the OpenSprinkler log data:
http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/jl?pw=xxxxxxxxxxxx&start=xx&end=xx

Here are the columns returned from the API request:
program ID, Station ID, dur in seconds, end time, flow rate during the station run

Here is an example record showing a flow rate of 13.27
[[1,2,900,1693055684,13.27]]

It would be great if this data was shown in the UI with the warning that it should only be used with sequential zones.

[bena]

Just FYI for those following this topic, I’ve submitted a code change for approval that will enable basic flow alerts in OpenSprinkler for stations running sequentially. If it is approved, it would be available for everyone in a future firmware.

[Author]

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