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Hi All,
Just thought I would pass along what I wired up to not only to control sprinklers but also Christmas lights. I basically wired in at Functional Devices RIB relay RIBU1C I picked up on ebay for $12.00. The two left and top right outlet (with transformer plugged in are un-switched), the one below the transformer is switched by channel 8 of the sprinkler.
Best,
MikeNew guy! 😀
What wold you use to control this controller? In the picture it looks like the transformer for the OpenSprinkler itself is plugged into controller which is powered on/off by the OpenSprinkler…. how is this beneficial or am I seeing it wrong?
@mikes wrote:
Hi All,
Just thought I would pass along what I wired up to not only to control sprinklers but also Christmas lights. I basically wired in at Functional Devices RIB relay RIBU1C I picked up on ebay for $12.00. The two left and top right outlet (with transformer plugged in are un-switched), the one below the transformer is switched by channel 8 of the sprinkler.
Best,
MikeNote in picture 2 outlets side by side each having 2 plugs … One on top of the other….
.. The two left and TOP right outlet (with transformer plugged in are un-switched)
.. The final socket (found BELOW the the socket where the transformer is seen) is switched by channel 8 of the sprinkler.So in short zone 8 only controls ONE of the FOUR sockets as seen in the photo.. Very cool stuff!
Just a word of warning to all readers … This mixing of HIGH voltage 110/220 with LOW voltage control inside a single electrical box is not as simple as poking a knockout on an electrical box and sneaking in a low voltage wire. In fact, if not done right you would be breaking at least one ( if not more ) building / electric codes that very well could result in fire.
Why is that so important? Well if you burn down your house and the fire inspector traces it back to your work there is a really good chance your home owners policy will refuse to build you a new home… Try telling that to your better half. 😯
It looks to me that the low voltage might be just passing through the electrical box, would it be wiser to go directly to the relay box with low voltage and keep the low voltage completely separated from high reducing building inspection questions.
Ok I can inject some input on this topic. I am a Master Electrician in multiple states for over 20 years. I have been in the electrical industry for almost 40 years.
The RIB is designed to be used as the pictures show. The only concern with using the low voltage wires extending through the boxes is the type of insulation on the wires. As long as the insulation on the low voltage wires matches the insulation on the high voltage wires it is perfectly acceptable to pass through the same box. In other words, the low voltage wires should have 600 volt insulation. The high voltage is not that high, but the National Electrical Code states that you must MATCH the HIGHEST RATING of the insulation, not the actual voltage.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Thanks for on spot answer glad to have clear cut response. I did not know that information I have learned something new today.
@Houdini wrote:
Thanks for on spot answer glad to have clear cut response. I did not know that information I have learned something new today.
As did I…. Good to know the fine art of surfing the electrical codes tho I’d still feel safer telling noobs ( like me ) that mixing low and high voltage should only be attempted by someone who knows their local, regional and national electric code.
Well I have to say, I have seen some REALLY REALLY scary things in my life, and I would say 75% of them were by people who were not trained professionals. That said, the other 25% was by supposedly SKILLED tradesmen. or women. It is shocking to me that you can even get a license to do electrical work without some pretty basic knowledge. So book reading and online searches may be OK to learn, but the only REAL way to learn some things is to talk to someone who is truly skilled, and knowledgeable in the field. I started in the business when I was 14, and well I am MUCH older now, so I have learned both good and bad things along the way. I have also taught many apprentices in the field and was affiliated with a community college teaching the “book learning” that is required as well for many years.
So I have to say, I do consider myself somewhat of an expert, but I also admit, I have people and resources that I use on at least a monthly basis to answer MY questions.
Ok, so enough lecture time. LOL.. but in all seriousnous, if anyone has any electrical questions, feel free to ask and I will do what I can to assist. I have learned so much on this site and also very grateful to all the parties that have worked so hard to make this a truly great product!
Ray I am looking at the possibilities of using an OpenSprinkler unit to turn on and off lighting as discussed in this thread. We have a yard that tends to get a few parties and has multiple Malibu type lighting systems. I would like to bypass the built in clock turn the manual switch on and turn on and off the AC power to the unit via the relays discussed above. I plan to switch the option in the Opensprinkler to Concurrent as opposed to Sequential. there for I can have all the lights be on at the same time if wanted.
My question is how many relays do you think the opensprinkler board could drive at the same time?
I Just wanted to add my two cents in to this thread.
I just used this method to effectively control one of my greenhouse’s irrigation booms. It’s an older model where it’s basically power on/off to control movement and the water solenoids. The RIB now lets me control the outlet that it plugs into and since I know how long each pass takes, the run time determines how much water my crop gets. Pretty simple once you know which wires go where. 😀
I wouldn’t recommend this to control something like your kitchen blender, but with the right wiring knowledge certain things can easily be automated.
can you please repost the image which seems to have disappeared?  would love to see how you used/wired the relay to confirm my plans 😉
In another thread someone mentioned this relay:
http://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/Relays_-z-_Timers/Electro-Mechanical_Relays/Power_Relays,_Open-Style,_40A_(AD-PR40_Series)/AD-PR40-1C-24A
which seems to work well with OpenSprinkler. Also, I’ve recently bought the following relay:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T742IA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
which is what a lot of pump start relays use, and it works with 24VAC input as well.Beyond these, another option is to use a RF transmitter combined with a remote power socket to control any power line device, as described in this post:
https://opensprinkler.com/opensprinkler-firmware-2-1-1-new-feature-control-remote-power-sockets/
This method is a bit more complex to set up but if you want to control multiple devices it’s a more ideal solution and it’s easy to scale up.
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