OpenSprinkler for your Pebble watch

[David]

Hi there,

i programm the last days a OpenSprinkler remote for the Pebble smartwatch.

Control your Sprinkler from your watch! 😉

Its just a small remote with basic functions:
– show status und infos (running Stations, Rain delay, Problems, and so on)
– show water level
– show last run
– set rain delay
– set stations manual on/off
– stop all function

if you need more or found a bug. please mail me. 🙂

i hope its okay to use your Logo.

https://apps.getpebble.com/en_US/application/55b3b8e4ecb919cccb000062

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[Samer]

That is awesome, thank you for sharing!

Might have to buy a Pebble just to try this. Very cool!

Update: Curiously, Is this written in Pebble.JS or using C?

[David]

It’s written with Pebble.JS.

It’s was easyer to handle all the Ajax requests and it’s very simple to build menus with JS.

[Ray]

Cool. Gotta try it out. Thanks for sharing.

[David]

Jear. Try it out. If you find bugs or you need more functions. Please tell me. It’s just the first version and I work on it. 🙂

If you want, you can add the Pebble to your “Control your system from anywhere” banner. 😀

[Samer]

@David, thanks again! I am going to order a watch soon and try the app out and will post it to our banner as well.

Thanks again for your contribution!

[David]

Tell me what you think about the app. If you had tryed it out. And what I can do, to make it better.

The pebble is a really cool smart watch.

[tom]

I’m not sure if my previous post worked, but here is a follow on…

The watch lists the wrong zone for “last run” – it shows a zone one less than the one that actually ran. I suspect that you are indexing from 1 and OS is indexing from zero.

[David]

ohh, your right… i fix it soon. thanks for the report

[Ray]

Got my Pebble Watch today and loaded the OpenSprinkler app. Works like a charm. So nice to operate OpenSprinkler from a watch 🙂 Kudos to David for making it available! Perhaps another feature you can add is to start a test or one of the existing programs from the watch.

[tom]

I read your post at 10AM Sunday, ordered a Pebble on Amazon, and got free same-day delivery – it arrived Sunday evening. I installed your software, and got it working right away. Amazing stuff! Thanks for programming it.

A couple of issues: I use an external DDNS system to access my sprinklers, so I need to be able to access a URL, not just an IP.

I have three controllers, each with a different port number so that I can forward them through my router. I don’t see how I can access more than one controller from the Pebble.
It would be great to allow a user to scroll through the zones (up and down buttons move the cursor, the select button chooses the zone under the cursor) Then, they could turn the valve on or off (up button is “Add one minute,” down button is “subtract one minute” subtract to zero and the zone turns off. You could also add a “chatter” mode that would turn the valve on and off quickly to make a sound that would help find the zone in the sprinkler manifold, where there might be 8 valves next to each other. Chattering the valve would make it easier to find.

Since the Pebble is waterproof to 50 feet, it makes a good gadget for managing sprinklers when you are out in the yard, wet and muddy. I don’t like takig my main phone out when I work on the sprinklers, because my hands get all wet and muddy. But the Pebble is an ideal unit… conveniently on the wrist, readable in full sun, and with big buttons rather than trying to use a touch sensitive screen with muddy fingers (on a much more expensive watch that I probably wouldn’t want to get wet and muddy). For $80

Font size is a problem… it’s pretty hard for me to read the smaller text in dim light.

I wore the Pebbly all day today, and I think I like it. The vibration works well for me to alert me of phone calls, and I like being able to glance at an incoming text or email to see if it is worth reading on my phone. I also like that it’s cross platform for both iPhone and Android.

keep up the good work.

[Kevin]

Thanks for making this app available! Love it. As a suggestion, it would be really nice if you could add some color for us Pebble Time users.

[David]

Thanks for the Feedback.

@Ray: good idea with the tests and Programs. I look what I can do 😉

@tom: you can easyl write your url in the ip line. Look at the picture below. And wi will add some color for the time. And make the text a little bit bigger at the main page. It’s really small.
The chatter mode is a good idea. You can make a program. And with the next version you can start your programs.
I think, the most people have one OpenSprinkler. With three is realy special. Why did you have three??? 🙂 what about extension boards? 🙂

Now I have enough input for the next OS Pebble version. Thanks you. 🙂

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[tom]

Thanks… I got the URL working. My problem was that I was using http:// in the front of the URL. I ended up with three controllers because I interpreted Ray’s comments last year that extenders over 50 feet were iffy. I am managing many zones over a large area, and so I decided to use two controllers to replace the ones I was removing as “production” controllers. Then, I added another for my wife’s garden that I use as a “sandbox” system for trying new things out. Now that it seems I can run a long extender cable, it looks like I can simplify things with just a 300′ Cat 5 cable run.

by the way, my Pebble says “Rain sensor says its raining” even though I have the “use rain sensor” box unchecked.

[David]

Hi Tom, i add a little discription “how to write URL or IP with Port” in the config page.

The Pebble check the Rainsensor input from the API. is this value 1. the Opensprinkler thinks its raining. actually the Pebble Program shows the status (like rain sensor or so) and then the running stations. I can chang it to display both at the same time.

[DaveC]

I don’t know if this is impacting what you are displaying, but FWIW….

With Use Rain Sensor off, if the Rain Sensor Type is set to 1, normally open (the opposite of the default), The API will report Rain Sensor State on. I reported this a few months back running 2.1.4.

[Samer]

As DaveC mentioned you need to check if use rain sensor is being used before reading the rain sensor status. Furthermore, starting with 2.1.6, you should specifically check if the value is 1 for rain sensor (instead of checking for truthy value using JS).

I mention this because 2.1.6 will be supporting a flow sensor using the same rain sensor port and allow the user to define how the port is being used. We plan on defining which type of sensor using the urs variable. We will provide a lot more details regarding the API specifically once we get ready to release but just wanted to give you a heads up.

[David]

UPDATE:

Hi, there. Thanks for your ideas and input. here are some features i add to the app.

The text on the startpage is bigger. Better to read. And it show the status/infos and running stations.

There is a new menu “Run Program”. You can start a Test Program or your Programs.

In the main menu, you can find a new button for “reset Rain delay” and “Stop all”

In the Manual Mode Menu, it shows the running and waiting stations with the remaining time.

Check it out. give me a feedback. Thanks 🙂

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[tom]

Thanks, David… this is really cool. I’m not sure about the update process… I ended up unloading and reloading the app completely before I realized I had the new version.

I like it! some comments:

The rain sensor still says it’s raining. I’m in a drought in San Diego, so this is a bit of a cruel joke 🙂 I don’t have the sensor even hooked up, and plan to use it for flow sensing from a meter Real Soon Now with the next release. Can’t wait to be the first to in my neighborhood to see my water meter flow on my watch.

“Manual” mode on the controller turns off the auto mode, so it is confusing to use manual mode on the watch, but (I presume) keep the controller in auto. Perhaps calling the watch control “Custom” or “Override” might clarify things.

The order of status lines that appeal to me are:

rain delay (but only if there really is one)
water level
last run (more as a check to make sure things are working)
last update
next run (new)
sunrise/sunset
logs (new) – I’d like to see the most recent log, as well as a history of a given zone… (e.g. “how much/how often have I been watering this zone?” and “how many gallons of water have put here in the last week?” when we get the flow sensor.

and geolocate everything so I can just walk around and do all this without worrying about zone numbers, etc 🙂

[Samer]

Hey David,

Just to let you know here is the apps status function for the bottom bar:
https://github.com/OpenSprinkler/OpenSprinkler-App/blob/master/www/js/main.js#L5058

For rain sensor, the check I use is as follows:
https://github.com/OpenSprinkler/OpenSprinkler-App/blob/master/www/js/main.js#L5153

Hope this helps with that issue

[David]

thanks Tom and Samer,

@tom: you have some nice ideas. I think about to rename the “manual Mode” any ideas? “Run Station”?

the watch check a lot things for you. Check this: https://github.com/littleprojects/Pebble_Opensprinkler/blob/master/src/app.js#L525
and this:
https://github.com/littleprojects/Pebble_Opensprinkler/blob/master/src/app.js#L303

And Logs for the watch… wow. its just a watch. But its a smart watch… Okay lets see what i can do 😀

@Samer: thanks for the link! this help me a lot. By the way, what do you think about comments and code documentation? 😉

[Samer]

@David, I really need to improve my code base. When I started the development the code was in PHP and then I quickly rewrote it and was way too hasty. As a result, the file structure is non existent in regard to the JS code and the comments are poor.

At some point I really want to improve this. I setup Mocha for unit testing but I also haven’t gotten around to adding a good amount of tests (which can act as documentation to some degree).

Since I do have a full time job as a doctor my after work time with OpenSprinkler is limited and lately more features is winning against improving what’s already there. One day haha….thanks for the suggestion!

[tom]

@David: Great work… I get such a kick out of having this on my wrist. Maybe “Run” or “Start” is enough for the menu item. “Run Station” or “Start Station” would also work if there is space.

The font is still hard for me to see in dim light (I can read it OK in bright light). I could put on reading glasses, but it would be nice to have all the text in the bold font that now shows the controller name, or an option in the settings menu.

It would be nice to have what is now the “Manual” menu item (soon to be “start” or whatever) appear at the top of the menu before the Rain Delay option.

I don’t understand your reference to https://github.com/littleprojects/Pebble_Opensprinkler/blob/master/src/app.js#L525 is this the code that you are running on the watch? if not, are you sharing your Pebble code? I’d enjoy learning from it, and seeing if I might be able to push some info from a Python script.

@Samer thank you so much for all your efforts, too. I do hope we can get some documentation/support going in case you get hit by a truck 🙂 Maybe if you point me in the right direction, I might even do a bit myself, if nothing else, to learn JS 🙂

@David and @Samer: I’m hosting a BBQ this Saturday with user interface/smart things guru Donald Norman http://jnd.org/ and will be showing him my Opensprinkler setup. He is best known for The Design of Everyday Things http://www.jnd.org/books/design-of-everyday-things-revised.html I suspect he’ll have lots of first-class ideas. I’ll show him whatever software is available Sat afternoon my time (GMT-7).

[David]

@tom i update the app for you. Good inputs with the Menu names and sort.

V 1.2 add features
* – add: Run Programs Menu to run Test and Run-Once Progs
* – add: show the Sprinkler Programs in the queue and running Time (Station Menu)
* – add: Menu for “reset Rain delay” and “Stop All”
* – fix: bigger text on mainpage
* – fix: rename “manual Mode” to “Run Station” and place it at top in the main menu
* – add: funnny sayings on the “loading…” screen 😀
* – add: show Stations in the queue on the Mainepage

To update the app. Unload an reload it… the autoupdater takes a week for one update…

If Donald have some ideas. please tell us. 🙂 At the beginning of the sentence withe the BBQ, i thougt you invite us to a BBQ 😉 hehe… its a little bit far from Berlin to GTM-7. 😀

You can find my code for the pebble app on Github: https://github.com/littleprojects/Pebble_Opensprinkler

Remenber: If you shake your watch (in the Main Page of the App) its update/reload the Infos from the OpenSprinkler 😉

[Ray]

Very cool. Thank you!

[Author]

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