rain sense as manual valve switch?

[denney]

Hello all!

I’ve just completed the DIY build of the v2.1 Open Sprinkler hardware. Was fun…and more fun when things tested out ok!

I’m excited to tinker with the firmware but I wanted to seek opinion on the best way to go about this.

The scenario: My garden spigot is located about 150′ from the main water source.
The water line to the garden is poly tubing from the 70’s so I’m not interested in leaving it under pressure constantly.
I have an electrical switch out in the garden that (in my old setup) is used to energize a relay which activates the ‘GardenMaster’ valve back at the house.
I want to also have this valve under automation as well, as this water source feeds automated valves out in the garden in addition to the manual spigot.

Options:
The easiest would be to keep this portion of my old setup…but I don’t know if OpenSprinkler would tollerate me energizing the GardenMaster valve, an output that it thinks should be ‘off’. What say you…would this be ok??

Another option might be to wire my garden switch to the ‘rain’ port and tweak the firmware so that when the rain sense is shorted, it turns on GardenMaster output. Being new to the code, this would take time to figure out.

I see in the FAQ that there are a couple arduino IO ports available on the PCB…this could be yet another option if we need to leave the rain-sense feature alone.

Whatcha think?

Thanks!
–Denney

[nayr]

There is a configuration option Master station that you set. The master station is triggered when any other station is triggered so you can activate pumps/main valves/etc.

You can use the Master Off Adjust option to have the Master station shutoff up to a minute prior to the Watering Station; this gives your supply lines time to reach head pressure.

The Master On Adjust option you would want to set to a small delay; this ensures your station valve is always fully open before the main valve is popped open and reduces the initial pressure surge.

All 3 options if used together will accomplish what you want; I believe they have been implemented for use cases just like this.

If your relay or your master valve is 24v AC it will work fine as long as its not a giant 2A coil relay for motors; replace one or the other with a comparable one that can be triggered by OpenSprinkler directly, should you run into any troubles.

From the Manual:

Master station: Master is a station that turns on when other stations are running. It can be used on a water pump or main valve, such that the pump or valve will turn on automatically when any other station is open. The default value is 0, which means no master station. A value larger than 0 selects a master station: any stations from 1 to 8 can be assigned as a master station.
Master on adjust: adjust the time (0 to +60 seconds) that master will turn on when a station opens. For example, +5 means the master will turn on 5 seconds after a station opens. Default 0.
Master off adjust: adjusted the time (-60 to 60 seconds) that master will turn off when a station closes. For example, -5 means the master will turn off 5 seconds before a station closes. Default 0.

[denney]

Thank you for the reply, nayr!

What you described will work well for the fully automated case. But what about the ‘manually’ operated case I’d described?
I have a physical toggle switch out in the garden that I flip to energize that ‘master’ valve. I turn it off when I’m done hand watering.

When that manual switch is activated, it’d apply 24VAC to the wire feeding the solenoid. This same line would also be connected to the ‘master’ port on the OpenSprinkler. However, I’m not sure if the circuitry would tolerate that? There’s the MOV and the triac on each output…I could also look to see if the triac would support this sort of use.

Thanks!

[nayr]

nah you can override the built in switching with a manual switch fine, it wont hurt the triacs.

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