Rainbird SMRT-y moisturesensor

[francje]

Hi,

Has anyone experience with the use of the SMRT-Y moisture sensor of Rainbird?
As I understand it as long as you have an internal or external source of 24VAC you can put the SMRT-Y between the valves and the COM connection to either allow or interrupt watering… or am I missing something?

[Ray]

Yes you can always put it in series on the COM wire, as it’s basically a moisture activated switch. When moisture is too high, the switch is off to prevent watering. Assuming it’s a dry contact sensor, you can also plug it into the sensor terminal on OpenSprinkler, that way you get a bit more flexibility, such as configuring each zone to observe the sensor or ignore the sensor.

[francje]

Hi Ray,

I guess the SMRT-Y is a drycontact sensor, I will verify it with my multimeter. Using the sensor port is an interesting idea, but I also have a rain sensor. Is the second sensor port supported by the current firmware?

[Ray]

The second sensor isn’t supported yet in the current firmware but we’ve already put in the necessary variables in the current firmware to store parameters for the second sensor, and we are working to enable the second sensor in the next firmware.

[francje]

Good to hear that the second sensor port is supported somewhere soon.

The manual op the Rainbird SMRT-Y states the following: ”
NOTE: Some controllers do not
provide internal access to the AC power
terminals. In this case a 24 volt AC
adapter is available at your local sprinkler
supply store. You will need to connect
one of the AC adapter wires to the COM
terminal (which will also have the Black
wire from the SMRT-Y attached) and
the other adapter wire connects to the
Orange wire coming from the SMRT-Y.”

The Opensprinklercontroller also does not provide internal acces to a 24VAC source. I am a bit reluctant though to connect one of the wires of the separate 24VAC adapter (Hunter) to the COM terminal of the Opensprinkler controller… can this be done without the risk of frying the Opensprinklermodule?

this is how the SMRT-y is normally connected:
https://rachio.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/115017557147/381178073_file-o4Qs4tDVRE.png

[francje]

Hi Ray,

I tried to connect the SMRT-Y in series with the COM wire. Although the SMRT-Y controller indicates the moisture and temperature of the soil … it won’t switch the connected valve below the moisture threshold.
I have included a diagram of the connections made.

Any Ideas how to get this to work?

Attachments:

1. smrt-y-connection_2.pdf

[Author]

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