[benk]

I’ve replaces a few capacitors and repaired a few electronics over the years, so I should be able to handle adding pins.

Was going to ask which unit you were working on. I have two of the standard AC units running in a couple locations.

Really looking forward to adding this capability to the open sprinkler units running greenhouses. This capability is going to make me even stronger proponent of OpenSprinkler on some of the vegetable and grower forums and groups that I’m involved in. This really fills a capability gap for small greenhouse vegetable growers.

[benk]

1. I don’t have a particular sensor in mind, as long as it measures visible light it will work. I’ve looked at a few different options something like this https://www.amazon.com/Adafruit-Digital-Light-Luminosity-sensor/dp/B00K9M6PZ8 . At this point I’m more concerned a reliable program and sensor. If you know of a better solution, run with it. The cost is not a huge factor.

2. For control I need to be able to easily adjust the trigger variable. The plants grow through the season and their demands change. I will base number based excess water running out of the trough.

3. At the hottest part of a summer, during the middle of the day it should not be running less than every 10 mins for 2 min irrigation events. So it would be alright to start counting again immediately after an irrigation event is triggered. However, in the event an event is triggered during an watering event, starting again would not be a problem.

BTW when we get a running prototype. I will be willing to send you something for your time. We are a small business, there is value in this running properly.

[benk]

I’m currently growing tomatoes, peppers, and tomatoes in coir slabs in fairly small greenhouses. The water amount required varies considerably day to day based mostly on light (other variables are mostly controlled or dependent on light).

Add a light meter, and every time it accumulate a set amount of “lux” a irrigation event is triggered. The lux is light intensity per amount of time. When the sum of this reaches whatever the set threshold is, it triggers a 1-2 minute irrigation event.
I think you would add a number every time the controller reads the light sensor. When that number reaches a set number it triggers an irrigation event and resets to zero

This would be a large improvement as the irrigation controller is responding to conditions the plants are facing. On a sunny day it may need to water 5-10x per hour and a cloudy day 2-5x times per hour.

This needs to based on a local light sensor, because it has to respond to intensity of light. The amount of clouds vary so much over a couple miles or few minutes.

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