[Bob Stern]

The API 2.2.1(0) documentation, section “8. Get Station Names and Attributes”, says the variable “stn_seq” is deprecated, but it is still present for backwards compatibility.

I’d like to warn people that stn_seq is NOT returned by the “Get Station Names and Attributes” command (/jn). If your JSON decoder requires this key, it will fail.

[Bob Stern]

Ordering by zone names would be a great solution, since it is easy to add numeric prefixes to zone names. Thanks, Ray!

[Bob Stern]

Thanks very much for explaining why the remainder is integral to how your algorithm currently works. I accept that it’s too much work for you to change if I’m the only user who wants this feature.

I think I can develop a solution for my own use in which I schedule a script to run at the end of a rain delay that resets the “starting in” date of all the programs.

(FYI, the remainder approach is not universal; the Blue Spray controller I used before Open Sprinkler does allow you to set a program to start on an arbitrary date. But it has other shortcomings that make me happy to have switched to Open Sprinkler.)

[Bob Stern]

Thanks for your detailed reply.

Ray said:
“I am not sure if there is one correct way to implement the rain delay. The issue with your proposal is: what happens with the other programs which should run normally and that fall after the rain delay period? If we keep pushing them back and queuing them, you can quickly get into the situation where there is simply not enough time to catch up with so many queued programs. For example, let’s say a program is supposed to run every day, and there is a rain delay that happened on Monday and Tuesday. If you queue those programs to run on Wednesday (i.e. after rain delay ends), what about programs which would normally run on Wednesday?”

Response:
I am only addressing programs that run on intervals, not on fixed weekdays. I agree that weekday programs should not be rescheduled in response to rain delays.
In the case of interval programs, there always will be days on which all the programs run. For example, if a program has a 2-day interval and another program has a 3-day interval, both programs will run on the same day every 6 days. Therefore, someone who wants to prevent programs from running on the same day must use weekday programs, not intervals. Hence, your concern about too many programs on a single day is irrelevant to interval programs.

Ray said:
“Besides, stop watering during rain delay is partly to avoid wasting water, since the rain will irrigate the lawn anyways. So delaying those programs after the rain delay ends seems to over-water the lawn still.”

Response:
I guess I did not explain clearly. I certainly do not want to water the next day after rain! I want to start counting down the watering interval from the day after a rain. So if the last day of rain is Sunday, the first watering day should be Wednesday if the program interval is 3 days.

Ray said:
“Using one of the weather adjustment method can partly address this issue: instead of doing manual rain delay, let the weather adjustment method to figure out the watering percentage automatically. …”

Response:
Watering percentage will not work for me. I am not watering lawn. I am watering a variety of plants, including roses. When it is not raining, it is beneficial to allow the roots to dry out. Watering small amounts frequently should be avoided.

PROPOSED SOLUTION:
Even if you disagree with my rationale for handling a manual rain delay, a solution would be to delete from the firmware the code that constrains the “Starting In” day to be modulo the interval, i.e., the remainder. Hopefully this would merely require deleting the modulo step rather than adding code.
I see no benefit in imposing an unnecessary constraint on the user even if you’re unconvinced by my use case.

[Bob Stern]

Perhaps I’m overlooking a different way to accomplish my objective.

I should add that I have another program that runs at a 2-day interval. The workaround of adding 2 or 3 to the number of rain days beyond the last day of forecasted rain cannot achieve my objective for programs having different intervals.

[Bob Stern]

Thanks for your prompt response, Ray! Your participation on this forum was a major factor giving me confidence to buy the Open Sprinkler.

(I started a new topic with a related comment.)

[Bob Stern]

SOLVED. I apologize that I overlooked the “Change Rain Delay” menu item in the web client because I was originally focussed on changing the program “starting in” date.

(I tried to delete my previous post entirely, but the Edit button doesn’t seem to do anything.)

[Bob Stern]

+1

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