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Most residential irrigation systems are installed using non-latching valves. Latching valves are more commonly used with battery powered irrigation controllers in remote areas where commercial power is not readily available. The fact that your system was using a Rainbird ESP-6TM also tells me that your valves are non-latching, as that controller is incapable of controlling latching valves.
These valves also do not have motors in/on them, they are operated by a spring loaded solenoid. The power from the controller energizes the solenoid allowing water to flow thru the valve, when the valve loses power it will close.
As for reliability, I’ve been using a model B located in the garage for 2 years with no issues using the interval program. The only trouble I had originally was with the wireless connection due to the distance from my wireless router. I solved that by using powerline adaptors to connect the RasPi via ethernet.
Here are some resources regarding soil water capacity that may be of help.
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_051279.pdf
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs143_019175.pdf
Here is a resource explaining how to test the quality of your soil
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs143_019175.pdf
Most of these are geared toward agriculture, but still apply to turf.
Dan,
After I upgraded to the latest version, I noticed that the timeline is not displaying the Odd/Even day programs correctly. I have my program set for even days, yet the timeline is showing it on the odd days.
In doing ET research, I came across this Python library for calculating reference ET values.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pyeto
Happy coding!
This is a listing of all of the observation stations and thier ID’s (which you need to find the apropriate climate report on the FTP site)
http://forecast.weather.gov/stations.php?foo=0Here is a guide for accessing the NWS FTP servers
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tg/general.phpI just upgraded, and ran into the same problem with the display. I verified that the new additions were in the options.txt file (they already were there). I tried restarted OSPi.py, and everything started working/displaying correctly.
For those interested, here is a link to a report commissioned by the Irrigation Association with the EWRI and ASCE to develop a standarized reference ET equation. This report includes all of the formulas needed to develop the data needed to compute the reference ET.
http://www.kimberly.uidaho.edu/water/asceewri/ascestzdetmain2005.pdf
The NWS has climate reports are available for free from thier FTP site, which may be an option if you live relatively close to one of thier observation sites.
