[davethomaspilot]

Ok, it turns out I get the old ui when I use os_addr, and get the new one when I use os_addr:8080. (os_addr is 192.168.0.43 in this case)

When I try to access 192.168.0.43/su or 192.168.0.43:80/su, I get

This site can’t be reached

192.168.0.43 refused to connect.

But, I can access the web page at 192.168.0.43:8080/su

Should I do something to get rid of whatever makes the old ui used at 192.168.0.43:80? How?

[davethomaspilot]

Not sure why, but I see a different UI now.

I’d checked to make sure that http://os_addr/su was set to https://ui.opensprinkler.com/js. But, maybe the browser was using a cached version from the old, local copy of the ui scripts?

The only things I think I did between when I saw the old ui and the new one which supports GPIO was

1) Attempted to change the number of stations from 8 to 16. The application just hung when I did that. I had to reboot the pi to restart the app (I probably could have just restarted the ap

2) Logged to opensprinkler.com from the UI

I’d like to understand what’s going on. Is it necessary to do the login to use the scripts at ui.opensprinkler.com/js? Regardless, it seems strange that my browser would use the old (cached), local version of the if it couldn’t access ui.opensprinkler.com/js. How would that even work?

Puzzled…

Or, maybe someone updated the js on ui.opensprinkler.com after reading this post?

Anyway, it’s working now, I’m just not confident it will stay that way.

[davethomaspilot]

What guideline do you think I should use for the sum of all currents in an OSPi? What trace temperature rise will result?

The LED lights run on 12VAC, not DC. They have some sort of controller built in, so I worry that even trying 12VDC might damage them.

On using 24VAC relays to switch the 12VAC…

I don’t have any 24VAC nearby. So, I’d have to add an outdoor, 120VAC to 24VAC transformer then route both 24VAC and 12VAC to the OSPi enclosure, or route 120VAC and use a local transformer inside the OSPI weatherproof enclosure to get the 24VAC needed for the sprinkler valves.

It seemed better to use a transformer to double the 12VAC that’s already there to run the sprinkler valves. This would only require the small “12 0 12” transformer and could easily fit in the same weatherproof enclosure.

But that’s really the question. Should I add the 24VAC relays and a 120VAC to 24VAC transformer so I don’t have to hack the OSPI? Probably, but still thinking about it.

Thanks!

[davethomaspilot]

Thanks for the explanation, Ray.

[davethomaspilot]

Why I’m asking–I’m not really going to have lots of irrigation zones running at the same time….

One of my OpenSprinkler Pi’s is located in the same area as my pool equipment. I’ll have four irrigation zones there, at most two zones on at a time (but probably just one, depending on the flow I can get at 50 psi at that location).

I’d also like to control the pool lights from the pi. They’re low wattage, LED lights, 5W max, 12VAC. The lights themselves (under water in the pool) are more than just LEDs–their color can be controlled by manually doing an on/off sequence to get the color you want. So, I’d be worried about trying to use DC instead of AC.

I was thinking I would use three channels of the OpenSprinkler board for powering (and color controlling) the three LED lights. I’d have to hack the board to power those channels from 12VAC instead of 24VAC needed for the irrigation valves.. Since I’d be hacking the pcb anyway, I could add wires not only for the 12VAC, but also the gnd connections for the pool light triacs.

I’d need a 24VAC to 12VAC transformer (haven’t found one yet, any suggestions would be welcome!).

The lights are 5W (max) each. At 12 volts, that’s 417 ma (each). So well within the maximum OpenSprinkler spec of 800 ma per channel. But, I think the sum is too much for the 16 mil triac gnd trace on the OpenSprinkler pcb.

Alternately, I could put 2:1 transformers on the OpenSprinkler channel outputs. That way I wouldn’t have to hack the OpenSprinkler pcb. Current would be 200 ma for the 5 watts at 24 volts, but sum still of the current looks too big for what looks like a 16 mil trace on the OpenSprinkler pcb.

I could also just add jumper wires for the triacs on the pcb and the “downstream” transformers. But, while that approach wouldn’t require me to cut traces on the pcb, I’d still have to do an “add wire” hack AND use multiple transformers.

So, I’d to hear that I’m missing something and the OpenSprinkler pcb can actually handle more total channel current than what a 16 mil trace would limit. But, I can certainly make it work, if I can find the transformers. Worst case, I guess I could wind my own.

[davethomaspilot]

Ray, was this reply for OpenSprinkler Pi or OpenSprinkler hardware?

I’m looking at the OSPi board layout and it looks like 16 mil traces for the channels. And the triacs ground connections appear to be series connected through a trace that’s also only 16 mils in several spots.

Should I worry about reliability if I have more than one sprinkler valve on at a time?

[davethomaspilot]

Got it working!

Turns out if I specify anything other than the master station on the remote controller (pond-sprinkler), it works.

So, it looks like I just have to define a “dummy” station on the pond-sprinkler that controls no valve directly, but has the “Use Master” flag set.

The remote station is a master on the garage-sprinkler controller, so it will active the remote, dummy station on pond-sprinkler when any station (using master) on garage-sprinkler is on.

Still don’t understand the “configure as extender” thing, or why garage-sprinkler is on port 80 instead of 8080. But, I think I can get things working.

[davethomaspilot]

4.88 inches by 2.60 inches

Yup, that will do it.

Thanks!

Dave Thomas

[davethomaspilot]

Good update–

I too had to do the “a2enmod headers” and stumbled on the “http://os_addr/su ” typo. Sorry that I forgot to mention that!

Another small change with apache is that the web files now need to go into /var/www/html rather than just /var/www.

I added everything to /var/www not /var/www/html and it worked fine.

But, I did not use the <Directory> </Directory> tags. I assumed that when you specify a directory to “limit the scope” of the commands, the commands would apply to all child subdirectories of the specified directory also. So, adding <Directory /var/www/> wouldn’t narrow the scope at all, so might as well leave it out.

I think that if I added additional .js or .html files for something unrelated to OpenSprinkler then it would be better to have the OpenSprinkler stuff down in in its own directory. Then I could use the <Directory> tag to make the commands specific to OpenSprinkler.

[davethomaspilot]

You said you added a .htaccess “to config the addition file types”. But maybe you have a typo?

I have the following at the bottom of /etc/apache2/apache2.conf on my rpi:

Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Origin “*”
AddEncoding x-gzip .cgz .jgz
AddType text/css cgz
AddType text/javascript jgz

I’m not very skilled in js, just monkey read, monkey do. But it work ok with those chants.

[davethomaspilot]

Ah, thanks. I’ll stick with the released version in the .zip file.

It worked painlessly (still using http, not https) on an apache server running on the same rpi that’s hosting the opensprinkler firmware.

So, on an rpi, other than automatically getting the latest released js, why would one want to have the UI served in the cloud rather than locally?

Just want to make sure I’m not missing something important…

[davethomaspilot]

Looks like the directory structure under www is identical to what’s in the UI.zip file.

So, I’m thinking the latest ui code will always be here?

https://github.com/OpenSprinkler/OpenSprinkler-App/tree/master/www

BTW, I got it working on a local Windows 10 web server no problem after I used http: instead of https.

Never could get it to work with https, but that’s probably due to my lack of skill in dealing with SSL certificates, etc.

I really want the web server on the pi that’s driving the opensprinkler hardware–that’s next.

[davethomaspilot]

I think I prefer to use a local server for the UI.

The documentation for this:

https://opensprinkler.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/5000164006-using-a-different-server-for-ui-assets

looks excellent. Thanks!

Will the UI code in:

UI.zip

always be up to date? If not, how does one get the latest?

Thanks!

[davethomaspilot]

As a new pool owner with Pentair equipment and a new OpenSprinkler Pi owner, I’ll be watching this thread closely.

I was thinking along the same lines….

[davethomaspilot]

Ah!

Thanks!

[davethomaspilot]

So, now that I have good wifi coverage over my 8.5 acres, I’d like to have remote control of other things using wifi connected RPIS (in addition to my 20+ irrigation zones)

Front entrance lights
Pond fountain & lights
Pool LED lights

I like the mobile app for controlling thing and I see how to define a station as remote and give it an ip address (but haven’t tried it yet). But, it from the mobile app viewpoint, it looks like there is a one to one mapping between the 8 stations and remote stations.

The number of local stations (8, unless expanded) is limited by the hardware-the triacs and shift register outputs. But, why should remote stations be limited to only 8? Or, why give up control of one or more of the local stations to support remote stations?

I’m thinking this is was a convenient way to extend the functionality of the existing applications rather than a limitation of the hardware?

[davethomaspilot]

How did you secure the outlet box to the inside of the bud box?

[davethomaspilot]

Not sure of your definition of “powerline circuit”. If you mean on the same breaker, that certainly wasn’t the case for me. They worked fine regardless of whether they were on different breakers.

I certainly understand why the signal strength would be greatly attenuated if they are on different 120V phases (about 1/2 the 120V circuits will be on opposite phases), since the transformer’s impedance would block most of the signal unless you install a capacitor between the phases to mitigate this (old X10 trick).

But, as I posted, they wouldn’t work for the long run down to the pond.

So, I bought a Ubiquiti NanoStation and located it in my Attic. And a PicoStation for down at the pump. These work great! I can cover all 8.5 acres of my property with very good signal quality and high data transfer speeds. In fact, I still got a good signal over a mile away.

Originally I did repeater mode. That worked great, but only WEP security is supported in that mode. So, now the Nano is configured as a bridged AP to my existing DSL/Wifi router.

The Nano and Pico are a bit pricey for hobby stuff, but for a home improvement cost, they don’t look so bad.

Thanks!

[davethomaspilot]

Unfortunately, the TP ethernet over power line doesn’t work down by the pump.

I tried a dozen or so outlets in the house, and I quickly got a link on all of them. But, no link where I need it down by the pump.

I tried both phases, but no luck.

Do the wifi range extenders typically work that far?

[davethomaspilot]

Sounds perfect–can’t wait to try it out.

Biggest concern–whether Ethernet over power line will work when one side is 200′ away from the other and next to the electrically noisy pump.

But, the pump electrical noise should be low frequency compared to the power line carrier frequency. So, maybe it will be ok.

Thanks!

[davethomaspilot]

That does sound like what I want! New feature in 2.1.6 firmware, I think.

But, there isn’t much in the manual about it. Here’s all I see:

Remote station: a remote station is a physical station on another OpenSprinkler controller. This allows one master
controller to send commands to remote controllers in order to turn on their valves. Each remote station is specified by
the IP address, port number, and station index on the remote controller. The master and remote controllers must share
the same password.

Just ordered two OpenSprinkler pis assuming I can make this work….

In my case, the remote master must also control the pump relay. An example showing setup of controllers to do that would be great.

Has anyone tried this?

Thanks!

[davethomaspilot]

I have similar needs.

I irrigate my yard from a pond.

At the pond, I have a pump, pump relay, and sprinkler controller. That controller handles a manifold with several valves. The controller turns on the pump when any zone is on.

I have two more controllers located in my garage. Two contrllers are used just to get the number of zones I need. These controllers can’t communicate with the pump relay at the pond.

what I’ve been doing is setting up a “dummy zone” in the pond controller that doesn’t control a valve. This just turns the pump on/off at know start times so the valves driven by the garage controllers have pond water for their zones.

But, this doesn’t work very well. It’s hard to program and error prone. It’s easy for the pump to be on or off when it shouldn’t be. Improving the situation is my main motivation for trying Opensprinkler.

What I need is the ability for any of several master stations to control the pump relay that is connected to one master. I’d like programming to be as simple as if I had only one master with many zones rather than having to individually program each master.

From what I’ve read, I don’t see an immediate solution to my problem since masters can’t communicate with each other. What I want is a way for a controller to act like a zone expansion board.

I’m prepared to add/modify the source code for my needs, but I don’t want to “re-invent the wheel”.

I’d try to use the ethernet over power line adapter and maybe TCP sockets to communicate commands from a single master controller to multiple “slave” controllers. “Slave” in this sense means they looks like a zone expansion board as far as the one master controller software knows. But, there’s ethernet over power line communication between them instead of the physical connection used by the expansion boards.

Is anything like this in progress already? Is there a work around besides using schedules for each master and attempt to keep the pump control synchronized with the controller that isn’t physically connected to it?

Thanks!

[davethomaspilot]

If I use a higher current 24 VAC transformer to support multiple zones on at the same time and a pump relay, what is the maximum current limitation of the opensprinkler hardware?

I.E., the traces on the pcb that carry the sum of the current for all open valves. What continuous current are those traces sized for?

Or, what copper thickness is the pcb? I can calculate from that and trace widths.

Thanks,

[Author]

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