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That sounds like what I’m looking for. Would all the program entries fall into the programs main parameters, such as the programs initial start time? So even if you have 64 program entries within a program, they cycle through from the initial start time until finished? You wouldn’t need to set start times for each set of programs entries?
That is vital for me because currently as I adjust zone durations within a program, say reducing the times, chunks of time can be created where nothing is being watered because the start time for the next program is set far enough out to avoid overlap (mostly help keep things clear when I block out the timings for all the programs). It’s quite a task to adjust all these details without making mistakes, and I have to make adjustments frequently. But I say this only because of the large number of zones I’m dealing with.
Thanks for your time!
Just realizing you added more details to your post, thanks this helps.
Do the LED indicators for each zone stay on even when the zone is off? As I understand things they would not?
I know that this situation is possible:
Each zone has an inline fuse protecting it from the valve. Before the fuse, a LED indicator is wired so that it only comes on when the fuse blows (a resistor in series to LED that is parallel to the fuse I believe).
I am wondering if this situation is possible:
Instead of individual LEDs, would it be possible to have all zones connected to a shared relay, before their fuse, that would only ever be turned on if one of the fuses blows on a zone? It would only need to trigger another circuit to power on and then it could turn off (when the zone turns off per its schedule). Would this be a shared relay that gets powered on only when a fuse is blown? It would change the state of another circuit which would need to stay powered on even after the relay turns off again. Some reset “button” would be needed I suppose. This way I can have a large visible indicator light outside the box or an alarm that stays on.
Anyone else have experience adding on circuit protection and alerting to our controllers?
Ray,
Would this allow someone to have set limits to how many simultaneous valves can run at once within the program?
For my use in greenhouses where we have baskets on dripper lines and below them plants irrigated with spinners, I need to run as many valves as I can without running out of flow (2″ water main….lots of pressure and flow). Main reason for the rush is much of this has to be done when no one is inside the houses or in the nursery yard, covered by sprinkler as well, so squeezing in 130ish zones in a handful of hours gets challenging.
A work around has been making many programs so that, for instance, only 4 spinner lines run at once, 6 programs are needed to do this. This becomes harder to manage as things get bigger with the need to constantly change timings (water demands always changing in greenhouse).
I would love to be able to create a program that allows you to state how many zones are allowed to run at once. So one program can manage my 48 spinners because it would only allow 4 to run at a time. I’d be able to compress how long it takes to irrigate everything and it would be done with a much smaller number of programs.
Thank you for taking the time to respond! It’s great to see these pictures, very helpful.
I have looked at the Din Rail components, probably ideal for this and will have to look into further.
If I’m understanding your set up correctly, you have 8 zones currently but 16 relays (black, middle left)? I faintly see wires on the upper portion of the Schneider relays connecting them all together? Are they sharing a common wire completing the obit valves circuits back to the power supply? Also, is that a pc power supply up top for the the orbit valves (24v AC) or the relays and controller (12v DC)? What model relay is in the socket?
The grey Din Rail connectors in the middle, I don’t follow their intent, can you elaborate on those? You’ve done a nice job hiding wires so I can’t follow the circuit. I believe the tan Din Rail connectors on the far right are the fuses for each zone?
Thank you again for your time!
