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You can send an email to [email protected] and we will send some spare ones to you. The blown fuse may indicate a problem somewhere, perhaps a shorted solenoid.
If you are trying to compile OpenSprinkler 1.x source code, right now the only option is to use the VirtualBox image which has the right version of avr-gcc and Linux installed. Please check the instructions for details:
http://rayshobby.net/?page_id=732#compileInteresting. There is no current plan to add monthly schedule support (because I am not sure how common this is). But it shouldn’t be too hard to modify the source code to add support for this.
Hmm, this is puzzling — so your RPi gets a valid IP address but you can’t ping it? Are you sure this is the correct IP address? Is it possible that the router has changes the IP address assigned to RPi for some reason?
Sorry, just noticed that I haven’t responded to this question. Indeed the USB port is partially covered and to use USB modules other than the nano-size WiFi, you need to cut the enclosure with a dremel or other tools.
The last batch of OSPi was all gone shortly after the Maker Faire. A new batch was ordered immediately and there wasn’t time to add new changes. The next hardware revision will probably need to take a couple of months to develop.
Were you able to access http://192.168.x.x (where 192.168.x.x is your RPi’s IP address) and see the one-page instruction?
Hi Gene,
The OpenSprinkler online user manual, particularly this section:
http://rayshobby.net/?page_id=730#program
explains how to assign each station a different water time. Basically each program requires a uniform water time, but you can create multiple programs, with the same start / end / interval times, and select different stations with different water time.Allowing stations to have different water time within a single program is being addressed in the next firmware update. For now, please use the work-around above. Thanks.
OK, looks like the microcontroller is not up running for some reason. Not sure what to try next. So I suggest that you send an email to [email protected] to arrange for support / replacement.
Hi,
I replied to your email last night. Just for the record, the DIY kit uses MAC97 triac. It’s a pretty common component (unfortunately you can’t find these in Radio Shack — as a side story, last time I walked into Radio Shack and wanted to buy some MOSFET, which I know they have in stock, the guy working there asked me: what’s a MOSFET?) Anyways, you can get these from Mouser.com or Digikey.com.
@Marco: thank you so much for posting. Really enjoyed talking to you at the Maker Faire!
@Scott: I have been trying to get my hands on the RPi compute module and re-design OSPi using the compute module. If this is feasible, it will allow LCD to be added to OSPi just like the Arduino-based OpenSprinkler. I am quite excited about this and hope it will happen soon!ATmega32 is very different from ATmega328 — they have different number of pins and the internal modules are also different. Are you sure you have ATmega32?
Why do we still need to select days of the week when I already specify odd/even days for my schedule?
This is because the odd/even days are used as a constraint. For example, you may only want to water on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, but your town may have a restriction that you are only allowed to water on even days. So you select Monday, Thursday, and Saturday, and also select the even day constraint. Hope this makes sense.
Can we specify duration for each station in a program? Without this I have to create one program for each station
This will be supported soon. For now, you can consolidate your stations, and group all that use the same water time to one program. Unless if each of your station has a unique water time different from all other stations, you can always group them into subsets and create one program for each subset.
@ChaoscripT: the valve shown in your link is clearly a latching solenoid (note that the two wires have different colors, meaning there is polarity). Latching solenoids are typically used in battery-powered controllers, and CANNOT work with 24V AC sprinkler controllers (such as OpenSprinkler or OSPi), because the electric spec and the controler mechanism are completely different. OpenSprinkler Bee is designed to work with latching solenoids:
http://rayshobby.net/?p=8527
We have an Arduino Shield version of OpenSprinkler Bee (called OSBee Sheild) that will be released shortly this week.24V AC valves require a 24V AC power adapter and cannot work on batteires. If you must use latching solenoids, then OpenSprinkler or OSPi are not suitable. If the valve type doesn’t matter, I suggest that you get 24V AC valves, they are cheap and widely available online or at home improvement stores.
Hi, sorry to hear that you are having trouble with OpenSprinkler. I just came back from Maker Faire yesterday and have started responding to forum questions.
if I understand it correctly, you have OpenSprinkler connected to a WiFi adapter, which further talks to the router, is this correct? If so, which WiFi adapter are you using? The WiFi signal quality varies, depending on the distance and barriers between the adapter and router. So a non 100% ping rate is not uncommon.
Can you try to connect OpenSprinkler to the router directly via an Ethernet cable and do ping test again? Also, make sure you are not simultaneously access the controller from multiple devices, because the Arduino-based OpenSprinkler isn’t very capable at handling multiple requests at the same time. Just use one browser, or one app to access it at a time.
Which mobile device do you have? iOS? Android? Widows, or someting else? If you are having trouble with the mobile app, you can access the controller directly by opening a browser and type in the IP address of the controller.
Let me know if any of the above suggestions help.
Did you have solenoids connected at all or you are just using a multimeter to measure the voltage with no solenoids connected? If no solenoid, the voltage reading is normal, due to stray voltage. When you have a load connected it should remain off (close to 0 voltage).
The voltages are correct, that’s good. The first thing to figure out is if the microcontroller is up running. For example, unplug power, then press and hold the second pushbutton (B2) and plug the power back in, does the LCD remain off? If it remains off, that means the microcontroller is running and can successfully enter bootloading mode. If not, that means for some reason the microcontroller is not up running. Can you take off the LCD and take a picture of the microcontroller? Also, make sure the 12MHz crystal (for microcontroller) and 25MHz crystal (for Ethernet controller) are not accidentally switched.
When this happens, can you still log in to OSPi? is the RPi still online? Also, check if RPi has rebooted due to some reason. This could be because a shorted solenoid, a sprinkler transformer with insufficient current rating, or something similar.
Option 1 is to connect 12V LEDs directly to OpenSprinkler. The reason this is doable is that LEDs are diodes so they will block half of the AC valves. Since OpenSprinkler outputs 24V AC (RMS equivalent to 24V DC), that effectively becomes 12V after half of the AC waves are blocked.
Well, that’s in theory. In practice there are some issues:
1. AC waves have high peak voltages, so I would recommend connecting a power resistor in series to limit the current. Or alternatively, connect two LED strips in series to halve the voltage on each. This will probably make the light dim, but it reduces the chance of damaging the LED due to high peak voltages.
2. You mentioned 12V, 10 – 50 watt range. That means the operating current is a few amps, this is beyond the capability of each zone on OpenSprinkler (800mA per zone), so in practice this will probably make the light a lot dimmer than what it should be.Option 2 is use the on-board relay to control landscape lighting. This way, the LED can run on its own power source and not depend on the 24V AC sprinkler transformer.
The JSON options are not documented in the user manual yet (I should add it soon). Here is the list of available commands:
http://x.x.x.x/jo: returns options.
http://x.x.x.x/jc: returns controller variables.
http://x.x.x.x/jp: returns program data.
http://x.x.x.x/jn: returns station names and data.
http://x.x.x.x/js: returns station status bits.
from the variable name you should be able to figure out the meaning of each variable.
