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– Voltage should be measured as AC (not DC) voltage between COM terminal and any zone port.
– When a zone is off, the AC voltage measured is stray voltage and doesn’t matter (it may or may not be 0, but it doesn’t matter).
– When a zone is on, the AC voltage measured should be close to the power supply voltage (about 24VAC).Version 1.3u is indeed a DIY version that the user had to solder it up. It was from several years ago and has long been discontinued. I am not sure if the current OpenSprinkler app would still work with it, but all OpenSprinkler controllers have built-in user interface and you can directly access them in a web browser without using the app.
1) Yes, turning on a remote zone on the second controller will trigger its own master valve, if one is configured.
2) No, the log on master controller will not reflect the flow rates on the second controller, because the only communication between master and remote controllers are the turning on/off zone commands sent from master controller. This is one-way communication, the master controller does not read any data from the remote controller. However, flow information will be logged on the remote controller.
1) on OS 2.3, there are a number of analog pins you can use. If you open the enclosure and look at the upper-left corner of the PCB, all the mapped out pins are there. Some are named Axx — those are all analog pins. You can choose any of them.
One important thing: all OS devices use 3.3V logic, so voltages between 0 and 3.3V will be translated linearly to a value between 0 and 1023, but anything above 3.3V will be capped at 1023. If you are trying to read a voltage that can be above 3.3V, you need a resistor voltage divider to drop it down to the 3.3V range.
2) If you have some experience with Arduino — you can simply use analogRead(pin_number) to read the analog voltage, where pin_number is whatever pin you chose in step 1. For example, if you chose A25, then use analogRead(A25).
Displaying it on the mobile app requires modifying both the firmware and the UI. Basically you can go to server.cpp->server_json_controller_main function, add a json variable and attach the analog reading result. Then in the UI read the json variable and decide where you want to display it.
I just tried it and it’s still working for me (tried all of email notification, SMS, push notification, all working). Here is what I did:
– I had to use the IFTTT mobile app because when I log to IFTTT website, I can’t find the ‘make your own applet’ link. I noticed that the website seems to lead users to go to IFTTT Platform. Don’t use that — the firmware has never been tested with IFTTT Platform, and I have no idea how well it works.
– Log into the mobile app, and at the bottom of the homepage, select ‘Get more’ -> ‘Make your own from scratch’.
– Select webhooks as ‘this’, email (or SMS or push notification) as ‘that’. Make sure event name must be ‘sprinkler’ (without the quotes). If you don’t fill the event name or you use the wrong event name, you won’t receive notification.
– Go to your webhooks documentation link to find the IFTTT token. Then put it in OpenSprinkler settings->Integration->IFTTT token, and selected a few events, like ‘station run’.
– Manually run a zone and at the end of it you should receive the ‘station run’ notification.Update: just noticed that the website also works, just click ‘Explore’ at the upper-right corner, then ‘Make your own from scratch’ the Create button.
Good to hear. I am not sure about the cause of the corruption. It’s possible that it got corrupted during a writing event to the flash memory. Generally a factory reset will wipe out the flash and get rid of the corrupted data. Therefore I would recommend saving a copy of the configurations every time you make changes, so that in the rare event this happens again, you can perform a factory reset and recover the configurations easily.
I honestly don’t know. As I said this is not an issue I am aware of. If you suspect there is a hardware issue, you can submit a support ticket so we can get the board back to check. But I have a feeling this is a software setup issue. My suggestion is that you wipe out the sd card and install raspbian from scratch. Then install OpenSprinkler firmware and try again. I’ve seen cases where other programs installed on Rpi may cause strange interferences with OpenSprinkler firmware.
This is a standard feature in current OpenSprinkler firmware, that is, you can configure for each zone individually whether it’s affected by the rain sensor or not. You have the first-generation OpenSprinkler (1.42u), unfortunately its firmware (version 1.8.3) does not contain this feature.
I just tried 2.1.9(3) and cannot reproduce the issue you reported: it correctly registered all the button clicks I did.
Since you said it’s inaccurate: how off is it?
Also, I assume you are using the stock firmware 2.1.9(3). If you compiled the firmware yourself, I can think of many reasons why it may not be accurate.
I have never used “sudo systemctl start OpenSprinkler” to run the firmware. After you run the build script (build.sh ospi) it will usually generate a script in /etc/init.d and auto-start the firmware. If you don’t want it to auto start, you can also go to the firmware folder, and run it manually by:
sudo ./OpenSprinkler
I am not sure where you get the instructions for using sudo systemctl to start the firmware — it’s certainly not in the instructions we published here:
https://openthings.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/5000631599-installing-and-updating-the-unified-firmware-on-ospiNo, not the master branch. As I said, it’s in this pull request:
https://github.com/OpenSprinkler/OpenSprinkler-App/pull/86
You can also go to the repository where the pull request came from and download the zip file from there:
https://github.com/PeteBa/OpenSprinkler-App/tree/mqtt-configOne thing you can check is open a browser and type in the following:
http://x.x.x.x/ja?pw=yyyy
where x.x.x.x is your controller’s IP address, and yyyy is the md5 hash of your device password (you can use https://www.md5hashgenerator.com/ to generate md5 hash from your password).This should return controller settings in json format. One possibility is that the json string is corrupted, like there are garbage characters in the string. You can copy the entire string and paste it to a json parser (such as http://json.parser.online.fr/) to check its validity.
If indeed the string is corrupted, you can perform a factory reset. But I do suggest you keep a copy of the output of the /ja command above, as that will help recover the settings after the factory reset.
Honestly I have no idea. I am not aware of this issue. The reason I asked about whether you are using a relay board is that using ‘active-low’ relays would be a obvious reason why the solenoids engage right in the beginning. Other than making sure the power adapter outputs AC (not DC) voltage, and making sure RPi is plugged in and aligned correctly with OSPi, I have no idea why it would engage the solenoids at power-on.
The receptor on OpenSprinkler DC has a 2.5mm diameter center pin. The cable you bought shows its internal diameter is 2.1mm which explains why it won’t plug in. Could you find another one that has 2.5mm internal diameter?
Admittedly 2.1mm is more common. On this batch of the OpenSprinkler DC, the factory mistakenly used 2.5mm. The power adapter included in the controller kit fits both 2.1mm and 2.5mm so it’s ok. However, if you are trying to find your own cable or adapter, 2.5mm happens to be the less common one.
In the worst case, you could cut off the male plug connector from the power adapter as well as your cable, and basically ‘switch’ them, so that the plug connector from the adapter goes to the end of the extension cable, and vice versa.
What power adapter are you using? Is it possible that you are using a power adapter that outputs DC instead of AC voltage?
Yes, the boost time setting is global and is not customized for each zone. If you use the same controller to drive solenoids as well, you should leave the boost time as is. It won’t cause any harm to your relays because it’s a very short pulse. If this is a concern, you can always have the common wire for relays run separately from the common wire of solenoids, and connect the relay’s common wire directly to the positive wire of the input power supply (i.e. not to the COM terminal). The boosted voltage is presented on the COM terminal, and obviously not on the positive wire of the input power supply.
Are you by any chance running your own instance of the weather server? The OpenSprinkler weather server caches weather data for a location for 24 hours, so I am pretty sure the watering percentage remains the same for a day. If you run your own instance of the server, then I can fluctuate without the caching.
The pull request includes instructions on how to configure mqtt server:
https://github.com/OpenSprinkler/OpenSprinkler-Firmware/pull/113Alternatively, there is also a UI pull request that includes mqtt. To do so, download that version of the UI:
https://github.com/OpenSprinkler/OpenSprinkler-App/pull/86
unzip it and double click the ‘index.html’ in ‘www’ folder. It works just like the regular UI, and it shows mqtt server configuration under Options -> Integration.If you can access the PC remotely, could you open a browser on that PC and type in the following:
http://x.x.x.x/ja
where x.x.x.x is your OpenSprinkler’s IP address. It should respond with the firmware version (fwv).
Then you can also try:
http://x.x.x.x/ja?pw=yyyy
where yyyy is the md5hash of your OpenSprinkler’s device password. You can generate the md5hash from your plain-text password using this website: https://www.md5hashgenerator.com/
This should return the complete controller configurations.Your solenoid (rainbird 100-HV) seems to draw much lower holding current than a lot of other sprinkler solenoids. A lot of them I’ve seen draw about 500~600mA inrush and 200~300mA holding current. Since yours only draw less than 100mA holding current, there should be no problem driving 5 valves at the same time.
The ‘ground’ wires on expander cable will bear the return current from all solenoids connected to the expander, and there are 2x ground wires on the cable, so it should be ok for your application. If all 5 open valves are on the expander , then the ground wires will withstand the highest amount (5x) of holding current; however, if only 1 open valve is on the expander, then it only needs to withstand 1x holding current.
From the spec sheet of 100-HV the coil resistance is around 70-85 ohm. Please note that since you are using 12V input power supply, this is going to generate a higher holding current than spec (12/coil resistance = somewhere around 140mA to 170mA). This is ok but not efficient. If you can find a 9V or even 7.5V power supply, that would be more ideal.
For DC-powered OpenSprinkler, please note that the firmware always serializes concurrent running zones (i.e. they will be separated apart by 1 second even if you want to turn them on at the same time), to reduce the impact of inrush current.
“I’m seeing about 7.5V DC from GND to COM.” — this is normal. COM presents positive voltage.
“I’m seeing -7.5V DC from COM to S2 when “running”.” — you should measure the voltage as multimeter’s red probe on COM (that’s always the highest voltage), and black probe on S2. That should give you a +7.5VDC, and this is normal. Every zone has an internal MOSFET switch which switches the zone port to GND when activated. In other words, the MOSFET switch is turned off (open-circuit) when the zone is not running, and turns on (connects the zone to GND) when it’s running. COM(+) -> Solenoid wire 1 -> Solenoid wire 2 (zone port) -> MOSFET -> GND(-) completes the circuit and solenoid turns on.
In circuit design, this is also known as ‘open-drain’.
To connect relays, it should be relays DC+ goes to COM, DC- goes to GND (the left most pin on the 6-pin terminal block), signal goes to a zone port like S2. The relay you linked to seems to allow settings input trigger level: either high or low. You should select trigger by a low (L) signal as that’s how OpenSprinkler DC works.
If you don’t need voltage boosting, you can go to Settings -> Advanced, and set the ‘Boost Time’ to 0. The voltage booster is needed if you use the controller to directly control solenoid valves, in which case the boosting helps to engage the solenoid in the beginning. For relays which operate at 12VDC, voltage boosting is not necessary, so you can set it to 0.
