[richardgedwards]

After looking at the CST flow sensor, I am not sure how to interface to it. It looks like a two wire sensor where you bias the two leads with a power supply (8-35 VCD) and then they indicate the output is a voltage on the same two wires. It seems to make more sense to me that it would be a current and not a voltage, at least that is what I concluded with the Hunter flow sensor.

Do you own one of these sensors? If you do and have access to a voltage controlled power supply and an ammeter ad volt meter then you could run the same experiments that I did for the Hunter flow sensor to get a better idea of how it works. Or you could call them since they seem to be more open that Hunter at sharing information.

[richardgedwards]

Hi 951calguy,

I am not familiar with the cst or data industrial flow sensors. Could you possibly post a link or a datasheet? As far as the Hunter flow sensor there was not a lot of information out there about it so I had to run some tests to see how it exactly worked as I mentioned in a previous post. This would be the first step to try and figure out the interface of how it works and try and make it compatible with open sprinkler. In the end you need to interface you flow sensor to be compatible with the open sprinkler interface as described below.

Flow Sensor: when using a flow sensor, the controller will detect flow sensor pulses,
display real-time flow rate at the footer, and log the flow volume at the end of each
program run. Only dry-contact, 2-wire flow sensors are supported: these sensors are
essentially flow-activated switches which close and open repeatedly as water flows
through the meter. They do not need power, and typically come with 2 wires. Insert the
two wires to the sensor terminal on OpenSprinkler (there is no polarity). Then set the
flow pulse rate, which you can find out in your flow sensor’s datasheet, and is used to
convert the pulse count to actual volume. Flow sensors with 3 wires usually require
power and thus need some modifications before they can be used with OpenSprinkler

In order to make the Hunter flow sensor work you need three items.

1. The flow sensor itself.
2. Electronics that converts flow sensor interface to open sprinkler interface, open close contact
3. A power supply to drive the electronics in step 2.

Maybe you can review the previous posts and ask more specific questions where you need help.

[richardgedwards]

This seems consistent with what I have also seen. Ill also reset mine again and see if i can tell when the problems start to occur.

[richardgedwards]

I don’t know what causes the log crash, however the problem began for me after I installed a flow sensor and enabled it. Hopefully someone who knows a bit more about the firmware will respond.

[richardgedwards]

Assuming the start date and stop date is correct I believe it would. Here is link to an online epoch date converter:

epoch time converter

Here is what the docs say:

/jl?pw=xxx&​start=xxx​&​end=xxx​&​type=xxx​ ​or /jl?pw=xxx&​hist=n​&​type=xxx

and here is an example from the same doc which gets data from Friday, October 17, 2014 5:36:07 PM (start=1413567367) to Saturday, October 18, 2014 6:36:07 PM (end=1413657367) GMT.
Example Return​: (e.g. by requesting http://os-ip/jl?pw=xxx&start=1413567367&end=1413657367)
[[3,17,616,1413511817], [0,”rd”,86400,1413511845], [254,1,5,1413512107], [1,3,2700,1413552661], [5,3,1200,1413559201]]

I find the second command more useful and easy to use:

jl?pw=xxx&​hist=n​&​type=xxx

where it just retrieves the data for the past n days.

[richardgedwards]

I’m having a bit if trouble responding. So here I go again. Try this Link

Just keep in mind you will lose your data.

[richardgedwards]

So I just found a solution to fix the problem. After looking in ​Firmware 2.1.7 API Document there is a command in there to clear the log data.

http://os-ip/dl?pw=xxx&day=all

where os-ip is the ip address of OpenSprinkler and xxx is your MD5 hashed password.

After entering the above url in the browser it returned the result {“result”:1} which apparently means success. After clearing the log in this manner the log data started showing up again in the gui. Of course the first time I looked at the log data in the gui it said that it could not find any data for this day (since I just deleted it) however I ran a valve for 30 seconds and then looked again and the data showed up.

[richardgedwards]

I also have a similar issue where I bought the OpenSprinkler 3.0 that came with firmware v2.1.7 installed. Initially the logging was working. I recently installed a flow sensor and enabled it and the logging stopped working with and error message as described in the previous post from Mike Mathee.

Yesterday, I wanted to check in on the logs and found that I’m getting an error saying “Error retrieving log data. Please try again later.”
The enable logging tick box under system options is still checked. I unchecked, checked the feature and rebooted the unit several times.
But the logging does not work.

The OpenSprinkler 3.0 does not have an SD card (at least I don’t believe it does) and so how can I fix the problem since I don’t have access to format the card.

I would like to get the logging feature to work again, how can I do this?

[richardgedwards]

I solved the reliability problem by removing the power relay from the board and soldered in a reed relay. Here is a link to the relay I used.

Link to reed relay

Overall I am satisfied with the hardware setup now. I like that the flow sensor uses a current loop for noise immunity. I also like that this setup isolates the flow sensor from the controller through the reed relay.

[richardgedwards]

I found an easy, inexpensive way to make the Hunter flow sensor compatible with opensprinkler, even though it may not be optimal. I found this board on the ebay:24V 4-20mA Current Detection Limit Value Control Switch Alarm Converter Module. The reason it is not optimal is that the relay should be a reed relay for reliability. I biased the sensor with 12 vdc with a separate 24vac to dc converter. I’ll attach a picture of the setup. I’m interested if anyone has a better approach.

Attachments:

1. 

   20170618_151040.png
   

[richardgedwards]

Hi Ray,

It is a Hunter flow sensor. I bought the sensor without the control module. Hunter does not seem to be to willing to share how their sensor works, but I did some experimenting and biased the two wires out of the sensor with various voltages and measured the current. As the paddle rotates the current changes from a low state (~4 mA) to a high state (~20 mA). Here are the actual measured results.

One way I thought of solving the problem is to drive a reed relay with the 4-20 mA current, that way I could isolate the sensor from OpenSprinkler and use a separate power supply to power the flow sensor. However I am having a bit of trouble converting the current to a usable voltage to drive the relay. I was wondering if this approach seemed reasonable or if there was an easier and more elegant way the community could suggest that I am overlooking. Unfortunately, the voltage across a 250 ohm resistor does not work since it converts the 4-20 mA to 1-5 VDC and the 1 VDC is above the threshold of the turnoff voltage of the relay. Maybe what I am really after is a circuit to convert 4-20 mA to 0-5V to drive the relay powered by a 12 or 24 volt power supply. I have a separate power supply that converts 24 VAC to 5,12 or 24 VDC.

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