Popup lawn irrigation and controllers

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#1909322 29-Nov-2017 09:16

ermat: Great thread guys. I would really like to irrigate my new lawn and the pi set up sounds the business.
Only trouble is I'm flat out doing 100 other things finishing the build on my new house.
Can the experts here give me a short list of "must do's" with regard what i need to get organised.
What do you recomend regards sprinklers etc.

I have a rectangular lawn strip approx 30m long, by 3.5m wide.

Hi @ermat,

MP Rotator have strip nozzles designed exactly for that sort of shape so you should be able to cover it quite efficiently without throwing a whole lot of water over your house/fence/washing line!

kryptonjohn

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#1909447 29-Nov-2017 11:33

ermat:

1/2" npt and below is the same thread pitch as bsp. Anything bigger than 1/2" npt has a different thread pitch to the equilivent bsp size.

Thanks @ermatt and @richms for your comments re NPT. I also had a corroborating comment from a threadspert elsewhere along the same lines: Officually BSP and NPT are incompatible and it would be a bad idea to combine them with metal threaded fittings and gas lines! However for plastic threads, water lines and put in some thread tape and they should be fine, especially for 1/2" and under. Even more so at our place with its pathetic water pressure.

Phew!

nickb800

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#1909465 29-Nov-2017 11:52

kryptonjohn:

ermat:

1/2" npt and below is the same thread pitch as bsp. Anything bigger than 1/2" npt has a different thread pitch to the equilivent bsp size.

Thanks @ermatt and @richms for your comments re NPT. I also had a corroborating comment from a threadspert elsewhere along the same lines: Officually BSP and NPT are incompatible and it would be a bad idea to combine them with metal threaded fittings and gas lines! However for plastic threads, water lines and put in some thread tape and they should be fine, especially for 1/2" and under. Even more so at our place with its pathetic water pressure.

Phew!

Alternatively, you could buy your thread to barb connectors from the US with your popups (may be cheaper than NZ anyway). That way you have perfect thread to thread connection, and the barb connection picks up any discrepancy as it is more flexible. Anyway, they seem to use 1/2" barb which is approximately equal to our 13mm irrigation pipe.

kryptonjohn

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#1909470 29-Nov-2017 11:59

nickb800:

kryptonjohn:

ermat:

1/2" npt and below is the same thread pitch as bsp. Anything bigger than 1/2" npt has a different thread pitch to the equilivent bsp size.

Thanks @ermatt and @richms for your comments re NPT. I also had a corroborating comment from a threadspert elsewhere along the same lines: Officually BSP and NPT are incompatible and it would be a bad idea to combine them with metal threaded fittings and gas lines! However for plastic threads, water lines and put in some thread tape and they should be fine, especially for 1/2" and under. Even more so at our place with its pathetic water pressure.

Phew!

Alternatively, you could buy your thread to barb connectors from the US with your popups (may be cheaper than NZ anyway). That way you have perfect thread to thread connection, and the barb connection picks up any discrepancy as it is more flexible. Anyway, they seem to use 1/2" barb which is approximately equal to our 13mm irrigation pipe.

True and their 3/4 barb is almost a perfect 19mm. seems like most use 19mm hose here.

kryptonjohn

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#1910726 29-Nov-2017 19:43

Ok, so I'm waiting on my IrrigationCaddy to arrive and then have to do the pipe work, solenoid valves and sprinklers. And back breaking digging.

As this controller is not designed to be outside, it's going to be in a room just inside from the tap location and I'll need to poke a bundle of wires through the wall somehow (brick on the outside) so a bit of drilling through my otherwise nicely finished house. I guess I need some sort of weatherproof housing and conduit on the outside and a face plate and cable gland on the inside... any suggestions? If it doesn't look nice I'm going to get told off!

nickb800

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#1910728 29-Nov-2017 19:48

kryptonjohn:

Ok, so I'm waiting on my IrrigationCaddy to arrive and then have to do the pipe work, solenoid valves and sprinklers. And back breaking digging.

As this controller is not designed to be outside, it's going to be in a room just inside from the tap location and I'll need to poke a bundle of wires through the wall somehow (brick on the outside) so a bit of drilling through my otherwise nicely finished house. I guess I need some sort of weatherproof housing and conduit on the outside and a face plate and cable gland on the inside... any suggestions? If it doesn't look nice I'm going to get told off!

Drill through the mortar, not the brick. Mount a junction box (like in Plas's photo on the previous page, and silicone the cable where it comes through the hole in the brick

chevrolux

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#1910729 29-Nov-2017 19:48

kryptonjohn:

Ok, so I'm waiting on my IrrigationCaddy to arrive and then have to do the pipe work, solenoid valves and sprinklers. And back breaking digging.

As this controller is not designed to be outside, it's going to be in a room just inside from the tap location and I'll need to poke a bundle of wires through the wall somehow (brick on the outside) so a bit of drilling through my otherwise nicely finished house. I guess I need some sort of weatherproof housing and conduit on the outside and a face plate and cable gland on the inside... any suggestions? If it doesn't look nice I'm going to get told off!

Find a mate with a hammer drill. Nice big 20mm-odd hole. Pass cables through, pump full of silicon, then covered with a "cobra-clamp" - the little "hoods" that you often see on the top of a conduit running up a wall.

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kiwi1

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#1911150 30-Nov-2017 14:55

If you go to Hunter Irrigation (.com) and understand them and their products, they are the ultimate in sprinklers Fullstop

Now where do you get them in NZ

irrigation ? (warehouse) outa Tauranga, But if in AKL

Maura road, Panmureish end next to a lawnmower place ( panmure highway side), is a little shop that when you walk into you think you are in sprinkler ,pipes, fittings, taps, Heaven So awesome, if still there

they even have trencher hire too /

and a little street in ellerslie that runs next to the railway line, and is the cut though road to the big business park Lived on that str for 4yrs cant rember name

the company is like a FARM agri type co

go in also a little heaven plead for discount and you may get it (foot in the door for more stuff as you will)

God I love irrigation,pipes, valves, and water, taps and kiwi N0 8 ingenuity o and electricity, diggers good too!!

Marty 021888593

kryptonjohn

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#1911151 30-Nov-2017 15:02

kiwi1:

If you go to Hunter Irrigation (.com) and understand them and their products, they are the ultimate in sprinklers Fullstop

Now where do you get them in NZ

irrigation ? (warehouse) outa Tauranga, But if in AKL

Maura road, Panmureish end next to a lawnmower place ( panmure highway side), is a little shop that when you walk into you think you are in sprinkler ,pipes, fittings, taps, Heaven So awesome, if still there

they even have trencher hire too /

and a little street in ellerslie that runs next to the railway line, and is the cut though road to the big business park Lived on that str for 4yrs cant rember name

the company is like a FARM agri type co

go in also a little heaven plead for discount and you may get it (foot in the door for more stuff as you will)

God I love irrigation,pipes, valves, and water, taps and kiwi N0 8 ingenuity o and electricity, diggers good too!!

Marty 021888593

Your shop in Marua Road is Water Works Irrigation and they do indeed have a lot of stuff and a lot of expertise there.

https://www.waterworksirrigation.co.nz/

Also I see these guys to Hunter:

http://aucklandirrigation.co.nz/contact-us/

And these are Probably the Ellerslie guys:

http://www.thinkwater.co.nz/

But for NZ prices I don't think you'll beat:

http://irrigationexpress.co.nz

ac130

12 posts

Geek

#1911958 2-Dec-2017 13:15

I second the open sprinkler. I have the Raspberry Pi version.

There are a range of options as mentioned above like the rain gauge. You can run your zones sequentially if water pressure is a problem.

The app is fantastic. It's pretty much plug and play after you load the image on an SD card.

As of last night I also can use my Google Home to turn the zones on and off via IFTTT and the API documentation.

ac130

12 posts

Geek

#1911964 2-Dec-2017 13:46

And these are the solenoid valves I'm using

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com.au%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F332124498773

They work perfectly!!

kryptonjohn

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#1912905 4-Dec-2017 20:12

Great price. But says 20lpm which sounds a bit low? You don't find its restricting flow then?

What sprinklers are you running off them?

They also have nice looking 4 and 6 zone manifolds for a great price. No info on shipping to NZ though?

ac130

12 posts

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#1913003 4-Dec-2017 21:45

kryptonjohn:
Great price. But says 20lpm which sounds a bit low? You don't find its restricting flow then?

What sprinklers are you running off them?

They also have nice looking 4 and 6 zone manifolds for a great price. No info on shipping to NZ though?

My yard is quite small and I've split it in to front and back yard zones. I'm also not doing any lawn sprinklers. They do have a bit of a range though. This one does 100/lpm for $15.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/rigation-Solenoid-Valve-1-BSP-1-BSP-out-24VAC-100LPM-/231782110893?hash=item35f74a56ad

DS248

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#1913011 4-Dec-2017 21:59

ac130: And these are the solenoid valves I'm using

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com.au%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F332124498773

They work perfectly!!

Looking at the small screws holding the cap on, I am not certain I would trust those long-term if located inside. Our solenoid values are in our garage and the water retic co strongly recommended we replace ours with more substantial units. They had seen several blow caps off. Having been badly flooded once before (from other sources) we took the advice though it did cost.

The ebay units above may be OK outside though.

kryptonjohn

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#1913015 4-Dec-2017 22:02

Pressure is something to watch especially if hooking up before your house pressure reducing valve.

I just had our pressure checked - 800kpa on the outside taps, 500kpa inside the house. No wonder the hose keeps blowing off its fittings!

Despite that pressure our flow rate isn't that good - I suspect it's the pipes causing that.

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