Automated residential irrigation

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Automated residential irrigation

BuffyNZ

241 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 27

#207817 15-Jan-2017 12:30

Hi folks,

I have an old battery dc watering system that I want to update and automate.

The controller is a Toro DDCWP-6-9v with two zones, using Hunter DC latching solenoids.

I have wifi and z-wave in the house, so I am looking to replace the controller with something that can do Wifi or Z-Wave and can hook into openhab.

I would prefer to not replace the solenoids, but I will if that is the best option.

I can also go AC if required for the controller if that is my best option.

My ideal solution would be a z-wave solar powered controller that will work with my existing DC latching solenoids. :)

Any suggestions?

Recursion: See recursion.
--
“It is important not to let the perfect become the enemy of the good, even when you can agree on what perfect is. Doubly so when you can't. As unpleasant as it is to be trapped by past mistakes, you can't make any progress by being afraid of your own shadow during design.”

--Greg Hudson, Subversion developer

k1w1k1d

1711 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1305

#1703485 15-Jan-2017 12:43

https://opensprinkler.com/product/opensprinkler/

jnimmo

1098 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 255

#1703495 15-Jan-2017 12:52

I was going to do this but ended up not worrying about it

If you can get a power cable to your solenoids, just get a Fibaro double Z-wave relay, DC power adapter into the Fibaro then that can split out to the two solenoids

I was considering though using a Wemos.cc relay with MQTT and just doing it a little bit smarter (i.e. failsafe to switch them off automatically if they've been running for X hours) - in case have an issue with Z-wave controller for example

hellonearthisman

1819 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 52

Trusted

#1703678 15-Jan-2017 18:58

I was building an arduino based watering system that never got finished. If you can connect an arduino with wifi module to the taps it would be easy to do. I had it doing a complex watering system, so it would water in small bursts so it gave the water time to soaking instead of running off.

I had a mains powered arduino, realtime clock and motor controller (not wifi) and write a terminal like app that was controlled by the serial port.

richms

29097 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10205

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1703717 15-Jan-2017 19:43

I was going to do all that, then just bought an irrigationcaddy controller off ebay for not much. 24v ac solonoid switching, web page I can set times on and then it started doing them.

Then the garden was taken out. So back to not wasting water for now, but it has support for 8 zones so when I redo outside will probably re-deploy it and move the planters off the current battery powered on tap cheapie onto proper valves too.

Richard rich.ms