open pi irrigation

[watchndsky]

i always used these timers for watering


they were great and simplified running the power/water lines etc. easy to program, battery operated - but not cheap and no longer in stock in stores. at 50 a pop they were expensive but if it saved me time, it was worth it. except that for 8 timer stations, i was replacing 2-3 each year for apparent reason. batteries were good etc, but would randomly lose their mind, lose their time and settings, so it was time to find another solution.

im a programmer and was going to find a solution using a rasp pi, bury power and a new water line out to the back etc - but then i came across a seller on the net. i dont know forum rules off the top of my head but a google search should bring him up for thos einterested.

so i bought one and created this using pvc fittings from lowes as a custom manifold for each station. it was a lot of work burying new lines etc, and i kept the old setup in place as backup until ive tested this for a season



all the coding is done, when you purchase all you have to do is connect and set your schedules etc. i hooked the unit up one channel at a time and tested opening an closing each valve in the driveway and its really nice being able to control from a web browser or my cell.




in the next few weeks ill actually be using this setup and will report back with results. hopefully i will be able to maintain sufficient pressure with my emitters and there will be no issues with these new types of valves im using. im also looking forward not having to walk around a program/reprogram 16 stations everytime a battery dies, or the time changes, or i need to change the schedule. (the web based schedule the guy wrote is real convenient and the unit itself sits on one of the ups in my server rack in the garage, but since its on the network i can program it from anywhere i have connection.

 

[Tiki]

Now this is what Im talking about! Looks promising. This is a big next step I need to take myself and go full automated watering so I can leave the house for more than two days. Keep us posted!

One question though...you say "a quick google should bring him up" but what am I to google? You dont have to draw me a map but can ya point me to the starting line?

 

[Tieball]

Looks interesting. I look forward to reading more and getting your insight on reliability. I think that’s the complication or worry I keep falling back to...I’m gone away...Is the system working? Is water flowing?

 

[JoeR]

Where in NC are you? I may have to copy your setup and scheduling if you find it to be successful. I’ll be working on my AWS towards the middle of May when I have time, I have most components for it already but nothing like what your creating

 

[watchndsky]

Now this is what Im talking about! Looks promising. This is a big next step I need to take myself and go full automated watering so I can leave the house for more than two days. Keep us posted!

One question though...you say "a quick google should bring him up" but what am I to google? You dont have to draw me a map but can ya point me to the starting line?

opensprinkler or opensprinkler pi - you can find additional info on youtube (think the guys name is ray wang)

note - i am not affiliated with the guy in anyway -just a customer

 

[watchndsky]

Looks interesting. I look forward to reading more and getting your insight on reliability. I think that’s the complication or worry I keep falling back to...I’m gone away...Is the system working? Is water flowing?

no weather and timing has held me up - long and short - new lines, new benches have changed where things are going, and since the weather has had a threat of frost, all deciduous are still in greenhouse.

goal is tomove everything out sat morning. once determine semi-perm locations ill finish piercing the mainline tubing with 1/8 line/emitters i have used for past several years (from dripworks, they work great - i used the orange med flow spitters)

i did manage to start testing on an existing line already setup in the farther set of benches and it did not go well . i isolated the problem to a bad valve (amazon -12v nonlatching valve) -because of how i built the manifold - its fairly easyt to disconnect a line, unplug the wiring (use quick connects with shrink wrap etc) and unscrew the valve and replace. once i did the flow through line went back to normal - im chalking it up to a bad valve, one replaced with another the pressure went back up and all emitters on the line were spraying as normal

since this year has new lines, and repositioned trees etc- i wont be able to actually do a full blown test of the unit until after this weekend (ive been watering by hand for couple weeks based on weather and not wanting to pull everything out of the greenhouse anymore than i had to). i feel pretty good that it was an example of murphys law, and my own bad luck that i happened to be trying out the same zone that had a bad valve, but i removed all other variables, hooked directly up to main hose input, removing right angles, pvc joints, filter screens and valves to isolate the problem to a single valve.

my only complaint so far with the actual controller is that i havent been able to set the network to a static ip - even when set it still goes back to dhcp and picks up a completely different ip each time its cycled. when i have time ill figure out how to fix.

i am totally loving running the unit over my cell phone though - very very handy

 

[watchndsky]

Where in NC are you? I may have to copy your setup and scheduling if you find it to be successful. I’ll be working on my AWS towards the middle of May when I have time, I have most components for it already but nothing like what your creating

im outside of w-s. hopefully all will go well and if you want some help id be glad to.

components are much cheaper built this way - and probably more reliable. based on reviews i opted to build my own because the typical "green" brand manifolds seem to be very prone to leaks and along with the valves are way more expensive.

pvc is cheap and easy to work with, and i already had a ton laying around. the adapters (to change from male/female to female/female) cost as much as the valves i bought off amazon. i think they were only 4-5 bucks a piece - but they come from china and take a month to arrive, so buy more than you need and keep them laying around - cheap insurance.

so overall, built to size i wanted, more reliable and cheaper components - largest expense is the controller itself - but honestly id rather support an entrepreneurial "maker" guy anyway - and price is def not out of line compared to sprinkler controllers and gives more options down line if i ever get time to tinker around with arduinos and gpio headers etc on raspberry pis - i just dont have time to tinker so its worth it to buy and worry about it later

 

[watchndsky]

ps - sorry for bad puntcuation and run on sentences - rushing to type in between jobs

 

[watchndsky]

one more thing - largest expense was wiring - if you have remote power or can setup so can use less thats ideal - i spent wayyyyy more than i wanted cause i needed 150 feet of 8 strand x 2 (cause if im burying one im burying two just in case)

factor that in planning - if you can limit runs you need you can save some money.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Very cool! As you know I'm somewhat of a tech guy I love my pi and am always messing with it.

My biggest question for your setup... those manifolds look expensive and/or not designed for exposure to the elements. Would you have been better off with a cheap sprinkler manifold from Home Depot at $12 each?



I am not trying to sound critical, I am just throwing it out there. For all I know, your manifolds cost 1/2 as much

 

[watchndsky]

Very cool! As you know I'm somewhat of a tech guy I love my pi and am always messing with it.

My biggest question for your setup... those manifolds look expensive and/or not designed for exposure to the elements. Would you have been better off with a cheap sprinkler manifold from Home Depot at $12 each?

I am not trying to sound critical, I am just throwing it out there. For all I know, your manifolds cost 1/2 as much

no worries at all!

i looked at those you posted originally, but read so many complaints about leaks i decide to go this route.

mine arent really exposed - the stand is under a cover built, no uv/heat exposure and can be blown out with air compressor for winterization. where most irrigation manifolds ive seen are buried in the ground etc, these are above ground, behind a shed under a cover so they are protected but also real easy to get to. where this is located, i can easily see in case of some major issue like pvc join blow out - any leaks wont damage anything but will be very visible so i know theres a problem and can fix asap.

since the lines in and out are buried i dont have to worry about the heat building up, water expanding and busting. (likewise, mainlines are buried or shaded by the benches themselves so no heat buildup on any of the stations that might results in failure due to expansion.) im not too worried about the jointed parts failing and bursting (ive had that happen years ago with pvc/emitters ran overhead the trees, that were exposed to sun light and heat all day - fortunately i was home and when the timer kicked on actually witnessed the pvc section blow out laterally and shoot water everywhere) as long as i winterize well, i think i should be ok, but its so cheap to build theres no reason not to build another to have on hand in case of a catastrophic failure - whole thing can be replaced in <15 mins and under 10 bucks worth of pvc.

i did have the benefit of saving quite a bit of money using the pvc, and had a lot of it laying around - cant swear to it but i think i figured i could build 4 of mine for the same cost. (dont hold me to those numbers though thats been about a year ago) the pvc isnt reusable, but everything else is - so it does wind up being much cheaper overtime. even if a valve fails, you would only have to replace JUST that valve - so thats 5 bucks. the gender changers etc, shouldnt ever have to be replaced

main reason i went with mine though, is i saw too many complaints about multizone manifolds leaking, regardless of join tape, caulk or any other home remedies. also had the benefit of mutliple zones setup while still taking up less space. i didnt want to have to get creative to fit the unit where i wanted to place, or sacrifice ease of access. as is - i was able to fit 7 zones, 1 water intake inlet, and one extra for garden hose hookup for around 34x12 inches i think? so was cheaper, more compact and (hopefully) less prone to leaks. time will tell.

last three weeks of watering by hand has sucked. (does every year around this time and after first freezes hookup) i have 4 x 2gallon watering cans that have to be filled at least twice to water around 50-60 trees. takes one person around 40 -45mins. not the end of the world since i usually work from home and can knock out at lunch, but with my job i just never know when i might be in office or meeting offsite and unable to tend to anything during day.

keeping up trees can be hard with schedules/demands - and my work is pretty demanding. so if this turns out well - i want to pass along in case it makes things easier for someone else.

if youve dabbled with those boards - you might want to check out that guys opensprinkler pi - which is pi based instead of arduino. i like the *nix factor of pi, but honestly - the developer did all the work for you - no need to futz around with anything really and if im not mistaken the pi version is on github and open source if you ever wanted to.

ive always loved to tinker, but i just dont have time anymore. not having to write a package, (and i cant solder for crap) not having to write a webpage, scheduler etc etc etc - i mean its about as plug and play as you can get and still have some flexibility if you ever wanted it.

 

[watchndsky]

started the weekend moving everything back out to the benches and hooking 1/8 emitter lines up to each tree.






then im currently setup to run 6 zones - which as it turns out was a little too aggressive - watering went well for each station EXCEPT the conifer zone. it looks like there are just too many emitters for a single line. each tree is getting water, but not enough. while each emitter seems pretty consistent in output despite being split into three droplines (one for each bench) there are dry areas where the pressure drop causes insufficient spread from each emitter. the soils dont contain enough organics to "whick" the water up into drier areas, so there significant dry areas on the bigger pots. ill be running another stretch of line and using the spare zone that wasnt being used to split that zone into two sections. the issue appears to be the number of emitters - not an issue with setup, etc. two smaller zones should work fine.

 

[watchndsky]

after two days of testing both the scheduling and manually running etc - it looks like i may have a viable solution here. thats not enough to test the long term reliability of the scheduler but i really dont expect to have any issues with it - its not running on windows.

the biggest complaint i have is my crappy phone. i randomly drop connectivity on it, and have to kill chrome and restart. the unit runs on a local web page, and to rule out any freezes or drops i monitored on both a phone and laptop. no problems whatsoever. on the times my phone crapped out - i was sitting there watching on the laptop with no drops etc. so no problems there.

if it were me -i would have designed the user interface a little differently but its not overly cumbersome or busy. my biggest gripe from the software is more from my ocd - i mean seriously look at how those zones are listed?
you can name each zone, and quickly go take common actions without drilling through too many menus or options. the main screen below makes it easy to run something - you click the red circle it asks you how long, you select and it queues it up - the valves open in roughly five seconds and watering begins. it couldnt take any fewer clicks to manually run something which is great to me.




you can set options for each station as shown below - its pretty straightforward without a lot of unnecessary moves, or options.


you can also graphically view your schedule and a "view logs" section. overall i like the software - its simple and it works. it took some work, but im glad i did it - added some nice convenience features, and hopefully no more surprise watering failures and 50 dollar timer replacements. i left the previous lines attached to the bottom of each bench, and rolled the emitter lines up into coils to keep out of the way. if all continues to go well ill be removing and cleaning that mess up in a couple of weeks

 

[watchndsky]

now that all that is done (hopefully) - its time to move on with my fence/greenhouse plans. hopefully next winter/spring is going to be a little easier for me with twice the space, some trees going in the ground (grow out section below). if i plan this right, i wont be doing the dragging in and out dance each spring. the goal is to move then once in winter, and out when spring arrives (and stays)

 

[watchndsky]