I see several older posts on the topic of water timers but not sure of the current state. Is the Orbit B-Hyve able to be controlled by Hubitat or has that dropped as an example. Namely I am looking to control my water sprinkler lines (traditional hose connectors setup) and am looking to understand what the recommendation for Hubitat supported integration. If I need to I could rebuild to support a 24 volt traditional system but that would be far more involved than a simple B-Hyve XD setup for 3 zones.
I think those are ‘proprietary iPhone or Android’ managed. There’s no public API on the communications… thus there’s no way to write a driver that I can see. Maybe I just didn’t search deeply on their protocol API.
There is a community integration for Orbit B-Hyve which I used up until about a year ago. But I disliked the B-Hyve garden hose devices and their app so much that I switched to Rachio. I do have a Rachio irrigation controller so I’m within one app, but there’s not a lot of integration even in the app of the Rachio controller and Rachio hose devices (except what can be done using rule automations and the Rachio community integration).
To @peter.schneider I do recommend the Rachio garden hose devices. They work well, but are expensive. The one flaw is that the battery compartment is not waterproof enough if the valve is lying on the ground where water might pool, so elevate it off the ground with a block of wood or something, and make sure the battery compartment is sealed tightly. To their credit, Rachio replaced three of mine that got wet inside the compartment and corroded the batteries.
+1 for Sonoff. ZigBee, works well, four AA batteries last the full gardening season in northern OH. The new brass connector version is not currently on Amazon. That said, I’ve had no issues with the plastic hose connections.
Note: when ordering there is a US and an EU version of the hose threads.
Good to know. I really don’t want a solution where i have to count on a company providing an app and then stopping support when they want you to move to the newer platform.
Certainly leaning away from the B-Hyve option now.
Rachio I had looked up in the past and I think the cost point was a concern, but I need to check them out again. I assume that you control them through Hubitat.
My BHyves are currently in action. They will be replaced by a WiFi BHyve controller, as we are getting a 9 zone system installed this weekend. Their system does a pretty good job of watering just enogh based on soil and plant type. I started using the community app WET-IT — Weather-Enhanced Time-Based Irrigation Tuning for Hubitat because it allows options for dawn and sunrise start and finish times.
I have no problem with the hardware.
WET-IT solved the minor issue that I had with timing.
The hose timer really should come down to cost and support.
Actually, I think I figured it out. It's clunky and not very elegant, but it works. I loaded the tuya 3rd party driver on HPM. Running a C8 and a C7 (mesh'd). It's working reliably, but I do wish hubitat cared a little more about driver inclusion.
I ordered and just got the Sonoff valves. Need to change the manifold configuration a bit and install them. Also bought a weather station so need to integrate it. Not looking forward to the habitat setup as it is sounding more involved than I was expecting.
