Hi everyone,
I am drawning in complicated solutions for sprinkler valve automation...but I am looking for a very basic automation, "3 sprinklers, each works 20 min 3 times a week" type of routine, no wheather input, no integration of brand name valve controlers etc...All I have right now are my 3 sprinklers hooke to hoses and water outlet...I have yet to buy valves and some kind of a zwave or zigbee module to control them, even wifi if it is easly integrated into HE.
I was thinking of using a zwave or zigbee dry contact, to supply 24v ac to a simple water valve, based on a schedule routine, as simple as that.
But then I wonder whether there is some kind of zwave or zigbee valve already available and integrated into HE, I haven't found one yet...Does anyone have a similare setup, or advice for what I want to accomplish ?
@anon81541053: hat's a really cool project that you created, and it looks very tidy! I was looking to do something similar in the past but the cost was too high with my initial concept. When I add up all the components in your design, I see it's around $150 US (not including the moisture sensors), and that's for only 4 valve controllers.
I currently have a Rachio system which cost me $200 US when I purchased it in 2017 and it can handle up to 8 valves. I'm able to access the Rachio controller through Hubitat using a community Rachio app (works pretty well). Another alternative I was looking into recently was the Wyze Irrigation controller for $60 US which seems like a cheap, effective alternative controller. I don't know if there's a way to use the Wyze controller with Hubitat, though.
Unless you need/want the ability to control things from HE, why not just get an off the shelf sprinkler controller and be done with it? Sometimes the simpler, the better.
You're not going to find a zigbee or zwave valve. A sprinkler valve lives in harsh conditions. It's one thing to build a simple electromechanical value that's either on or off (and that can easily be repaired in the field). It's quite another to build one with a circuit board and antenna and require power to always be on. You could not retrofit such a device into existing systems without additional wiring, you'd need a strong enough signal to reach outdoors and possibly underground, and support would be a nightmare for the manufacturer. Besides there being probably no market for such a thing.
You can certainly rig up something that HE can control, but sometimes a purpose-built device can be a simpler solution. Not as geeky or interesting though to most people here though.
BTW, if you're going to hook up your system to city water, you really need to check local codes first. Most likely you're going to need a backflow preventer and at that point you may need to get a plumber.
I have always had the idea of using a Gledopto LED controller with Hubitat where each colour channel would correspond to a water valve, and then have RM turnon just the channel for that particular valve. You can feed the controller with a 24v source and get RM to control the channels. Since I dabble in PC programming I thought I could also write a program that manages the timings/schedules and send the required commands to HE via Maker API. The only reason I never pursued it was because my system has 6 zones and the controller only handles 5. Does anyone think this could work or am I missing a very important reason that it would fail?
Exactly right. In my area backflow preventers are required AND also have to have yearly inspection by a certified technician (can not self-inspect), and inspection results filed with the water company.
I fully understand and agree with you completely. I also try to avoid cloud involvement. I'm going to have to get one of those Shelly devices to test it out. Seems very interesting, so long as you have AC power nearby to use it. Love your garage door opener project too!
