I'm still trying to completely figure it out myself....but I think the main thing is here:
runtime = baseMinutes * (json.zones.zone1.etBudgetPct / 100)Currently my "herb bed" has
"etBudgetPct":11So that means it should water for .11 minutes so like 6 seconds? (and don't forget to mark zones watered to reset the calculation) Which...since it's winter I guess is correct since it basically doesn't need water now.
Close...
Your calculation is correct. 11% of “normal” for that zone. It's not 11% of a minute; it's 11% of whatever you would normally water that zone.
For example, if your herb bed (zone 1) is normally watered for 8 minutes, you would water it for 11% of that, i.e., 52.8 seconds.
Remember, the app is just calculating the percentages. The percentage of what is up to you in the rule/piston you use to actually run the valves.
This may help:
The “baseTime” watering (in minutes) for each of my seven zones is defined as constants at the top.
The trigger is set to run every other day at sunrise as long as we don't have any alerts. The for loop then runs through all the zones using this formula:
It takes the baseTime and multiplies it by the percentage it should run (etBudgetPct), based on the ET budget in seconds. I moved to seconds since that provides better resolution, and we can actually control the valves to the second.
The next step in the piston is to check that we're not watering for less than the constant set at the top (30 seconds), and if that's good, it waters, logs it, and then marks the zone as watered.
For your example, you just need to define what your baseMinutes is for the herb bed.
