I’m running a $90 LaCrosse wireless weather station from Costco at my house, uploading to Weather Underground for the last 3-4 years. SmartThings already have support for WU personal weather stations. This sounds like a much more cost-effective and simple solution to me. After a bit of setup, it runs mostly unattended. and gives more functionality than just a moisture sensor. Just my 2c 
I get an error trying to create the app for the rain delay in the virtual switch. I am not a coder yet to trouble shoot very well.
I think you are talking about the “IrrigationVirtualSchedulerSwitchDevice.groovy” app which is still posted at my github? This was an optional accessory app to one of our early versions. I left it out there for folks who might have it integrated it into their system. In any case, the current “IrrigationSchedulerApp.groovy” in your fork has integrated all the features. Just ignore the “IrrigationSchedulerApp.groovy” app. I might have to move it into a subdirectory somewhere.
The irrigationSchedulerApp works with either of the 8 or 24 zone device type correct just to make sure I understand it correctly.
Thanks
okay, I believe I have the program on the arduino and ST is seeing the shield. I have a red led lit up on the 2nd relay but that seems to be on ever since I plugging the power on. On the dashboard I have it sending the valves to turn on but they are not. They stay in a state of sending. I am feeling I am missing something or did something wrong and things are not communicating properly.
I got it all working now.
Congrats on the project. Let me know if there is one or two issues during installation that I can address by improving my ReadMe file. I am always interested in feedback that can help others complete the project.
How would this work if you do not have an electric pump that controls zones. My sprinkler system basically rotates through zones based upon a timer, so when I flip a switch zone 1 goes on, then if I turn the switch off then on again zone 2 comes on etc…
I’ve got this installed without a pump and it works fine. It simply provides power to the water valve. The device type actually has a configuration on whether you have a pump or not.
Dan999 is right. The Pump Option is solely an option for folks who are pulling their water from a well or a lake and need to activate a pump. It can also be used to flip a master valve which apparently is required by some local codes. Other than that, its basically an Arduino based valve controller made smart by integrating the scheduler with local weather.
This is a follow up to my pursuit of a simple and cost effective moisture measurement to help improve the intelligence of the Smart Sprinkler. I posted a picture of a SmartThings Moisture Detection device hacked into a soil moisture probe. I have checked out a number of different moisture devices. In all cases these devices are continuously/very frequently supplying current to the sensor. Normally, this is not a problem since the sensor remains “open” in the absence of moisture. However, when repurposed as a soil probe, there is always some current that is passing between the probe. Therefore, the battery drains rather quickly.
I did purchase a few PlantLinks and added them to my system. They check the soil moisture about once every 10 mins, which allows them to manage their battery life. Hopefully, I’ll get some time and add in some capabilities to use the PlantLink in the SmartSprinkler system. Here is what I plan to add:
- Associate a moisture probe to each sprinkler zone
- Check moisture probe before starting a watering program. If the soil is wet, skip watering
- Allow moisture probe to “call” the system to water a zone when its dry
Stan - now that it’s spring, I pulled everything out and got it all set up. This is fantastic! The only issue I ran into is that my Arduino MEGA 2560, digital pins start at 22. The code expects Relay 1 to be on Pin 21. On my MEGA 2560, Pin 21 is (SCL/INT0)PD0 (http://www.arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/arduino-mega2560_R3-sch.pdf). It looks as if the location for Pin 21 on your instructions is actually a +5V pin on my 2560. When I load the code as is, Station 1 just doesn’t work. Stations 2+ all work beautifully.
I tried modifying the “Set Up Relays to Control Irrigation Valves” section to relay[i]=21+i to try and shift the Arduino pins up by 1 (starting station 1 at pin 22)… still, station 1 isn’t working but that did shift station 2 to pin 23. Just to make sure it was’t a bad Relay #1, I it is working when run on another station. So it’s odd that I can’t get it turn on - the station goes from grey to “sending” back to grey. Any tips?
Regardless - I only have 12 stations so it’s no big deal at all, just thought it was odd. I am considering hooking up a few additional valves to control patio misters, but that would still only require one or two additional stations.
Thanks again, can’t wait to rip out my old controller box this weekend and wire this one in!
Hello everyone, this is unrelated to sprinklers but has anyone else experienced random loss of control using the Virtual Switch Parent application? I have installed for another project and it randomly throughout the day fails to respond then will resume responding hours later.
@d8adrvn have you seen this with your implementation?
@srschaecher
Glad you like the project. With respect to the issue around “pin21”. I agree that the position next pin22 is +5V, however, pin21 is around the corner from there. See the attached image.
I assume this will fix the issue, although I don’t have a Mega on hand right now to double check which is something I like to do. I haven’t heard this issue from anyone else either. Once I verify, I can also take a pic and be sure that this is more clear in the readme.
Yeah I tried using pin 21 already - it didn’t work. That’s ok - I already modified the device code to only use the 12 sprinkler stations and renamed to actually describe the sections of the yard that each controls. My wife is now excited as I’m going to use station 13 to control a patio mister setup run off a new sprinkler valve (in progress). I only need 13 stations so it isn’t worth troubleshooting. Thanks again Stan!
Hi All. I would love to try this project but it requires the smartthings arduino board. Is there a way to do this without that board or is there a substitute/workaround?
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That makes 2 of us… I’m ready to tackle this project also, but can’t get the smartthings shield.
This project is awesome, I even just installed a new sprinkler valve and hooked it up to a MistyMate Deluxe patio misting system, buried all the water lines and ran the misters along the top of my patio… now I can get patio mist at the press of a button!
Unfortunately everything was working great… then I noticed this week it stopped responding. Today I opened my control box to find that the 16 channel relay had a chip that completely melted! The relay was shot, but it appears that the Arduino and SmartThings board are OK as they are still responding to commands. Any ideas why a relay would have shorted out / melted? Stan - I recall you mentioning at one point that you had gone through a few relays… I am using the 12V power supply recommended in the README… Ordering another relay but don’t want to suffer the same fate.
Hi Scott,
Thanks again for the comments on the project. i have not seen this issue with the one system that I set up this way. It does seem to be the Wild West when it comes to relays and their operating voltages. Be sure the actual relays match the voltage for the power supply. Sometimes the relays are soldered to boards with alternative markings and some relays have on board voltage regulation while others are more specific.
Another option is to buy the relays that can be powered directly from the arduino. In practice we are only running one or two relays at the same time (not all 16) so it should work.
Thanks in advance for keeping the community updated with any learnings.
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