Are you utilizing this concept? How is it working thus far? Any advice? (I am thinking about doing the same project)
Been using it about a week with no issues. Ended up using an old doorbell transformer I had that supplied the 24Vac. Put it in a waterproof housing and using a GE outdoor outlet. Smartthings compares the soil moisture from two Plantlinks and I setup rules (CoRE piston) to water for 10 minutes (Rainbird Drip System), then check the soil again after 1 hour.
Uploadingā¦
2 Likes
Thanks for the quick reply. The pictures are also very helpful in visualizing what it would look like.
I wrote a SmartApp to control the hacked version. Iām using a GE outdoor outlet, a 24vac transformer and an Orbit sprinkler valve. The app is looking good but I want to test if for another day or two. Any interested beta testers? Iāve been using it to turn on a light instead of the valve 
but Iām now live.
The app uses Kristopher Kubickiās plantlink-direct devicetype with multiple PlantLinks, but it should work with any soil sensor that reports humidity. The app checks the status of the soil and waters if itās below the desired threshold for a specified amount of time up to 60 minutes. I also added the Dark Sky API if you desire to check if rain is in the future and override the watering cycle, i.e. if a 50% chance of rain is expected in the next (up to 12) hours, then donāt water. The PlantLinkās report the moisture level approximately every 15 minutes, if you want to water for a period longer than that, events are ignored until the first cycle is complete.
I believe Iāve captured all possible scenarios so I wonāt flood our garden, dehydrate our plants or create any other issues that will cause my wife heartburn. If youāre interested in trying it out in a few days, let me know and Iāll PM the code. My first real SmartApp so I want to make sure Iām out of alpha release. Please donāt redistribute until a good cycle of testing is done. Iāll post the code after that.
2 Likes
Unfortunately it appears to depend on if your device reports back that it closed or not. I have two and one reports back every time that it closes the other one does not. The way I get around this is by using CoRE to do the work. I have a routine that starts the sprinkers, then core loops for the amount of time I tell it keeping the sprinkers going and then I have another process to turn everything off. Kind of a hack, but it does work.
1 Like
I just did this, and it worked; so I wanted to add a couple of qualifiers:
- I got an used timer, and had to reset it before using it with SmartThings. Just set the timer dial to āAUTOā, and use a pin to push in the front panelās bottom pinhole 5 times. Full instructions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1ce5p0F1Mo
- I think I tried to pair through the SmartThings phone app, and it āfoundā the device but it was non-functioning.
- After that, I could see the device from the developer web portal at https://graph.api.smartthings.com/device/list
- I renamed the device and changed the device type to SmartPower Outlet.
- Success!
Now, when I change the āoutletā state to āOnā, it turns on the hose for 10 minutes. Switching it to āOffā again within the 10 minute span shuts off the water.
Next up: look into routines / integrations to water the garden conditionally wrt rain and a calendar schedule!
1 Like
yes, but wait for the zombies. They will come, and you will have 100+ orbit water valves.
I saw this thing at Lowes yesterday and Iām glad I came home and read this thread before buying one on impulse. Like many, I have a use case for such a thing. While it seems the Smart Hose Timer market is starting to pick up steam, Iām hesitant to get into a third party ecosystem for such a thing. Anyone with a Netatmo over the last couple of weeks should share my reticence to put water flow in the hands of another connected platform.
Iām moving forward with my original idea of using a Mimolite to actuate a 12V water valve on demand. The Mimolite suits my case because my application is filling a tank, and I can hook a float switch to the Mimolite and read its status through ST.
I started writing about the process on my blog.
I was able to make it work.
All I did was :
- Turn the dial to auto.
- Open the smart things app, and search for devices.
- Smart things hub has identified the faucet as a thing
- then i logged into the smart things grap-api web site
- clicked on the new thing
6 then click on edit button - from the list of available devices the āZigbee valveā
- and voila things works like magic from the smart things app
4 Likes
Can you post your piston? Iām having trouble with loops in CoRE. Iām sure itās just me
If a DTH fails to correctly update states, try disabling the command optimizations in the advanced piston options, it may fix your problem.
1 Like
This fixed the problem for me.
So for anyone who wants to know. Iām using @gussery3 DTH with a CoRE piston with command optimization off. I am able to turn the Sprinkler on/off using the app - The CoRE piston allows me to send another on command to reset the 10 min timer. I send an off command just so the app shows the correct off value after the Valve turns it self off in 10 min.
Iām going to keep testing this, but so far itās working great for me. Anyone have a good watering schedule app?
I would love to know how you did this, Iām also looking for a similar solution to this with filling up water tanks. How did you modify the door sensors to measure High and low?
This works for you? I did exactly what you said and it does not open or close the valve
I had difficulty with the communication range of the valve. My valve is less than 20 feet from the hub (1 exterior wall). I added a zigbee repeater near the valve, and the valve now operates properly.
This works really well, but wouldnāt say perfectly.
It seems that by default, it shows the valve in the āopenā state even though itās not. But if you click the state to close it, it will open. Then assuming itās still open and you click āopenā again, it will close. And it only runs for 10 minutes and turns off, so you only really need to keep track of when you want it on so long as you only want it 10 minutes at a time. The time never updates on it, but who cares if youāre going to control it from ST.
Given the multi-year thread on this thing elsewhere on the site, Iām happy with this - albeit unpolished - experience for now.
Well, I took the batteries out of mineā¦ this thing sucks and it is going back to Loweās tomorrow.
First of all it is slow as hell to respond to any commands from the app. I have to turn it off and on
multiple times for it to come onā¦ if it ever does.
Though, it does seem to respond good to an automation turning it on.
It does not refresh its stateā¦ ever!
I had to put a zigbee repeater next too it, but that only helped a little. Also, my other zigbee devices
that were close to it went crazy when ever it was connected to the hub. My garden lights would just
turn on at random and not respond to any commands at allā¦
Overall, a real pain and just not worth the effort.
What I did was use CoRE to send multiple on commands (with command optimization turned off). Pretty successful turning it on. my scheduler sends another few on commands at 8 minutes and even more at 8 more minutes. Then a single off command at 10 more min. Worst case scenario is the unit doesnāt turn off with my command and the unit turns it off, but state is then synced. Iām having success with with method and plan to add more of these next year if nothing better exists by then.
Thatās exactly what I did as well. It worked.
The problem was that when it was connected my other zigbee that were around it were going crazy.
It just wasnāt with the trouble to me.
Perhaps this sheds some light into the issues we are all having? https://www.reddit.com/r/winkhub/comments/3ytqto/please_help_getting_orbit_iris_faucet_timer_to/
This has me wondering if trying a different device type that does not treat the device as a router will offer better results?
2 Likes