[OBSOLETE] Smart Sprinkler System

Also, I have my dev system set up to run about a dozen times per day. Two of three went off without a hitch. One of the scheduled events threw the following error:

d954578f-bbad-46bb-a419-e8a9a60bb0e8 4:02:40 PM CDT: error java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException: Execution timed out after 40 units. Start time: Sat Aug 06 21:01:14 UTC 2016

The irrigation scheduler smart app tried a second time and it kicked off at 4:03. The error is interesting because its not a code error. Its one of the reasons I have the smart app checking just to be sure things are kicking off.

Stan,

I am sending the three logs to your email address as it is unclear why
you did not get them in the original reply.

I have some other questions as I brain storm this issue.

Is it possible that I used the wrong SmartThings library for the
Arduino? I believe there were several, but, only one was correct.I had
initially grabbed the library from the SmartThings web site. However,
the docs indicated I should use a different library and I used the link
provided for that.

However, I am not certain which one was actually used in the Arduino
Irrigation sketch compile.

I mention this, as I am new to both Arduino and SmartThings and it is
very possible I messed things up.

Is there anyway to tell which library I used during the sketch compile?

B.T.W. the compile did not show any errors.

Cheers,

John Boyd

Stan- Thanks for your continued support of this project (along with the AD2 project, these are my favorite ST integrations).

Iā€™m at v3.0.2 of the 8-zone DTH. Should I be updating your code as you go?

Similar question: Any thought to offer github integration?

Hi @Cal7,

Thanks for the comments on our projects. Iā€™ll look into github integration. I think that would make my life easier as well.

RE: updates
I think many of my updates are to get a system up and running for someone who is experiencing errors that I donā€™t see on my system and/or adding in some code to accommodate a slightly different use case or simply updating the README. If its working for you, I donā€™t see any reason to make every update. If we are adding some new features that would be useful to everyone, Iā€™ll usually create a release and post on this forum.

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Stan,

Success at last! Your last enhancement to the SmartThings driver to check for null values fixed my pointer errors. YES!
I have ran the controller for at least 1 week with 5 different schedules and they all ran with no issues.
Many thanks for tracking down the problem and developing a fix!

This project has been a lot of fun! It has helped me learn a lot about the Arduino, its s/w and h/w and showed me how the SmartThings system works. I feel more confident now about tackling some of my own projects.

Thanks again for all your help!

Just did the install this evening. So far everything looks great. Awesome work getting this together for the community.

Thank you!

@d8adrvn Stan, would you consider a feature request?

I find myself constantly checking the Wunderground web site for the rain data (past 2 days plus immediate forecast) to estimate whether my irrigation is going to run. Could you, would you, report the rain data that is used to determine whether the threshold has been met? Maybe an option if others donā€™t care.

Thank you!

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Iā€™ll 2nd that request!

And I will 3rd itā€¦It would be nice to see what it is using just to make sure that it is reporting the correct data to figure out if you need to go to another station,

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Reporting out the contents of the virtual rain gauge sounds like a useful feature and not that hard to implement. As suggested, I can make it user configurable. Iā€™ll have something this weekend.

2 Likes

@CAL7, @the2352, @mckenph,

I posted an updated Smart App v3.0.3 that enables a push notification which reports the amount of rain in the virtual rain gauge. You can turn it on/off in the preferences. To begin using this feature, just copy and paste the v3.0.3 smart app code from my github over your current smart app code at graph.api.smartthings.com. Be sure to hit save and publish .

@CAL7, @the2352, @mckenph,

It turns out that while I have been implementing your request, the SmartThings API service with Weather Underground has been experiencing some issues. There is already another post on the issue in a different thread so I will report it there. This gave me the chance to add in some additional operators to navigate the errors. Please try out v3.0.4 from my github.

Also, after you copy, paste, save and publish the code. You likely will need to open up your existing Irrigation Scheduler SmartApp instances. Quickly breeze through (hit next) the pages and then save (hit done). This will force the existing smart app instances to link to the new code

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Thank you, Stan. Coincidentally, i.e. having nothing to do with your code, while trying to implement your 3.0.3 release I encountered severe IDE issues - such that I couldnā€™t install the update until last night. All just to say that I appreciate your effort and Iā€™m sorry I didnā€™t report back until now. But I did see the report at this morningā€™s scheduled time and I do like what youā€™ve done. Looking forward to seeing 3.0.4 report tonight.

3.0.4 ran as expected for me this morning. The rain totals were all 0.0., which seemed accurate based on what I observed in our area. Great work and thank you!

Hi! Earlier today I went through the steps to update the controller and the scheduler (my scheduler stopped working a while ago this summer - it works fine manually). I removed the arduino shield and re-added it also. I set the scheduler for MWF @ 7pm but it didnā€™t turn on tonight. Any suggestions? Thank you for all your work on this! This smartapp is what sold me on Smartthings.

Another side question - can I use this with any other smart home product?

Thanks in advance!

Hi @proone79,

I am not aware of any general issues that are affecting smart app execution at this time. Can you confirm that you can manually turn on each zone using the device handler (controller)?

At 7 pm, did you receive a warning that the ā€œsystem failed to start after 2 attemptsā€ and the device handler main tile turn red? If you did not get the warning, then the irrigation scheduler (smart app) failed to initiate. In my experience this only happens every now and then when SmartThings is having a system issue.

Best thing to do is to go to api.graph.smartthings.com and turn on ā€˜live loggingā€™ and then trigger the scheduler to run again. Look for two links to appearā€¦one for the device handler and one for the smart app. That should provide additional insight.

Thank you for the reply Stan! I turned on live logging, scheduled it for 9:30 and it worked beautifully. I even saw the virtual rain gauge notification on my iphone.

I guess this is pretty typical of my experience with SmartThings. Iā€™ve had to give up many of my features so far (garage door opener, dropcam, ecobee thermostat, sonos speakers, etc) - I ended up selling most of the toys I was planning on implementing.

Thank you so much again!

Joshua

I hate to ask but do you know if this controller and scheduler can be integrated with any other smart home system?

@proone79,

Probably not as is. I am not aware of other systems that integrate Zigbee, which is the protocol used by the ThingShield and the Scheduler SmartApp would likely need modification and/or refactored in another language.

There are some posts by @aacordon who ported the system onto a particle photon which my understanding is wifi based. That removes the Zigbee limitation. You would still have to do some modifications to port the smart app to the other system so that it could recognize the particle photon controller.

Hi All,
I searched for the answer to this, but was not able to find anything. I followed the instructions for the 16 zone unit. I believe I have everything wired as instructed. My issue seems to be with loading the Arduino, I keep getting a message included below. What am I missing? Iā€™ve spent most of today and am about to throw this thing out the window!

Thanks in advance!!!

Arduino: 1.6.11 (Windows 8.1), Board: ā€œArduino/Genuino Mega or Mega 2560, ATmega2560 (Mega 2560)ā€

In file included from C:\Users\jburke\Documents\Arduino_16_valve_controller_16_valve_controller.ino:212:0:

C:\Users\jburke\Documents\Arduino\libraries\SmartThings/SmartThings.h:24:20: warning: extra tokens at end of #ifndef directive

#ifndef BOARD_TYPE || BOARD_TYPE != BOARD_TYPE_LEONARDO

                ^

_16_valve_controller:216: error: ā€˜HW_SERIAL3ā€™ was not declared in this scope

SmartThings smartthing(HW_SERIAL3, messageCallout); // constructor

                    ^

exit status 1
ā€™HW_SERIAL3ā€™ was not declared in this scope

This report would have more information with
"Show verbose output during compilation"
option enabled in File -> Preferences.