Spruce Irrigation - Stuck on Zone 8

Devices & Integrations
,
1

(I’m not quite sure where to post this, so apologies if it’s in the wrong forum and thanks to any moderators who re-categorize it).

I have a Spruce ZigBee irrigation controller. It has been fairly unreliable, but I’m not sure that’s the Spruce’s fault. With SmartThings apps crapping out at regular intervals and requiring re-installation or re-initialization, who knows. My current problem is that the irrigation controller’s program is stuck on zone 8. I have 14 zones, and all of them are configured in the app. If I reboot the controller and un-install and re-install the Spruce Scheduler smartapp, it works great for a week or two, but then (with no warning), it fails. Tonight, about two weeks after the last re-install, it didn’t auto-run at all even though it is scheduled to run every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. I have it set up to send push notifications even if it skips a night so that I have insight into whether it is working or not. Tonight, no notification was received, and the log shows no activity for the Spruce Scheduler smartapp. When I run the program manually, it tries to run zone 8 and only zone 8. Then it quits. I have rebooted the controller twice and gone into the smartapp to restart it by reconfirming all options. Nothing gets the controller off zone 8 except uninstalling and reinstalling the smartapp.

Setting up 14 zones is a huge pain in the ass, so I’m reluctant to uninstall and re-install the smartapp yet again. It takes a solid 30 minutes of configuration (no joke) every time it gets installed. I’m on the verge of tossing the thing and getting a Rachio Iro instead.

Someone please tell me I’m doing something stupid and that it’s easy to make the Spruce reliable. I really want to keep it, and I love the concept. I was a Kickstarter backer for a reason! But my lawn is dying from intermittent failures in the smartapp, and I’m sick of reconfiguring the damn thing.

Help, please!

2

Here are some logs from Live Logging when I manually run the watering program.

Spruce Scheduler SmarApp:
b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug active: Water will begin in 1 minute: Zone 8 - Front Corner/Side Rotors: 2 x 11 min b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone: 14 dpw: 2 weekDay: 6 dpwMap: [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0] today: 0 b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone: 13 dpw: 2 weekDay: 6 dpwMap: [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0] today: 0 b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone: 12 dpw: 2 weekDay: 6 dpwMap: [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0] today: 0 b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone: 11 dpw: 2 weekDay: 6 dpwMap: [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0] today: 0 b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone: 10 dpw: 2 weekDay: 6 dpwMap: [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0] today: 0 b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone: 9 dpw: 1 weekDay: 6 dpwMap: [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0] today: 0 b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone 8 Map: 2 x 11 min b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone: 8 dpw: 3 weekDay: 6 dpwMap: [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1] today: 1 b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone: 7 dpw: 2 weekDay: 6 dpwMap: [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0] today: 0 b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone: 6 dpw: 2 weekDay: 6 dpwMap: [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0] today: 0 b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone: 5 dpw: 2 weekDay: 6 dpwMap: [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0] today: 0 b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone: 4 dpw: 2 weekDay: 6 dpwMap: [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0] today: 0 b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone: 3 dpw: 2 weekDay: 6 dpwMap: [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0] today: 0 b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone: 2 dpw: 2 weekDay: 6 dpwMap: [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0] today: 0 b5bd4e95-7e66-4e35-8bf2-bbc563e5d21c 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug Zone: 1 dpw: 2 weekDay: 6 dpwMap: [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0] today: 0

Spruce Controller Device:
b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:02:18 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [name:switch8, value:z8on, descriptionText:Spruce Controller (Sprinklers) turned Zone 8 on, isStateChange:true, displayed:true, linkText:Spruce Controller (Sprinklers)] [name:switch8, value:z8on, descriptionText:Spruce Controller (Sprinklers) turned Zone 8 on, isStateChange:true, displayed:true, linkText:Spruce Controller (Sprinklers)] b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:02:18 PM MDT: debug Zone b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:02:04 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:02:04 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [name:switch, value:on, descriptionText:Spruce Controller (Sprinklers) turned sprinkler program on, isStateChange:true, displayed:true, linkText:Spruce Controller (Sprinklers)] [name:switch, value:on, descriptionText:Spruce Controller (Sprinklers) turned sprinkler program on, isStateChange:true, displayed:true, linkText:Spruce Controller (Sprinklers)] b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:02:04 PM MDT: debug Zone b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:02:03 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:02:03 PM MDT: debug on b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:09 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:09 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:08 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:07 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:07 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:06 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:06 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:05 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:04 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:04 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:03 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:03 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:02 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:02 PM MDT: debug Parse returned [:] null b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 17 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 16 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 15 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 14 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 13 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 12 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 11 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 10 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 9 : b b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 8 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 7 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 6 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 5 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 4 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 3 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug 2 : 0 b24b6704-17fe-440d-957b-f100ec74f909 9:01:01 PM MDT: debug [2:0, 3:0, 4:0, 5:0, 6:0, 7:0, 8:0, 9:11, 10:0, 11:0, 12:0, 13:0, 14:0, 15:0, 16:0, 17:0]

3

How far is the hub from the controller?

4

Maybe about 100 feet linear distance. I have a ZigBee repeater less than 40 feet away, however.

5

Hi Andrew,
I can help with this…
So according to your logs zone 8 is the only one that the spruce app, not controller, has decided needs water on weekDay 6, which is Sunday. I can try to sum up what the app is saying:
Allowed to water only 3 days per week on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
Zone 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,10,11,12,13 and 14 only need water 2 days per week run on Tue and Thur.
Zone 9 only needs water 1 day per week on Tuesday
Zone 8 needs water 3 days per week on Tue, Thur and Sunday.

So even when you run the program manually, with the run now button, it still runs the last program, which is only zone 8. This will change on Tuesday.
If you need more help, I can help you setup so that all the zones run three days per week, which I think is what you are expecting. This involves adjusting the water time per week and the guideline per day.

6

Well that definitely explains a thing or two. Sadly, it doesn’t help explain why the smartapp doesn’t run at all on the scheduled days. Any ideas there?

Thanks,
Andrew

7

It seems like it must be triggering on Sundays or the program the controller has would not be changing. Can you try checking in the IDE and wee what the controller has for events? This would help figure out what is going on.
graph.api.smartthings.com
Then My Devices tab along the top
Then select the Spruce Controller
Then select List Events

That might tell us what is or is not triggering on the days that it is not running, but you are expecting it to.

8

Sure. Here’s an example of the app failing to do anything. It is scheduled to run every day at 8pm. Check out what happened at 8pm on 2016-07-07.

Nothing. I ran the program manually at 9pm after I realized it wasn’t running automatically. :frowning:

Screen Shot 2016-07-11 at 11.28.41 PM.png1254×754 111 KB

9

It is not set to water every day. The “No watering allowed today.” is saying that in the program, that weekday is NOT checked in the allowed days list.
Here is how to change it:
Go to “Things” View, find the Spruce Controller. Then select “SmartApps” tab from the top. Then Select the Spruce App.
Within the app it shows “Schedule Settings” go into that , scroll down to “Water only on these days” And I am sure that not every day of the week is listed there.
Also while you are in there look through the zone summary to see which zones are set for what days. Maybe even a screen shot of that would help, so that I can help you get everything setup the way you want it.

10

Sorry, that’s not right. Even if it’s not allowed to water, it is supposed to run every day at 8pm. On days when it’s not allowed to water, it runs but says something like “Watering not allowed today”. It sends a notification when this happens. I did that deliberately so I would get insight into when it stops running. Which happens regularly - including on days when it is allowed to water. Which gets back to one of the issues in the original post…

11

For instance:

image.jpg1242×2208 241 KB

See Saturday and Monday when the smartapp ran but reported that watering is not allowed.

See the missing Sunday? Yeah. That’s when it is supposed to water. But the smartapp didn’t even run. Now my lawn is brown (high 90s in Denver all week) and my chair-of-the-HOA-neighbor (ugh) is giving me crap.

12

Not triggering at all sounds like a SmartThings platform issue… If Spruce gets triggered it would show up in the Events list, like it is showing in your previous image and say status: skipping No Watering allowed today or some other status message. It never triggers and says nothing.
Check how well the app is being triggered by SmartThings.
In the IDE
Go to My Locations tab along the top
Then select smartapps link associated with your location.
Then find and click on the Spruce Watering app.
It will list all of the settings, and then at the bottom will show “Job History”.
That will list every trigger for the app and you can click on the more button to see all the way back to July 10th and what happened that day.