Controlling Shades, Sprinklers, and Low Voltage Lighting with an M1
- Thread starter BryanE
- Start date
Steve
Senior Member
I know at the very least there are several threads on irrigation if you search around. But the general principle is the same for all. Use an Elk Output as a trigger for the relay to switch the higher voltage component. I personally like the integrated boards like the XOVR or RB. For say irrigation you simply would hook your 24V power and valves through the relays and you control them by turning the specific output on/off.
BraveSirRobbin
Moderator
http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php...mp;hl=sprinkler
Post #24 has a schematic that I created for controlling sprinkler valves via the Elk M1.
http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php...mp;hl=sprinkler
Post #11 has a low voltage lighting schematic.
Post #24 has a schematic that I created for controlling sprinkler valves via the Elk M1.
http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php...mp;hl=sprinkler
Post #11 has a low voltage lighting schematic.
kurtmccaslin
Active Member
There are a wide variety of solutions for sprinkler control available in the market today. Simple and bulletproof are the $50 timer boxes available at Home Depot or Lowes. The problem with these is that they dont know when it is raining, and you have to continually adjust them as seasons change-- watering more in summer than in winter.
Adding a $30 rain sensor to the control box solves the rain problem, but not the seasonal adjustments.
You can control the system using a HA controller-- which gives you the ability to program your HA system to seasonally adjust, and includes the ability to hook up the $30 rain sensor. Now your control system is up to around $150-- with a little more functionality, but potentially less reliability than the $50 Home Depot box.
A hybrid system is an option-- where you hook up the $50 controller box and use your HA controller to either disable watering (based on soil moisture sensor for example) or enable individual circuits. This can have the benefit of being able to turn the water on to scare away deer (as some cocooners have suggested
) or to easily energize circuits remotely/ wirelessly for periodic testing or spot watering. It does not lend itself to easy seasonal adjustments though.
You have to get into something called "evapotranspiration" if you are going fully automated like the golf courses. This is a complex calculation that calculates the rate plants and soil give up water based on temperature, humidity, wind, rain, etc. Luckily there are a few options that are homeowner-friendly in this area. These systems are $300-400, but there may be government rebates if you live in an area with water supply problems.
Cyber-rain is a system that pulls your weather from weather service predictions based on your lat and long location-- it looks at your past weather and adds a forecast that shuts off the system if there is rain in the forecast. It requires you to boot up your computer daily to get the forecast for optimum results. see http://www.cyber-rain.com/
Smartline is a system that calculates evapotranspiration with a small weather station. I have not tried it, but the web page is interesting. http://www.smartline.com
If you want the best automation of your sprinkler, my suggestion is to go with one of these high end solutions--- tie into your HA system for manual override only. (an 8 button X-10 wireless palm pad would be an ideal manual controller)
Adding a $30 rain sensor to the control box solves the rain problem, but not the seasonal adjustments.
You can control the system using a HA controller-- which gives you the ability to program your HA system to seasonally adjust, and includes the ability to hook up the $30 rain sensor. Now your control system is up to around $150-- with a little more functionality, but potentially less reliability than the $50 Home Depot box.
A hybrid system is an option-- where you hook up the $50 controller box and use your HA controller to either disable watering (based on soil moisture sensor for example) or enable individual circuits. This can have the benefit of being able to turn the water on to scare away deer (as some cocooners have suggested
) or to easily energize circuits remotely/ wirelessly for periodic testing or spot watering. It does not lend itself to easy seasonal adjustments though.You have to get into something called "evapotranspiration" if you are going fully automated like the golf courses. This is a complex calculation that calculates the rate plants and soil give up water based on temperature, humidity, wind, rain, etc. Luckily there are a few options that are homeowner-friendly in this area. These systems are $300-400, but there may be government rebates if you live in an area with water supply problems.
Cyber-rain is a system that pulls your weather from weather service predictions based on your lat and long location-- it looks at your past weather and adds a forecast that shuts off the system if there is rain in the forecast. It requires you to boot up your computer daily to get the forecast for optimum results. see http://www.cyber-rain.com/
Smartline is a system that calculates evapotranspiration with a small weather station. I have not tried it, but the web page is interesting. http://www.smartline.com
If you want the best automation of your sprinkler, my suggestion is to go with one of these high end solutions--- tie into your HA system for manual override only. (an 8 button X-10 wireless palm pad would be an ideal manual controller)
