Rain8 up and running

[RandyKnight]

Well I came to my senses and deciced to order some Rain8Net boxes for my sprinklers rather than going with the M1 relays/outputs. Ordered 3 of them ... had some issues the first time around but WGL was great to work with on the RMA and got everything working for me. Installed the 3 modules + power, etc. in a 14" can in the garage and have everything hooked up and running through mcsSprinklers. Cool stuff!

And now that I have a Nokia n770 (thanks mikeb) I can walk around the yard testing my zones to my hearts content.

 

[jcrack_corn]

hmm, dont understand the "came to senses" part.....i use m1/relay boards and i cant imagine any setup in the world that offers more flexibility (since we are just talking about on/off). Interface can be as elaborate as you want with frontend of Mainlobby/CQC (but you dont HAVE to even have a computer in the mix)....

 

[gatchel]

I guess he wanted the simpler option just to run the sprinklers. I personally love the unlimited flexibility of the M1. I just wired in some accent LED modules under the front lower soffit and have the control coming from the M1. Now I can finally rip out the crappy plastic Malibu fixtures along the front walk.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

hehe, I actually suggested this to Randy when he was wanting to do this with an Elk.

I also love the flexibility with the Elk M1 and the ease of which you can program it along with it's input/output interfaces. But, here are the reasons I thought it best to go with the WGL system:

The WGL system has an internal clock that will provide a timeout on a sprinkler zone in case communications is lost to the controlling device (a must when you are using a system controlling water flow).

The WGL system is all inclusive and does not need additional I/O. This made for a lot neater installation considering the number of zones Randy had.

The WGL systems is compatible with mcsSprinklers (which Randy wanted to use).

The rule writing would have been a lot more arduous of a chore with the M1 rather than with the WGL system.

Again, the number of zones was a major factor with this advice.