Nine Zones Sprinkler System

Hi guys quick question. I purchased M1RB to control my sprinkler system. At first I needed to control only 8 zones out of the 9 so that configuration worked great. Now I need to control the 9th zone and I was wondering if I can add one 912 relay somehow or do I need to purchase M1XOVR? I guess the cheaper way would be purchasing the M1XOVR and adding 912 relay instead of M1RB.

Thanks a lot

There is a relay on the main Elk board if you aren't already using it for something else.

Thanks Lou you just saved me $100 I totaly forgot about that relay. It has been a while since I looked at the ELK user gude

There are like 10 voltage-only outputs on the M1 - can be hooked to relays. Or you can buy an M1XOVR and put the M1RB on that and end up with 16 relay outputs.

Are you referring to the J-16 programmable outputs? I hooked up the M1RB there so they were already taken. I know there are outputs for the smoke detector and sirens but I'm not sure if I can hook up relays there. I was going to buy M1XOVR but for now I only needed one more relay output so I used the output 3 on M1 which has a relay that wasn't used. I'm sure that I will need the M1XOVR in the future but for now I'm all set.

Noob question:

My contractor installed a separate orbit brand programmable sprinkler system for the house...

What benefits will I have to use the elkm1 instead of the orbit?

And, am I correct that if I integrate it with the m1, I can take the orbit out of the equation? Wire directly to the sprinkler heads?

Well I integrated the sprinklers into my ELK because I can control them remotely (phone, PC). If it rains I can turn them off and so on. I know that I can use rain sensor but I like to control them manually.

Yes you can take Orbit out of the equation and connect the valves thru relay and then to the elk. I used the M1RB relay board to connect my sprinkler valves to the ELK.

treo650 said:

Noob question:

My contractor installed a separate orbit brand programmable sprinkler system for the house...

What benefits will I have to use the elkm1 instead of the orbit?

And, am I correct that if I integrate it with the m1, I can take the orbit out of the equation? Wire directly to the sprinkler heads?

Click to expand...

Advantages:
Controlled via Elk. This means that anything that can control or affect Elk, can be programmed to control/affect your sprinkling. The least of which would be keypads, smartphones, keyfobs.
Almost unlimited possibilites. You can have a whole bunch of ways to irrigate. You can have some zones go daily, some every other, etc., you can have the schedule change based on time of year, and on and on.
You can keep adding on. If you put more zones in, you just need more relays, not a whole new controller.

Disadvante:
Elk programming is generic, not pre-designed for irrigation. So the programs require some time to write and some programming skills. You have to find this sort of thing interesting or you shouldn't do it. There are lots of examples, however, if you look on this site and other places.

Also, if you have an ISY you can let it control the sprinklers via Elk. ISY has all kinds of add-ons for weather and evapotranspiration stuff.

Cost:
Assuning you already own the Elk, then you only need the relay board, which is actually a bit cheaper than most dedicated programmable controllers.

I did a quick test and the Orbit solenoids can be activated with 12 VDC even though they are rated for operation at 24 VAC. UNFORTUNATELY, the current required is nearly 500 mA, so you will need a 24 VAC transformer in addition to an M1XOVR and an M1RB depending on how many sprinkler zones you have. Note the recommendation of an M1XOVR since you probably don't want to pull an irrigation cable to a second floor closet, but you may already have a keypad which is much closer to the existing Orbit controller.

That will be a fun future project. I'm sure one day I will get to it.

It gets too costly to build everything at once, gotta save some buckaroos right now

The 14" can that comes with the elk packages isn't of much use in the main closet - so I repurposed that as the garage sub-cabinet. In there I have the M1XOVR and M1RB and an M1XIN. Works great for local sensing of garage doors and gates, and for triggers for sprinklers and garage doors and lights/sirens inside the garage (warning when pulling into a house that's had the alarm trigger).