poor man's garden sprinkler

[v1rtu0s1ty]

I'll go to another Menard's branch tomorrow since the one close to me only had one 3/4" Orbit 57100 valve left.

Thanks! I'll keep you posted!

 

[v1rtu0s1ty]

Hi BSR,

I got all the parts. The only thing left is the wire. I want to save money. I have tons of UTP cable here. The orbit manual says it needs 20g wire if less that 800ft. The max distance from one of the hose bib to my elk is just 45 ft. UTP cables are 24gauge. Can I combine 2 so I can make it thicker?

Thanks,

Neil

 

[v1rtu0s1ty]

Here is how I understand the connections. I used your earlier drawing as reference but this one uses M1RB. Did I get all the connections right?

 

[Photon]

V, since you chose the ELK power supply with its built-in, auto-resetting PTC fused secondary, why do you feel it is necessary to add an external fuse? Just curious.

 

[v1rtu0s1ty]

V, since you chose the ELK power supply with its built-in, auto-resetting PTC fused secondary, why do you feel it is necessary to add an external fuse? Just curious.

I was just following BSR's guide. I didn't know that the ELK ps I bought had a built-in fuse. And also, my guess is that, BSR added the fuse since the wall-wart I was suppose to buy is from Orbit or RadioShack. Can I get rid of the fuse then?

And also, I was reading the Howto that BSR wrote. He mentioned there that if we wanted to power ON 2 valves at the same time, up the fuse to 0.75amp. Since I am using an ELK ps, I should be fine correct? I remember somewhere in my thread, someone told me that the ELK ps can power more than 2 valves at the same time.

Now, here is another question since I'm a bit confused how the power supply works and its electricity supply. When we turn on a sprinkler valve, is there a continuous electricity that keeps the sprinkler valve 1 in open position? If answer is YES, electricity is continuously flowing to the valve, will my ELK ps be fine if I turn ON(after 2 mins) another sprinkler valve on another hose bib? That means, my ELK ps is now flowing electricity to 2 separate sprinkler valves.

Oh, what do you think about the connections?

Please let me know.

Thanks.

Neil

 

[v1rtu0s1ty]

Finally, my M1RB and powersupply arrived. That was a quick shipping ASIHome! :blink:

I'll do some test later using the picture I posted above.

 

[v1rtu0s1ty]

Need your help guys now. I was able to connect everything using the same connections on my drawing above. I connected 1 sprinkler valve to OUT9 of M1RB board. The ELK ps is also plugged in and the green led is on.

I created a rule

Whenever it is 10 pm, turn on OUTPUT 9.

Then I sent it to the system using the ELKRP software. 10pm arrived, nothing happened to the valve. Are there other areas that I need to change?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[v1rtu0s1ty]

Sorry folks, I have so many posts.

I got it working after adding TURN OUTPUT 9 ON for 1min. The motor of the valve is loud. Since it's my first time to own a sprinkler valve, does that motor stop after turning it ON? Or was it because I only assigned 1 min which isn't enough?


EDIT:

I changed the rule and changed the duration to 3 mins. OMG, the sound of the motor is freakin' scary. I couldn't even turn it off. Well, anyways, it's working, the sound is annoying though but I don't know if the motor should be running for 30 mins once it's in production. I'll keep you posted after I talk to Orbit. :blink:

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Sounds to me like you might not be having enough flow through the valve and it's vibrating it's diaphragm. Can you try to increase the flow, or maybe it's an obstruction on the switched valve side?

 

[v1rtu0s1ty]

I think I know the problem now. I was just testing it to make sure it works. I wasn't aware that it is recommended that when testing it, it should be connected to a hose bib and that water is flowing. When I was testing it, nothing was connected to the Orbit valve. Both ends were open. It was just connected to the OUT9's NO and COM.

I was under the impression that sprinkler valve works this way: (a) ON command is sent to the valve, ( the motor moves and opens the valve and © motor stops. Now when we send an OFF button, here is what I was thinking: (a) OFF command is sent to the valve, (B) the motor moves and closes the valve and © motor stops. I was also under the impression that a sprinkler valve needs to be closed. By the way, these are all my wild guesses/assumptions.

I have seen ELK rules at the elksproduct.com's forum. Most of the rules I see are like this -> "TURN ON for 30 MINS". This is another area where I am confused. The OUT9 sends an ON, then valve opens. What happens to the valve after 30 mins is completed? Does the valve closes? I know mine earlier that after 2 MINS, the motor stop. However, I don't know what really happened to the valve internally.

Thanks! :blink:

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Actually, there is no "motor" in the unit. A solenoid opens and closes a little needle that lets water go through a small hole in the unit. When the solenoid is "OFF" water is allowed to go though this small hole on one side of a diaphragm which closes over the main flow port. When the solenoid is "ON" water is allowed on the other side of the diaphragm and "opens" the main port, allowing flow.

The solenoid is "on" or "off" the entire time. I.E. it doesn't "pulse". It will always draw the same amount of current while it is on.

Once power is removed from the solenoid the unit will turn off, stopping flow.

Another thing to note is once power is removed from the solenoid, it takes up to ten seconds (depending on the amount of flow) for the diaphragm to close and water to stop flowing.

 

[v1rtu0s1ty]

Actually, there is no "motor" in the unit. A solenoid opens and closes a little needle that lets water go through a small hole in the unit. When the solenoid is "OFF" water is allowed to go though this small hole on one side of a diaphragm which closes over the main flow port. When the solenoid is "ON" water is allowed on the other side of the diaphragm and "opens" the main port, allowing flow.

The solenoid is "on" or "off" the entire time. I.E. it doesn't "pulse". It will always draw the same amount of current while it is on.

Once power is removed from the solenoid the unit will turn off, stopping flow.

Another thing to note is once power is removed from the solenoid, it takes up to ten seconds (depending on the amount of flow) for the diaphragm to close and water to stop flowing.

That means, there really isn't a need for me to write a rule like this "WHENEVER TIME IS 6:31am, TURN OFF (OUT9)."

So the only rules I need should be somewhat like this.

So for my HOSE BIB on south side
WHENEVER TIME IS 6:00am, TURN ON (OUT9) for 30 mins
WHENEVER TIME IS 6:31am, TURN ON (OUT10) for 30 mins.

And for my HOSE BIB on west side
WHENEVER TIME IS 6:00am, TURN ON (OUT11) for 30 mins
WHENEVER TIME IS 6:31am, TURN ON (OUT12) for 30 mins.

That means, my ELK ps will be powering 2 sprinkler valves at the same time. I remember somewhere deep in my thread, someone mentioned that the ELK PS will be able to handle more than 2 sprinkler valves.

Please let me know! Awesome!!!

EDIT:
I want to share a pic of how it looks like during my testing last night

 

[v1rtu0s1ty]

Hi BSR,

Here is an update. I like the way it looks, hehehe.

 

[v1rtu0s1ty]

Finally, my poor man's sprinkler system went into production this morning. I bought 90' of 18 gauge sprinkler valve wire at Home Depot. It was $0.26/per foot. Unforunately, I ran out of pulsating sprinkler heads. I'll buy 7 more tomorrow.

I was at the backyard holding my laptop. Then I had another computer connected to my M1 via RS232. I configured netmeeting on the remote computer to automatically accept calls and automatically share the desktop. This way I can access the ELKRP software since I didn't have the ethernet module. So I setup a single rule and I told my 2 small boys that water is going to come out on the valve. They were so amazed when it did. I was also amazed too like a kid. LOL. I'll take pics tomorrow. Oh, all four valves worked pretty well. Thank you so much BSR for the pencil diagram!!!

Anyways, I need your experties again on rules. I would like to assign
- button 1 from my the numeric keypad of my KP2 to turn ON/OFF Output 9
- button 2 from my the numeric keypad of my KP2 to turn ON/OFF Output 10
- button 3 from my the numeric keypad of my KP2 to turn ON/OFF Output 11
- button 4 from my the numeric keypad of my KP2 to turn ON/OFF Output 12

How do I do the above?

I already have WHENEVER TIME OF DAY rules. Or maybe, you guys have better approach of manually turning ON/OFF an output, that would be awesome!

Thanks in advance!

 

[wuench]

I am in the process of setting up the sprinkler system myself this weekend. Here is a great reference to Elk sprinkler rules, it allows you to set the Time, Duration, and Days to water via Custom settings in the Elk, which I can then manipulate with CQC. It sets up 2 tasks, one to activate the sprinkler cycle and one to cancel it. Which you can then run in ElkRM or via the keypad manually on top of scheduling.

Elk Sprinkler Rules

Also, you may want to pick up a rain sensor, they were $17 at Lowes. It connects to an input and if set for Normally Closed, will trigger when it has rained a certain amount or there is a freeze condition. Then you can add that to your rules to prevent the sprinklers running in the rain.