EtherRain sprinkler controller

[325xi]

Well, they're supposed to be exactly the same assuming it's v2.3
But... whatever works

[strangely]

I made a mistake at one stage when I was downloading a Plugin and forgot the file extension on the end. Maybe something similar to downloading the .txt version rather than the .xml original format?

[djrobx]

I just hooked up an EtherRain controller.  

From Vera, I mainly want individual valve control.   We have a lot of fine-tuning of our sprinklers to do, and manually controlling flow at the valve sucks.   Our old irrigation controller would completely lose its settings with a power failure despite a fresh battery.  By default it ran for almost a half hour flooding my yard.   Got me to go ahead and buy the EtherRain.  

At first reading through these topics, because I wanted individual valve control, it sounded like ER++ was what I needed.   But that version doesn't seem to have been updated for UI4.   It didn't work when I tried it, anyway.   Then I looked at the screen-grab on the wiki of 325xi's plugin - it was programmed for just a single valve for 2 hours.   The light-bulb went off in my head, just create 4 EtherRain devices (one for each of my valves), and just set each one to run a single valve.    Because it cancels the run when the off switch is tripped, it works brilliantly.  

Suggestion - update the wiki with examples of usage.  It was really not apparent to me that you could create more than one instance of the EtherRain plugin to run different sequences.   It's probably discussed somewhere in these topics, but it didn't come up in any of my searching.

Awesome work, 325xi.   Love it!

[325xi]

Thanks - I myself never thought of setting up few instances to control a single valve - it originally seemed pointless to me as only one can run at any time anyways. But I see your point now... I should've include optional Stop Cycle command before Start - this way you could switch between valves seamlessly.

Said that, I did have an extra instance with "special" 20min cycle for a single backyard valve - for kids to cool off during hot days

[Xauto]

There hasn't been much activity on the irrigation post lately so I'm just wondering if in the last 2 years if there has been any new irrigation controllers or solution.

Or said in another way, What is the best solution to control my sprinklers with Zwave?
Is the EtherRain still teh only (best) solution out there? does it work well?
thanks in advance

[strangely]

Works well for me and I've never heard any complaints from anyone else.

I think somebody was working on a Rain8 plugin also.

[huogas]

What would be a "good" place to buy the EtherRain controller ?

[strangely]

I think you can only buy it from the quicksmart website

http://www.quicksmart.com/qs_er_purchase.html

[325xi]

EtherRain is very simple, and that's why it works so well.

Rain8, the networked version, should be very easy to implement too, I actually wanted to do it back then, but I couldn't find who could provide the controller at "developer's price"

[RobertN]

Is the ER++ plugin ready for UI 4? I installed Ether Rain last weekend with the ER Plugin - works great but I really would like to know the status of each Zone whether they are on/Off and the status of the rain sensor. Thanks in advance.

[RobertN]

I am really trying to accomplish this as attached in the picture I uploaded....

[daragh]

I'm a total newbie so excuse my ignorance!

I want to do the same thing as djrobx I want to be able to control each zone independently mainly because my yard is big (12 zones) and I'm on a private well. I had a new well screen installed last year and the gpm of my well has obviously since dropped. Long story short I need to be able to put a delay in after each zone before the next starts to allow the well replenish so there is sufficient gpms to run all the heads in each zone.

Based on what djrobx is doing/saying all I would need to do is install 12 instances of the ether rain in the dashboard, one for each zone and then setup a scene that turns each zone on and off with the appropiate timings to ensure there is a delay between zones to allow the well replenish? Is this correct? Or is there a plugin that has the delay between zones feature built into it?

I havent bought the EtherRain yet as I want to make sure it will fulfill my above needs. Has anybody else setup the ether rain to have individual zone control with a delay between zones? I would obviously need to buy two controllers to control all of my 12 zones but if this works I will do it!

Thanks for any help I really need it!

Daragh

[shady]

I have set up an instance of the plug-in for each of my 4 zones.  I haven't yet, but could easily create a scene or scenes that would run them at different times allowing time in between each valve.

The nice thing about separating out the zones is that I can select to only run the last zone if I want.  Either plug-in ER or ER++ will allow you to do that, I am using ER because I wasn't sure if ER++ was ever updated for UI4 (it could be, but the standard plug-in did what I needed).

You might also look at www.lawncheck.com (free service with ER) to see if it will do what you need.  It monitors internet weather and adjusts watering accordingly, but requires the ER to have an internet connection.

[daragh]

Thanks Shady, I really appreciate the help. I think I'm gonna but the Etherrain and give it a go!

[RobertN]

@shady - this was the question I was posing my myself - whether or not ER++ plugin was ready for UI4 - I have not gotten any answers or replies to this yet. I would really like to monitor which valve is on, which is not and whether the rain sensor is triggered or not....