Weatherproof "button"

...

*In* a "block" wall. (sort of like cinder blocks -- only different! :> ) I.e., I want it to be unobtrusive. Mount it just above the hose bib so it's right there where you *want* it (need it) yet doesn't look like, e.g., a weatherproof electrical box tacked on the wall. (conceptually, think of it in the same sense as a "doorbell" -- there, yet not noticed until you need it)

A friend had suggested the *cleverest* approach: using the valve on the hose bib itself (!) by sensing pressure drop on the supply side of the valve. But, that only works when you know the valve will be returned to the "closed" state after use. (too bad as it would have been an engineering delight -- using a sensor to control an electrically operated valve to make a *mechanically* operated valve behave as it would WITHOUT ALL THIS CRUFT! :>

Well, then just mount an electical box, put an ordinary switch in it that just looks like a switch but does nothing. For camouflage. Mount a thread cap into the lower port but inside out so there's a little recess. Drill a hole and mount a wee push button in it. Nobody will see if but the people "in the know" will know that you must reach underneath and push.

Any sort of proximity switch will have the issue that animals, hail, et cetera can trigger it.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

Ha! This would really be neat! But, adding something like a painted little elf to the landscaping would be kinda tacky. :<

Watering the "yard" (xeriscape) isn't a problem. The rest of the irrigation system handles that.

What I am looking for is something to supply water *to* the individual hose bibs (3 of them) located around the yard (independantly). E.g., there are times when I may need supplemental irrigation in a particular *spot* (like just after planting a tree; or, if it is unusually dry/windy and the roses need more water (without also watering everything

*else* on the "rose circuit").

So, I want to be able to run a hose to the spot in question, connect it to a bib, open the (manual) valve to the desired flow rate and then "turn on the electrically operated valves" to cause water to be made available *to* that hose bib. Then, the controller can turn the water off some time later (without me having to go outside and close the manual valve).

I.e., this sort of configuration (hose feeding some portion of the yard) might persist for several days at a time depending on weather conditions.

Likewise, I might be outside and just want to "turn the hose on" to wash some dirt off my hands. I'd be annoyed if I had to "walk into the house/garage" just to get a splash of water from the hose.

Yup.

Mounting an electrical box conflicts with goal of being unobtrusive. :>

Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that this needs to be a "secret". No one has access to the yard so I don't have to protect against water thieves :> I just want it to be "readily accessible" to someone who was intent on *using* a hose, there. (hence the amusing appeal of sensing water pressure to determine when to turn the valve on -- no additional "switches" that the user would have to contend with)

Yes. I had thought about something optical but it would then have to have its sensing target sufficiently far from the wall surface to prevent snow and ice from interfering.

A little "doorbell (button)" above the bib seems the most intuitive and unobtrusive. But, finding a way to implement that which will tolerate exposure to the elements is the trick.

Solution one, use a reed relay in a plastic tube, then fill the tube with epoxy, making a 100% seal. put a magnet closeby, when you bend away the tube from the magnet, the switch reacts. Solution 2:Get hold of a mercury wetted switch, also seal with epoxy, and when you tilt that one, it switches(can stand high current). solution 3:Get a water level sensor from an old washing machine, connect a piece of rubbertube to it, when you squeeze the tube, the sensor will switch. Solution 4:any sturdy plastic box, put an industrial quality microswith inside, with the stud touching the centre of the largest area side, and seal the box well. Pressing the box will work the microswitch.

[...]

You can get weatherproof ones with a high WAF factor but they are expensive:

Besides your friend's idea of a pressure switch which would need to be plumbed in there's also the nerd solution: Affix a piezo sensor to the line close to the hose bib, build a circuit that extracts the "psssshhhhhh" spectrum from the water when someone turns it on and let that do the triggering.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

You just described a waterpump used in boats an caravans/mobile homes, to put pressure on the watertap. It senses pressure and activates, when pressure is low. I dont find them very reliable however.

This has promise -- see below.

Switch would then have to be "movable" (tiltable) -- which poses yet another problem.

This would be cool! But, the tubing would probably die in the constant sun exposure.

Big. Not "unobtrusive".

But, solution 1 -- taken in concert with garden gnome, "magnet on a string", etc. can work.

Except, turn it around: *fix* the sensor (reed switch, hall effect, etc.) and let the magnet (passive) be the moving member (like the magnet in the gnome's feet or "magnet on a string"). Pot the sensor in RTV, recess it into the wall, paint over it. I.e., good and weatherproof. Very unobtrusive.

Now, let magnet either take the form of the movable portion of a "door knocker" *or* a "pendulum" SUCH THAT the rest position engages the magnetic sensor. To "activate" the switch, you lift (door knocker) or nudge/twist (pendulum) the movable magnet so that it momentarily breaks the magnetic circuit. Expect gravity to (eventually) return the magnet to its "resting place".

I.e., "magnet on a string" but without the string (or, perhaps I misinterpreted Lasse's post?). *And* "normally closed" instead of "normally open" (in the semantic sense).

I think this should work as all of the sensitive parts are "potted"/protected. And, it can be dressed up so that it doesn't look like a "switch" (hmmm... a garden gnome walking up the wall?? :>)

Thanks!

It wouldn't work in this application.

First, it has to be able to work when the manual "faucet" has been left open (and the electric valve has since turned off) -- so, no water pressure to sense (unless you deliberately let the electric valve "leak" :< ).

Second, it won't work when the master (water) valve has been turned off -- *no* pressure anywhere in the supply line.

As I said, it was an amusing idea but it wasn't practical.

and=20

=20

I have seen water timers that you place inline with your hose, it gives you a set amount of time (adjustable) and stops the flow. You have to disconnect it (pressure lock) to use it again. No batteries either.

Weatherproof j-box is not "unobtrusive" :>

Also, I don't want a "switch" that holds "state" (though I can obviously deliberately *ignore* that state) since the purpose of the "button" is to *call* for water -- not *gate* the water supply. I.e., I will turn the water off "later" without regard for the state of the switch *or* the manual valve on the hose bib.

I think the magnetic-sensor-with-attached-magnet scheme I described elsewhere will work. I just need to come up with a pleasing way of dressing it up!

Yes, neighbor had one of those -- until their (large) dog "tripped" on the hose and broke the plastic timer assembly off of it :> Quite a bit of water in the yard before they returned home to discover it!

Controlling the duration, etc. is easy -- it's just another "channel" on the irrigation controller. The tough part is providing a means ("button") for the user to tell the controller, "please begin irrigation cycle for circuit X".

I don't understand what's wrong with just turning the knob on the hose bibb, like they do on every other house in the world. (that has hose bibbs.)

Are you afraid of water thieves, or what? A secret button won't dissuade a clever thief - a lock only keeps an honest man honest.

Thanks, Rich

Knob won't automatically shut itself off 15 minutes later (nor turn itself on the next day, etc.)

We have hard water. Solution: install water softener. Ah, but now all the "faucets" on the outside of the house will dispense *softened* water! Unnecessarily expensive way to wash your car, water your yard, etc.

So, irrigation system is plumbed "upstream" from the water softener. But, that doesn't do anything for the "faucets" as they are tied into the house "as convenient" for the plumber when the house was built!

Solution: add "faucets" to the irrigation supply line and disconnect the old "faucets".

Irrigation supply has a "master valve" (plus antisiphon required by local ordinance) to disconnect it from the municipal water supply. This "irrigation supply" line feeds the various valve manifolds for the irrigation system.

It also feeds three "faucets" scattered around the property.

Since the master valve is typically off -- unless one of the irrigation circuits is calling for water -- there is no water pressure in the "irrigation supply" line. Turning on any of those three faucets does nothing.

By adding a "button" to *call* for water, the controller can turn the master valve on and the faucet can then operate like a regular faucet -- with the exception that when the master valve is later turned off (automatically), water will cease to flow from that faucet.

Of course, the faucet is still *open* (manually) so the next time *any* irrigation circuit calls for water, water will flow out the still-open faucet. :<

I've added a valve by each faucet so each faucet acts as its own, independant "irrigation circuit". This eliminates the problem mentioned above (since the controller can turn

*off* that "faucet circuit" regardless of the state of the master valve).

But, mainly, it allows each faucet to be used as a supplemental irrigation circuit as needed. E.g., I can run a hose from a faucet to a new planting, program the controller to "water daily" (required for new plantings) and, a few weeks later, remove the hose and clear the supplemental program as the "established" planting can survive on the normal irrigation circuit (to which it's been plumbed).