Affix your magnet to something that won't rust, and hang it on the hose bib. Something like a nylon or plastic shower curtain hook would work, so that the magnet is fairly close to the hose bib. (To make it less obtrusive looking.) Mount your reed close to the bib, but above it. The magnet hangs down, the reed is above - so you pivot the magnet around the bib once to get a momentary make on the reed. The rest is electronics for your on time. You can also build the electronics such that, if you hold the magnet there for a full second, it resets the timer, in case you want to manually turn the irrigation off before the timer does.
Ok, so as I understand this, what you want is to have a single irrigation line that actually goes to a set of faucets throughout your yard. This is for speciallized, temporary irrigation, NOT for car cleaning, window washing, or other uses that require flow or pressure, because you are using standard irrigation valves to provide control of this line. You are also building (or have built) a custom irrigation timer that you can have an external input to to operate a special, short term mode that will provide water to this line after an external input.
Use the reed relay and an external magnet. Put the relay in a plastic flower, and the magnet in a plastic bee...
No. I have an electrically operated (manual override) "master valve" that feeds a 1" PVC line that runs around the property. Off of this line, there are several valve manifolds for the various "irrigation circuits" (think of this as "watering the lawn" -- but we don't have a "lawn" per se).
Each valve manifold feeds a set of irrigation valves and pressure reducers (since the nylon irrigation line doesn't like the full pressure of the municipal water supply). These are controlled by an irrigation controller.
Meanwhile, that same 1" PVC has additional "taps" for "faucets" (like you would typically have mounted on the outside of your home). This allows municipal water (i.e., water that hasn't gone through the water softener) to be used in the yard. Typically, it is for supplemental irrigation, washing off garden tools, etc.
No, the full municipal water pressure is available at these "faucets". The manual valve in the hose bib effectively acts as a pressure reducer by limiting flow *rate*.
Yes. *Or*, I can "program" any of the "faucets" to run AS IF they were additional "irrigation circuits". E.g., in the winter, they will be used to "mist" the citrus trees on nights when the temperature falls too low.
As stated elsewhere, I'll bury the sensor *in* the wall above the "faucet" and let the magnet drape over it. I'll nudge the magnet out of the way to "call for water" (i.e., "UNpush" the "button") and let it fall back into place (gravity -- no springs needed, etc.). Even if the magnet gets "stuck" out of place, the controller won't care as it can act on "transitions" and not "state".
On mine it is just go to the irrigation controller, turn the knob, push a few buttons, and return the knob to the normal operation position. The new uC based irrigation controllers can be very nice to use. Spend 20 X as much and control it from your home PC as well.
On a sunny day (Wed, 05 May 2010 16:21:01 -0700) it happened D Yuniskis wrote in :
Well, as it seems you have a controller anyways, I my house I would put a small electret microphone outside (weather proof), and feed it into the home control system that runs perlbox-voice (in Linux). Then saying 'water water please', will let the PC know you are thirsty, and do with the controller whatever it wants whenever I wants. perlbox-voice is pretty good, if you set the volume so that you need to be close to the mike, I expect few false alarms. And as a bones the thirsty crying for water will get what they want.
Or you could use the email button / feature of your cellphone, and send a precomposed email to the same home control PC. That way you need no wires at all, and have the 'key' always in your pocket. I have done something like that for other control here. Can be your door opener / lock too.
I use a WiFi PDA to do that -- no need to rely on the phone company for it's delivery! :> But, I don't want to have to carry it with me all the time -- *especially* when out in the yard.
The "user interface" for my home automation controls is a touchpanel (actually, there are several of them) -- located
*in* the house. I have a WiFi PDA that I can use to access it from "wherever" -- but, that means carrying the PDA with me to any of those "wherevers".
For common things like "I just planted this shrub/tree", it's easy to just pick a predefined schedule and install it for that "irrigation circuit" (i.e., the hose running *to* that new planting).
For other things like "I need to use water to wash my utensils", I just want to be able to push a button *there* (where the water is located) and get the water that I want.
A *huge* part of the automation effort here has been to make all the "bits of kit" invisible. No more boxes mounted on walls, visible cables connecting things together, etc. Otherwise, there's just *way* too much "stuff" to deal with, otherwise. :-/
Wow! These look REALLY cool! I'll have to study them a bit to convince myself they'll hold up *and* work in the presence of things like coatings of ice, etc.
We just hang a hose to the next drip system loop, with an excess of flag drippers at the new plant and later when the roots have caught reduce that number.
When I wash my utensils I try to remember to turn the hose bib back off when done :-)
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Regards, Joerg
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Now if you are willing to bust into the wall that makes things easier. We have a switch on the inside at one spot, can be set from within the house to do nothing (it's default) or trigger this or that. On the outside you see nothing, just wall. But one spot on the outside wall can be pressed down a bit to push the switch via a rod in the back. It doesn't get much more unobtrusive than that, there is no way it can be seen because it blends perfectly into the wall features. The switch can never see any harsh weather either.
And no, I am not going to say where it is :-)
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Use another domain or send PM.
I also can't imagine any sort of portable device standing up to the sort of abuse it would experience if I carried it on my person all the time. E.g., felling trees, digging holes, doing carpentry, etc. My eyeglasses have *glass* lenses because plastic ones scratch in no time at all (my glass lenses actually have deep scratches in them, presently)
I refuse to *own* one -- and the land line is never answered. I don't like folks bothering me at *their* convenience! And, I prefer communications where both parties *think* about what they are saying (instead of just "immediately responding"... like in a voice conversation).
I plumb however many flags are required for the plant's "mature size". Put lengths of 1/4" poly on the ends of the emitters to get the water to the (freshly-planted-size) root ball (these can gradually be "rotated" outward as the roots get established -- until they can eventually be removed entirely).
But, fresh plantings need water *every* day (most of the zones here run once or twice a week -- except for the hanging plants that get a shot twice each *day*!). Rather than changing the schedule for everything in that zone, it's easier to just drag a hose over for "supplemental irrigation" for these first two weeks. Putting an electric valve in series with it saves me the trouble of turning it on every day for those first few weeks (then every *other* day, etc.)
Yes, but you don't have to "do something special" to get water
I already had to in order to mount the "new" bibs. Since I wasn't limited to *having* to put them in the exterior walls of the house (as is most commonly the case), I took advantage of putting them out a bit further into the yard so we could get better coverage with shorter hoses (since the hoses eventually need to be "stored"). This also keeps water away from the house/foundation (unlike faucets mounted on the exterior of the house). And, keeps the running water noises "out" of the house!
My folks put shutoffs for the outside water *in* the house when the house was built. Never really understood why (water is plentiful, there).
I've had to take some measures to keep standing water
*out* of the vertical rises of the pipes to safeguard against freeze damage (the irrigation lines automatically drain when I turn off the master valve so there is no water above freeze line). Perhaps that was the reason for my parents' shutoffs (though I can never remember them being turned off in preparation for winter!)
The logical extent of no one ever answering their phones is that we'd just all leave voicemails for one another, at which point I expect you might be better off with e-mail... or even Twitter... :-)
Where can one get non-prescription "magnifier" type glass-lens eyeglasses? The Dollar-store or Costco kind. I just need 1.5x to 3.5x, depending on whether reading or soldering 0402 stuff. So far mine are all plastic and yeah, they do scratch quickly. Scratches are ok for my lab bench SMT glasses but not for the weaker ones I use during CAD work.
Wow, you are more hardcore than I am. I do answer every landline call when I am here, no screening. Except during meals, bible study or prayer but then we call right back. Cell phone, that's only on during travel, walks or hiking. I held out until about four years ago, finally needed one for business.
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A neighbor found out the hard way why that would have made sense: Vandals connected a hose, shoved it through a roof vent, turned it on and hightailed it. Major damage, water was running out of the front door.
[...]
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http://www.analogconsultants.com/
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Use another domain or send PM.
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