Indigo Domotics

Question...

How are you getting 24v to your sprinklers?

I’m guessing you are using an external 24v transformer across the relays.

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Those 24v AC solenoids work fine with 12v DC. I have pictures here: https://twitchcaptain.imgur.com/all

You may notice the relays are connected to a 12V power supply (on the left).

really?... wow... I was just gonna see if I could find a 24vac plug in transformer... they used to be pretty common, but haven't looked yet.


no image at that location :I

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See previous discussion along similar lines here:

viewtopic.php?t=20672


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That was weird, try this link: https://imgur.com/a/UdJzcTp

I just have regular rainbird solenoids for sprinklers from Home Depot and Lowes. They are definitely rated 24v AC and working fine with 12v DC. I've also hooked up Orbit and Lawn Genie 24v AC solenoids/valves to 12v DC without issues. I'm convinced they're all fine with this voltage, but I only run them at most 10 minutes per day. There's not a lot of run time for things to go awry. Good luck!

That link work!

NICE!

Found a plug in 24vac on amazon for ~20 bucks...

No one seems to sell plugin ones anymore... just inline hardwired, suppose i could use one of those, but dont have a pretty control box like yours - lol

this is very detailed discussions of voltage & solenoids - suggests you would need to consider current draw using AC solenoids on DC. (Of course there are also DC latching solenoids available.)

https://rayshobby.net/wordpress/understanding-24vac-sprinkler-valves/

Seeing as how i already have a sprinkler timer and all wiring is already there... I ended up taking the guts out and mounting the 8ch relay board there.

Voila... 24vac transformer and all my existing control wires are there:)

Run a network cable and a 12vdc powerwire , and I’m good to go.

Everything tucks nice in the box, with not much fuss.

Surprisingly, disassembly was quite easy without damage, can convert back at any time:)

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That's fantastic! I'm glad you worked it out so well!

Just set up a board and your plugin works amazingly easily- thanks!

I want to use a number of the inputs for sprinkler control. I'm on tank water so a bit nervous about a glitch emptying my tanks entirely if there is some kind of indigo glitch mid-way through a cycle. Just curious if anyone has any experience of problems in this regard...would it make sense to treat a sprinkler cycle as one [very long] pulse so end-of-cycle doesn't require indigo intervention...

Ah yes I guess it does come down to risk aversion/management. Actually like I'd guess most people I do have the occasional Indigo-related glitch: the two most frustrating are unexpected sleep [seems under control now having abandoned a Macbook]; and devices (usually zwave) spontaneously greying themselves out. Something like this would be a real problem if it left a valve in the open state. [And while its truly an amazing plugin, HomeKit Bridge is a bit flakey for anything mission critical. ]

Irrigation control does seem unacceptably risky if a missed 'off-command' has the consequence of draining a tank. But my logic is that setting 'pulse' length on the relay (say to cycle of 15 minutes) shouldn't be any more exposure than a cycle duration on a conventional sprinkler controller(??!). I guess it comes down to risk aversion but still interested if anyone has experience specific to this relay board.

The sprinkler code in the plugin is still relatively new (beta), and since it's been raining every week since I wrote it I've made very little use of it. I would recommend you also add your sprinkler relays as devices, and set secondary schedules to make sure they do not run past their intervals. I've had a few incidents where a relay on the board somehow gets stuck on. I've averted this by sending the off command more than once; perhaps with a 1s delays between them. I recall once the garage door relay got stuck and made all the openers stop working. Another time I watered the front lawn for a good 5 hours.

This device is, unfortunately, as previously pointed out, very dumb. Making it actually smart requires a decent amount of engineering. I've done a lot of that in this plugin, but end users need to understand the risks and perform their due diligence as well. Sometimes remote commands fail, and there needs to be a backup system to alert the user of that fact, or retry the action later.

Hope this helps. Good luck! And please report any issues with the sprinkler code. If you notice strange behavior, I need to know about it so I can fix it up!

thanks for that...I usually create a 'mop up' schedule to switch things off that have inadvertently become unnecessarily switched on, relays latched on does sound alike a bit of an exposure. I'm tempted to run power via a second relay (so two relays need to be switched on for a valve to be open).