Any experience with RainMachine integration?

Posted on
Fri Jul 13, 2018 2:03 pm
siclark offline
Posts: 1960
Joined: Jun 13, 2017
Location: UK

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

Me wanty, me wanty.
Both the rainmachine and the plugin.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Posted on
Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:36 pm
RogueProeliator offline
User avatar
Posts: 2501
Joined: Nov 13, 2012
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

Got my HD 16 installed today, let me know if you need any beta testers for that plugin!

Still going to do a plugin... I have my Rain Machine in but haven't had a chance to install it yet. I'm thinking of just setting it up without zones attached in order to write the plugin -- would make testing easier without my neighbors thinking I had gone mad with sprinklers coming on and off. Not to mention watering when it is raining multiple inches/week...

I'll let you know when I get something worthy of beta testing.

Adam

Posted on
Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:53 pm
siclark offline
Posts: 1960
Joined: Jun 13, 2017
Location: UK

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

Got my HD 16 installed today, let me know if you need any beta testers for that plugin!


I'll let you know when I get something worthy of beta testing.

Adam[/quote]

Awesome. I do however need to buy mine, redesign garden, then install it and plumb in all the new zones.... So don't wait for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Posted on
Fri Jul 20, 2018 12:13 pm
7rdr7 offline
Posts: 163
Joined: Aug 16, 2017
Location: Washington DC Metro

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

Adam,
Good to know that you are considering the development of a plugin. Happy to be a beta tester. I've had a Rain Machine for two seasons and am very pleased, but an Indigo integration would be a nice addition!
Ron

Posted on
Sat Jul 21, 2018 2:25 am
Coolcaper offline
Posts: 299
Joined: Aug 30, 2013
Location: Australia

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

+1


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Posted on
Sun Jul 22, 2018 9:10 am
RogueProeliator offline
User avatar
Posts: 2501
Joined: Nov 13, 2012
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

I don't do "closed betas" or anything in general, so I will post once I have had time to develop this out and can release a first version. I hope to get it installed sometime this week or next weekend.

Posted on
Fri Jul 27, 2018 9:01 am
RogueProeliator offline
User avatar
Posts: 2501
Joined: Nov 13, 2012
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

Got my RainMachine installed yesterday evening and.. color me impressed so far. Didn't go too far into the configuration, just ended up running some zones manually. But the setup was nice and clean and the app is pretty well done from what I have seen.

Hope to dig more into this very shortly...

Posted on
Fri Jul 27, 2018 9:11 am
berkinet offline
User avatar
Posts: 3290
Joined: Nov 18, 2008
Location: Berkeley, CA, USA & Mougins, France

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

RogueProeliator wrote:
Got my RainMachine installed yesterday evening and.. color me impressed so far. Didn't go too far into the configuration, just ended up running some zones manually. But the setup was nice and clean and the app is pretty well done from what I have seen.

Hope to dig more into this very shortly...
Note: It is possible to use a wired ethernet adapter with the Rainmachine. There are some minor limitations dealing with setup, but it works. Check their forums. AND, the next version, the PRO version, will directly support wired ethernet.

Posted on
Fri Jul 27, 2018 9:43 am
RogueProeliator offline
User avatar
Posts: 2501
Joined: Nov 13, 2012
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

Note: It is possible to use a wired ethernet adapter with the Rainmachine. There are some minor limitations dealing with setup, but it works. Check their forums. AND, the next version, the PRO version, will directly support wired ethernet.

That would be preferable, of course, but in my case not a necessity -- the controller is under the house in an enclosed crawlspace and is maybe 10' from the nearest WiFi AP. I did setup the Google Assistant interaction and my wife is going to flip out about that.

Still want to get this into Indigo so I can display current status / last run / etc. (whatever available) at a glance on a control page.

Posted on
Fri Jul 27, 2018 9:58 am
berkinet offline
User avatar
Posts: 3290
Joined: Nov 18, 2008
Location: Berkeley, CA, USA & Mougins, France

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

RogueProeliator wrote:
...Still want to get this into Indigo so I can display current status / last run / etc. (whatever available) at a glance on a control page.
Also, in case you missed it, the GhostXML plugin now supports the Rainmachine.

Posted on
Fri Jul 27, 2018 10:36 am
jay (support) offline
Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 18199
Joined: Mar 19, 2008
Location: Austin, Texas

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

RogueProeliator wrote:
Still want to get this into Indigo so I can display current status / last run / etc. (whatever available) at a glance on a control page.


Waiting patiently for the plugin... :D

Jay (Indigo Support)
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Posted on
Fri Jul 27, 2018 11:44 am
RogueProeliator offline
User avatar
Posts: 2501
Joined: Nov 13, 2012
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

Waiting patiently for the plugin... :D

Yeah, well just took a look at their API and the amount of data they provide is almost overwhelming! I'm going to do a little thinking about how to properly map these into Indigo. I'm leaning towards providing a basic Sprinkler-classed object for manual control & "standard" UI use, and then additional custom devices for providing enhanced information -- such as a Zone Device, maybe Program device, etc.

I am not 100% sure how to map a few of the standard Sprinkler functions, though, just looking at the API. For instance, I don't see a specific ability to set a custom (one-time) schedule short of creating a full new Program in the app. Need to look to see if you can queue up zones to run or something. Surprisingly, also don't see a "Pause".

This one will be harder from a mapping / what's the best way perspective than technical. If you, or anyone really, have different thoughts in terms of structuring the devices please chime in...

Adam

Posted on
Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:58 pm
jay (support) offline
Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 18199
Joined: Mar 19, 2008
Location: Austin, Texas

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

RogueProeliator wrote:
Surprisingly, also don't see a "Pause".


Actually, not so surprising. Rachio didn't support it until a very recent API upgrade (at least I believe it's now in there). Seems like something that's easily missed by the hardware guys.

So, the Indigo Sprinkler device can be implemented in 2 ways: you can either have Indigo manually control the valves as part of the sprinkler schedule (the low-level API if you will - your plugin just has to turn on/off zones when asked), but it can also use a higher-level API where it just gets passed a schedule (with zone durations) and you handle it however. If their API has the ability to create schedules, and it supports pause/resume/stop (and optionally previous/next zone), then you can have the sprinkler controller do the scheduling and just have Indigo send it those higher level commands.

I didn't do the latter with the Rachio because it didn't support pause/resume. Now that it does, it might be worth revisiting, though there is still the issue of having the state up-to-date (which zone is running for instance).

Jay (Indigo Support)
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Posted on
Fri Jul 27, 2018 2:33 pm
berkinet offline
User avatar
Posts: 3290
Joined: Nov 18, 2008
Location: Berkeley, CA, USA & Mougins, France

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

RogueProeliator wrote:
... If you, or anyone really, have different thoughts in terms of structuring the devices please chime in...
My suggestion is to live with your Rainmachine for a while, at least a couple of weeks. Get the feel for what it can, and cannot, do and how you can control, adjust and tune it.

It is essentially designed to be set once and left alone. So, any support you add for it in Indigo should, IMO, augment what the box can do. But, not replicate the functionality already in the box. For example: I see no point in developing a full scheduling capability in Indigo when the Rainmachine already does that extremely well. OTOH, using events (based on data reported by the Rainmachine) to allow Indigo to manage related actions (notifications, light control, pool covers er closing, etc.) would be quite valuable.

But, as I found, there is a lot there and it really does take a while to totally get their vibe on irrigation.

Posted on
Fri Jul 27, 2018 5:04 pm
jay (support) offline
Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 18199
Joined: Mar 19, 2008
Location: Austin, Texas

Re: Any experience with RainMachine integration?

lanbrown wrote:
Couldn't you pull the schedule and see how long it expects to run that zone and then you could do say N - 60 seconds and then poll it at that point or N/2 and then the N - 60.

My vote would be to let their algorithm handle how long it waters. Why take a smart device only to have something with none of that smart logic control it?


Polling is an issue with Rachio's throttling.

If you want to use the built-in "smarts" then the Rachio plugin doesn't really do much for you though you would get status (slowish given the poll throttling).

I'm not interested in the "smart" part of the sprinkler (call me old fashioned but I like my way better!). If we ever get that Z-Wave sprinkler controller working then I'll switch to that to eliminate the "cloud" issue. I'm about to replace my Honeywell WiFi thermostat because it's WiFi is fundamentally broken and they can't keep their website up...

Jay (Indigo Support)
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Page 3 of 8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ... 8

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests