garden irrigation system

[wilfergalsen]

Hey guys, I'm doing a automatic irrigation system for my garden. If anyone can help me with this project I would appreciate (ie brainstorming). I'll be uploading any information you have about the subject, to have everything documented, Thanks.

 

[HMS1021]

I have often though of doing this. The commercial units have a start time and then each section is run for its duration without a break. Mine has 4 start times A and B which can contain different sections. One start time is shown in App1.

What would be useful is shown in App2. Each sprinkler section can have independent start and stop times over a day. As shown for section 4 it can have multiple start-stops which may be useful for drips in potted tomatoes. There can be gaps between section watering's. (I live in the country and have a well that needs to recover).

If there was a setup table where max flow (X/gallons per minute) and the flow rate of each section was included then water usage could be displayed as you add or change the length of a section start/stop bar. It could also display faults if 2 or more sections were set to be on at the same time and exceeded the max flow rate. (Otherwise overlapping sections is ok)

There are a large number of eval MCU boards that have Ethernet, USB, and other interfaces. Ethernet is nice because it opens the door to remote access. Triacs to control the sprinkler solenoids are inexpensive.


There is the question of control interfaces. It could have a local touch panel that hangs on the garage wall, it could be a black box that is on the network (via wifi?) that is setup using a laptop or desktop PC or even a smart phone.

 

[wilfergalsen]

hello HMS1021.
Well, I was thinking of something more simple. But, what you want to do is not very complicated, you can develop using a raspberry pi. He allows you to control various sections and the programming is very easy. Thanks anyway.