My intention for this project is to have an irrigation controler that can be influenced by OpenHAB but works independend of OpenHab.
This is an Ongoing project. At this stage my question is, to I’ publish the project because I’m interested of whether this is of value to others. Feedback, changes comments are very appreciated.
The 2 valve irrigation controller is an automated irrigation controller that can handle 2 independent irrigation valves. This is done by using a “Shelly plus uni” device called “Shelly” in the discusion below.
Design Idea:
• The Irrigation Controller is to work Independent of OpenHAB. That is, OpenHAB can interact by controlling the relay’s but this is not intended.
• Irrigation control is done by a script on the Shelly plus uni itself.
• The Script has a time table to operate irrigation.
• Based on the time table, the script checks the need for irrigation.
• Irrigation is only done if the rain gauge measurement does not indicate a certain amount of rain since the last time irrigation.
You plan for OpenHAB to “influence” the irrigation controller suggests there is no clear goal for OpenHAB.
My approach is to totally rely on OpenHAB to control my garden irrigation.
Every morning an OpenHAB rule compares the value from a moisture sensor against a threshold value, and if needed the valve is turned on for a preset (but configurable) duration.
By monitoring the moisture sensor value over time using a Grafana dashboard, I’ve been able to adjust the threshold and duration in the rule values to optimize the process.
If OpenHAB failed I would have bigger problems than whether my garden was watered!
Since my household depends heavily on automation I have taken steps to minimize the chance of failure with data backups, hardware backup, UPS power and health monitoring.
