Irrigation Controller (up to 16 valves with Shift Registers)

[fusion_man]

@BulldogLowell

By commenting out the DEBUG, it went from 99% to 63% used memory.
The modification to void updateRelays worked very nicely. I only wish the master control valve would remain ON during cycling through each valve (subjected to VALVE_RESET_TIME) as I am using it to control a chemical feed pump to prevent hydrogen proxide (30%) from entering my irrigation system.

Awesome job and I am very pleased with your design.
The only problem I had when building the controller was getting the LCD to communicate.
I added this comment to my program under Instructions.

• If your LCD is unresponsive, download sketch http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=128635.0 then check serial monitor for LCD address. Insert your address below.

[fusion_man]

@BulldogLowell

I ended up going a different approach. I modified the program so I could use Arduino digital pin6 as an output powering my master valve relay. I then added digitalWrite (masterValvePin, HIGH) where you have updateRelays(BITSHIFT_VALVE_NUMBER) to turn ON the valve. To turn off the valve I added a delay then digitalWrite (masterValvePin, LOW) to if (state == STAND_BY_ALL_OFF). This has tested perfectly for my situation.
The only thing missing from the Controller is the ability to add the RainBird rain sensor to the board. I think the way of achieving this is an input to my Vera controller.

[BulldogLowell]

@fusion_man

maybe we can add a rain sensor this season. It is a good idea to include it.

[fusion_man]

@BulldogLowell

I already did and it is up and running. I used A0 as the input for the rain sensor. I can see the rain sensor in Vera as a motion sensor. I didn't post the code as I didn't want to offend the designer. Being a newbie, I didn't know how to handle this update.

[BulldogLowell]

@fusion_man

why not just post your code? I'm sure the guy who wrote the original code won't mind, if you include his original notes and credits.

[Mark Jefford]

Quick question, semi also referenced on the openhab binding.

Looking to use this with Openhab, I have managed to get it to work with the serial gateway, however i don't see a way i can pass out any configuration of a valve time, i can however trigger valves with a runtime of 0 seconds.

Any ideas how i can amend this to either use a fixed runtime in the project (happy to run it in 1min increments trigged from openhab hydro sensor results)

[BulldogLowell]

@Mark-Jefford

In that case, I would just treat each zone as a separate relay/lamp and use Openhab to control the individual ON times... I think.

[johnecy]

can I use pin D6 instead ok pin D8 to control the shift register. I am making the controller on the easy/newbie pc board and there is nothing connected to pin D8 on this board.

[BulldogLowell]

@johnecy

const int latchPin = 8;

I think you should be OK to try that

[johnecy]

@BulldogLowell thanks for the reply i will post pictures when i get it finished

[Mark Jefford]

@BulldogLowell

Gave up with using openhab now using domoticz which is a lot nicer, forced it to hard coded run times by doing this:

else if (message.type == V_VAR1)
{
int variable1 = 5; // atoi(message.data);// RUN_ALL_ZONES time
DEBUG_PRINT(F("Recieved variable1 valve:"));
DEBUG_PRINT(i);
DEBUG_PRINT(F(" = "));
DEBUG_PRINTLN(variable1);
if (variable1 != allZoneTime[i])
{
allZoneTime[i] = variable1;

      zoneTimeUpdate = true;
    }
  }
  else if (message.type == V_VAR2)
  {
    int variable2 = 5; //atoi(message.data);// RUN_SINGLE_ZONE time
    DEBUG_PRINT(F("Recieved variable2 valve:"));
    DEBUG_PRINT(i);
    DEBUG_PRINT(F(" = "));
    DEBUG_PRINTLN(variable2);
    if (variable2 != valveSoloTime[i])
    {
      valveSoloTime[i] = variable2;
      zoneTimeUpdate = true;
    }```

one thing to note the shift register 0b0000000010000000 does not seem to work, will work out a plan around this as i need to run a 12 pump off the relay bank to draw water from the water butt.

[BulldogLowell]

@Mark-Jefford said:

one thing to note the shift register 0b0000000010000000 does not seem to work, will work out a plan around this as i need to run a 12 pump off the relay bank to draw water from the water butt.

Can you explain more? is there a bug?

[Mark Jefford]

@BulldogLowell
Hi! :)

Rather than using valve 8, i am using only a block of 4, but currently have a 2 channel for testing.

My reading into shift registers showed 0b0000000010000000 is 2x 8 bit outputs, B0-B7

tried configuing B0 and B7 to try and activate relay 1, was still seeing 5V on all pins apart from the output pin for the zone in use (EG zone 2 expecting Zone1 to alway be on)

or am i doing this completely wrong? :)

[BulldogLowell]

@Mark-Jefford

hmmm... are your relays ACTIVE HIGH (actuate wiht a 5V signal) or ACTIVE LOW (actuate when brought to ground) type?

[Mark Jefford]

@BulldogLowell

Oh, well this is strange, if i disconnect the pin to the relay, it does not activate when unpowered.

but from the shift register it is +5 when the zone is not active, and 0V when active, so i assume its an active low not active high by your example... surely removing the 5V feed to the relay pin should make it activate.. not sure whats going on there, some sort of black magic :P

My reading of shift registers has made my brain hurt.. do i need to reverse the 0000000010000000 for 1111111101111111?

[rechin304]

Dear all,

i have trying to make the irrigation controller to start all zones in same time and run for the specified. I'm using version for domoticz. Can you please help me out with hint of what i can change in the code ?
Another thing is that from domoticsz when i start a zone that zone start and previous is stopped but that status is not updated.

Thank you in advance.

P.S. I will post some pictures of the hardware build soon.

[BulldogLowell]

@rechin304

have you tried changing the eight to one?

#define NUMBER_OF_VALVES 8  // Change this to set your valve count up to 16.

trigger all your relays with the same output.

[rechin304]

Well, that's not the point.
I will have 4 zones that need different type of water needs. For example one zone will be with micro irrigation watering, another one with lawn sprinkler. i do not understand why not to start all zones at once and they will finish according to the time set and not to start one after other. Another thing is why to wait for a zone to finish when you trigger another one.

To start all valve at once when is trigger all zones i did change:

else if (state == RUN_ALL_ZONES)
  {
    if (lastValve != valveNumber)
    {
      for (byte i = 0; i <= NUMBER_OF_VALVES; i++)
      {
        if (i == 0 || i == valveNumber)
        {
          gw.send(msg1valve.setSensor(i).set(true), false);
        }
        else
        {
          gw.send(msg1valve.setSensor(i).set(false), false);
        }
      }
    }
    lastValve = valveNumber;
    fastToggleLed();
    if (state != lastState)
    {
      valveNumber = 1;
      updateRelays(ALL_VALVES_OFF);
      DEBUG_PRINTLN(F("State Changed, Running All Zones..."));
    }
    unsigned long nowMillis = millis();
    if (nowMillis - startMillis < VALVE_RESET_TIME)
    {
      updateRelays(ALL_VALVES_OFF);
    }
    else if (nowMillis - startMillis < (allZoneTime[valveNumber] * 60000UL))
    {
      updateRelays(BITSHIFT_VALVE_NUMBER);
    }
    else

with

else if (state == RUN_ALL_ZONES)
  {
    if (lastValve != valveNumber)
    {
      for (byte i = 0; i <= NUMBER_OF_VALVES; i++)
      {
        if (i == 0 || i == valveNumber)
        {
          gw.send(msg1valve.setSensor(i).set(true), false);
        }
        else
        {
          gw.send(msg1valve.setSensor(i).set(true), false); //to update domoticz
        }
      }
    }
    lastValve = valveNumber;
    fastToggleLed();
    if (state != lastState)
    {
      valveNumber = 1;
      updateRelays(ALL_VALVES_OFF);
      DEBUG_PRINTLN(F("State Changed, Running All Zones..."));
    }
    unsigned long nowMillis = millis();
    if (nowMillis - startMillis < VALVE_RESET_TIME)
    {
      updateRelays(0); //all outputs will be on
    }
    else if (nowMillis - startMillis < (allZoneTime[valveNumber] * 60000UL))
    {
      updateRelays(BITSHIFT_VALVE_NUMBER);
    }
    else

[BulldogLowell]

@rechin304 said:

Well, that's not the point.
I will have 4 zones that need different type of water needs. For example one zone will be with micro irrigation watering, another one with lawn sprinkler. i do not understand why not to start all zones at once and they wi finish according to the time set and not to start one after other. Another thing is why to wait for a zone to finish when you trigger another one.

I see your point an understand your questions. The purpose of zone cycling is to be able to have enough pressure in each zone independently while also having pressure for household use. Drawing water to every zone (in my case 9) makes the pressure so low, there may not be enough to open the individual pop-up valves, much less fill the washing machine.

The wait period (which you may set) is there to allow the time for hydraulic actuation of solenoid valves. These types of valves close slowly, and since they are in a manifold, the next valve to start opens faster if the water pressure at the manifold is allowed time to reach normal static pressure.

The beauty of open source is that you get to do it your way. If you have the pressure to run all your valves at the same time, with enough to spare to take a shower, then you are fortunate!

So, did you add another 'switch' to your controller to send the all zone command?

[rechin304]

@rechin304 said:

{
       updateRelays(0); //all outputs will be on
     }

I did this so all relays on is ok now.
What i miss is to start individual zones more than once at a time :).