3 ms·
> Automatic and/or manually-controlled activation of garden bed hoses with some kind of zigbee solenoid valve or something A basic smart plug does this for me.
by lostlogin 3y ago
> Automatic and/or manually-controlled activation of garden bed hoses with some kind of zigbee solenoid valve or something
A basic smart plug does this for me. I hooked one up to a cheap solenoid that opens a valve when powered up.
It was very inexpensive and had been very reliable. It’s just on a TP-Link Kasa smart plug.
It’s also in HA so that if I forget to turn it off, it turns itself off after 10 mins.
- kevstev 3y agoDo you know which solenoid you used? I am not sure if our definitions of cheap are different, but I looked at this about a month ago and the options I found were fairly pricey, but would hopefully be more robust than the rainbird system I had go bust on me after three years.
- lostlogin 3y agoI think it was the below - note this is in New Zealand dollars (half the value of US dollars). https://www.bunnings.co.nz/k-rain-solenoid-valve_p3120237 https://www.bunnings.co.nz/k-rain-solenoid-valve_p3120237
- kevstev 3y agoAppreciate this! I did see some plastic ones around this price range, I guess it was just a bit more than I expected to pay. I noticed that this one just has leads- did you wire it into a plug yourself? Any concerns around doing that in a waterproof way? I often find that "prototyping" these types of projects is fairly easy, but making them into a "product" that looks good and will be reliable is much much more difficult.
- lostlogin 3y agoI found a transformer with bare wires that was the right voltage and wired it up. It was from a local electronics store (Jaycar). It’s in a dry area so getting wet isn’t an issue for me. I think I could make it quite tidy and waterproof if I needed too - the lower voltage makes me comfortable with that. It’s been in use for several years now and has been rock solid.