Mastodawn

Any smart garden hose valve integration?

https://lemm.ee/post/1567077

Any smart garden hose valve integration? - lemm.ee

I’ve finally configured my garden and landscaping on drip irrigation, but I’m using some dumb valves hooked up to my house hose spigot. I would absolutely love a smart valve that I can have better control of the schedule, or respond to sensors. After some looking around, it seems like “Rachio” is the only integration I can find for something like this. It’s a bit pricy ($99 per valve), and it looks like it needs a wifi hub to work. Has anyone used this integration successfully? Is there any other options? There seem to be lots of “Bluetooth” controllers available in the big box stores, but I’m guessing they will need an app or something?

legion02 Jul 19, 2023

I’ve used these before, and I think they have a multi-valve as well.:

www.amazon.com/dp/B0758NR8DJ github.com/sebr/bhyve-home-assistant

Not much less than the Rachio though.

Amazon.com

Nimrod Jul 19, 2023

I’ve seen those as well, but it didn’t seem to have an integration in home assistant. Now do you add the devices? Do you have to sniff the wifi traffic and intercept them with mqtt or something?

bigredgiraffe Jul 19, 2023

The second link he posted is the repository with the custom component, installation through HACS looks like.

Thanks for those links BTW, I just added finding something like that to my list the other day haha.

Nimrod Jul 19, 2023

I see that now. I don’t even read links these days, just click them. I thought that was just one long link!

Sweet. I think I’ll check it out.

bigredgiraffe Jul 19, 2023

Hah yep I had to do like a triple take, it looked like a wrapping link.

Shadow Jul 19, 2023

It has a custom component.

Realistically though I don’t use any of the integration. The system just works fine on its own, adding to hass didn’t add much for me.

macrocarpa Jul 19, 2023

In australia there is a brand called Holman which does WiFi enabled smart valves. Starting at battery powered valves you attach to the tap all the way up to full solenoid valves which need a controller. There is then the Holman app which hooks into your home automation suite.

Not sure if it’s available in the US, and any mains powered unit would be on a different voltage. But the battery powered ones seem OK. Just chews through a lot of batteries apparently.

I have the Holman WX 8 controller paired with a bunch of online solenoid valves. It is a decent setup although quite expensive and took a long time and lot of effort to set up (running lines to solenoids, setting up water lines, dripper hoses etc) . It makes a huge difference in irrigation tho. Absolutely zero effort to get water exactly where the plants need it. Id say I broke even on effort the first summer. Cost wise longer term.

Nimrod Jul 19, 2023

I think this is the end game. But for now, I’m looking to get more dialed in control on just the simple on/off.

I got my garden rigged up with the different rate emitters based on what is in the different beds. So it’s configured to handle a single zone, but in the future I would love to have it broken down into more granular control.

macrocarpa Jul 20, 2023

I have been through a fair amount of the various timer solutions, to be honest, the simplest most reliable thing I’ve found is the old rotary dial tap timer…

The reason I use the WiFi version is I can control it remote if I’m away from home.

Shadow Jul 19, 2023

I use the b-hyve, but it’s also not cheap.

wintersummerland Jul 19, 2023

Woox r7060, ZigBee and button controlled, 35€

Was easy to integrate and is operating flawlessly since a couple of months.

reichelt.de/smarte-bewaesserungssteuerung-zigbee-…

3hax6ejo Jul 19, 2023

Were you able to connect it directly to Home Assistant or do you need their ZigBee hub?

wintersummerland Jul 20, 2023

Not theirs. It is connected to a Dresden conbee ii

Nimrod Jul 19, 2023

Looks perfect, but I don’t see any shipping to the states. Not to mention, international shipping is gonna bump that cost up significantly!

wintersummerland Jul 20, 2023

I don’t know if you can find the product close to you, I include the link so you could get an image and the specs of what it’s like :)

wintermute Jul 19, 2023

I have one of these, but it was a pita to set it up…

Tuya Bewässerungs-System - HA - Feddit

Diese Systeme werden unter verschiedenen Labels verkauft, benötigen ab Werk Zugang zur Tuya-Cloud. [https://feddit.de/pictrs/image/a0dcc186-d7c4-4de1-a140-839d31efd355.png] Mitgeliefert wird ein “Wlan-Gateway”, welches im Grunde eine RF 433Mhz Bridge ist. Jedes Device muss zunächst in der Tuya-Could eingerichtet werden, um dann den generierten Access-Token und die DPs (Data-Points) der Devices via tuya-cli [https://github.com/TuyaAPI/cli] auszulesen. Mit den ausgelesenen DPs kann man die Geräte mit dem localtuya-fork [https://github.com/darek-margas/localtuya] entsprechend in Home-Assistent konfigurieren und ihnen den Zugang zum Internet abdrehen. [https://feddit.de/pictrs/image/a0530de1-66ea-4da8-9e20-7cd7d3f798b4.png] Ziemlich umständlich, nach der Erfahrung werde ich mir keine Tuya-Devices mehr kaufen (auf die man nicht Tasmota flashen kann).

Psiczar Jul 19, 2023

Orbit BHyve is a range of smart retic products that can be controlled by HA. I use their retic controller.

CLorox Jul 20, 2023

Second B-Hyve. I have had several in service for 2-3 years and they work great (outdoor reliability, battery life). I have them linked up on HA / HACS, but the standalone app for B-Hyve is already pretty full featured and I prefer it for scheduling.

They do really slam the hose valve open though…consider a hammer arrest or (or just put them on a length of leader hose to absorb the recoil).

crowsby Jul 19, 2023

I'd have some hesitation to tag those in due to the number of times I've had internal hose splitters/timers get broken or worn out, and develop a leak. It's no big deal if I'm replacing a $10 splitter, but it would sure sting when that $76 controller develops a leak.

rackmountrambo Jul 20, 2023

I use irrigation and honestly, dont see the merit in dynamic control. Some el' cheapo timers off Amazon switch the water on and off on a schedule. Yeah maybe you want to worry about rain days, but to me I don't really care, whatever they get more water. I'd rather spend that home automation budget on something more useful to me.

Grass Jul 20, 2023

I was looking for ZigBee valves before but didn’t find anything. I was also considering using an Arduino like board with ZigBee and making my own but never actually got around to it. My plants all died when work picked up but I might be trying again once work things stabilize

chrd Jul 20, 2023

I am using BQ05 valves flashed with Tasmota: …blakadder.com/irrigation_timer_BQ05.html

They have been running drip irrigation for my raised beds for a couple of weeks now. Their wifi is kind of weak though, I needed to install an outdoor repeater to improve connection stability.

Garden Water Timer BQ05 Valve Configuration for Tasmota

Configure your smart valve to work with Tasmota open source firmware.

Nimrod Jul 20, 2023

Love me some Tasmota.

What are the connections on that thing though? It doesn’t look like standard garden hose thread?

chrd Jul 20, 2023

I had to use some adapters to fit it to my system - the top fresh water connection is a 1" outside diameter thread and the bottom outlet is a 1/2" outside diameter thread with a Gardena (used a lot in Europe and Germany) style quick connect adapter included.

Nimrod Jul 20, 2023

Ah, interesting. I might snag one to tinker with. I’m getting lazy in my ways, so generally things I have to take apart to flash get lower priority, but my greenhouse and garden are my favorite places to tinker.

Nimrod Jul 20, 2023

Ah, interesting. I might snag one to tinker with. I’m getting lazy in my ways, so generally things I have to take apart to flash get lower priority, but my greenhouse and garden are my favorite places to tinker.

chrd Jul 20, 2023

Thankfully taking it apart is really easy, takes no time at all.

Yeah lemmy is still a bit rough around the edges for me too sometimes, still better than the official reddit client though ;)

peregus Jul 20, 2023

Buy a relay board and an ESP8266/32, flash Tasmotaon it (or them) and you’re done! You can control them with HA through MQTT.

Nimrod Jul 21, 2023

Yeah, that’s the easy part. But what valve? How to power the valve plus the esp board? Waterproofing? Those are the tricky parts.

peregus Jul 21, 2023

For the valve, any garden irrigation valve will do. If you have a DIY shop (sorry, I don’t know how’re they called, here are Brico) you can buy and ask for suggestions there. If you don’t have power at all there well…maybe a latch valve and an EAP32 with deep sleep code can last a few months (I guess, I’ve never tried that). For the waterproofing, the valve should already be waterproof, for the circuits you can buy an IP 65 electric junction box. Easy? Maybe not, but when it works, it feels good!!! :)

Humanoid Jul 21, 2023

I just added a zigbee valve controller. I almost got the rachio version also when it was on sale for $80 but decided to try something else in case I wanted a second one later.

This is the version I got and it’s been working without a problem for a month now.

a.aliexpress.com/_mrn97Kq

Nimrod Jul 21, 2023

Wow, that looks perfect. I wonder how strong the zigbee signal is in my back yard…

Also, did you try those moisture sensors? That might be the next step for my system.

Humanoid Jul 22, 2023

I haven’t bought the sensors yes but was debating it. I just have it on an automated cycle with conditions for rain.

dontcarebit Jul 22, 2023

I bought the same Tuya earlier this summer and it worked great for about a week. Unfortunately, the plastic is very thin and my kids broke it in two by just pressing the button a bit hard.

I am currently building a system with Gardena 24V valves and they have really high build quality. Gardena provides a controller for them, but I don’t trust them to provide a reliable cloud service over the years, so I am going to esphome route.

gulchadmin Jul 31, 2023

I can’t help you, but I’m in the same boat: I have a 4-hose manifold with a manual valve for each hose, and just started looking at replacing it with something I can automate. So far, I’m only able to find expensive valves or relays, and I think building something at that level might be beyond my capabilities. I’m looking more for a product that I can plug in and configure and be done.

ebc Jul 31, 2023

I’ll second the Zigbee valve, I got mine on AliExpress for about 50$ CAD. It’s a big gray thing with a button on the side, it looks like it’s all the same model. It exposes a switch in HA, on when the water can flow, off when it can’t. Pretty easy to automate.