Kentinada Posted March 23, 2019 Posted March 23, 2019 Can I convert my lawn sprinkling system which runs on a stand-alone zoned controller to an INSTEON controlled system? Any tutorials out there? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
paulbates Posted March 23, 2019 Posted March 23, 2019 The answer is yes. The Insteon compatible controller is from SmartenIT and is called a EZFlora. These control 8 Zones each, so you need multiple EZFloras if you have more than 8 Zones. Also, if your system has a pump or master valve, you lose 1 zone (7 instead of 8 ) The ISY can directly install and control EZFlora zones. You write your own programs to determine time-of-day to water, zone cycle times, etc. You can use the ISYs weather module to help to avoid cycles when it thinks its rained or will rain. There is also an irrigation module for the ISY to determine runtimes. You find these under help / install modules on the Admin Console. Not to confuse things, but I had EZFloras for 6 years and spent a lot of time on my programs. I switched to the rainmachine that I use with ISY V5 firmware and Nodelink Paul
johnjces Posted March 26, 2019 Posted March 26, 2019 (edited) +1 on the RainMachine! Nice controller!! Edited March 26, 2019 by johnjces 1
Kentinada Posted March 27, 2019 Author Posted March 27, 2019 Link to the RainMachine? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
lilyoyo1 Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 +3 on rain machine. Mine isn't added to my Isy but I've found out does everything I need without the extra programming
johnjces Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 https://www.rainmachine.com/ forums: https://support.rainmachine.com/hc/en-us/community/topics
DaveF Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 I also replaced my basic Hunter box with a RainMachine mini-8, I did connect it to the ISY via nodelink, but so far, just for informational purposes. I just use the Rainmachine app for everything.
Kentinada Posted March 27, 2019 Author Posted March 27, 2019 Thanks for the info. Every place I look, the mini-8 is out of stock. Not sure why. I sent RainMachine a presales question.
carealtor Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 I got the "Touch HD" 16 zone. I like the pretty pictures on the screen. Quote I did connect it to the ISY via nodelink, but so far, just for informational purposes. I just use the Rainmachine app for everything. So far, same here.
io_guy Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 Buy a pro if you have a way of getting an Ethernet cable to it. More stable than the wireless.
Hurting2Ride Posted March 28, 2019 Posted March 28, 2019 On 3/26/2019 at 7:13 PM, lilyoyo1 said: Mine isn't added to my Isy but I've found out does everything I need without the extra programming Blasphemy! 1
paulbates Posted March 28, 2019 Posted March 28, 2019 To follow other comments, my RainMachine does +95% of the job on its own. I use Nodelink features to combine sprinkling notifications with my other ISY notifications in pushover. Nodelink lets me use my rain sensor to put RainMachine schedules to sleep for 48 hours when there’s been enough rain. I can also use nodelink to have a program automatically switch from every 3 days vs every 2 days sprinkling when it gets hot enough out, and back again in the fall, saving water. the RainMachine does do a lot on its own, but the ISY let’s me optimize it. When I sell the house, I can give the buyer options to keep everything, or disconnect the ISY and the RainMachine is standalone.
Kentinada Posted March 28, 2019 Author Posted March 28, 2019 RainMachine responded and said they're not making the Mini-8 anymore. They are replacing with the Pro-8 which is $10 more.
dronning Posted April 16, 2019 Posted April 16, 2019 Thanks, EZFlora died, just ordered Rainmachine Pro-8. Now I have to start thinking about upgrading to 5.0.15a from 4.73. - Dave
TDoyle Posted June 4, 2020 Posted June 4, 2020 I am trying to setup 3 ezflora 5010z with the 8th zone as a master valve. How is that done ? I tried the option button which brings up buttons for pump or normal but it doesn’t seem to work. Any hints????
Brian H Posted June 4, 2020 Posted June 4, 2020 The 5010Z is a RainBee8 irrigation module. Adds ZigBee support to the module. Looks the same command wise as the 5010A EZFlora. For Insteon/X10 commands. I would suspect it should understand the commands sent to it. What Firmware and UI are you running on your ISY994i?
Brian H Posted August 12, 2020 Posted August 12, 2020 (edited) Do the Orbit sprinklers have low voltage AC controls? From what I can gather. The EZFlora has small triac's to control the valves and they need an AC voltage source. A model number of the Orbit you want to control. Would help in finding a solution. Edited August 12, 2020 by Brian H Add information
Goose66 Posted August 12, 2020 Posted August 12, 2020 (edited) I just got a 12-zone b-hyve controller from Orbit that has Wi-fi and a website for $99 (got it for my parents so I can make adjustments to their system over the web). The 6 zone is even cheaper. I will see if it has an API for ISY. Edited August 12, 2020 by Goose66
mink Posted August 30, 2020 Posted August 30, 2020 I've had a RainMachine HD-12 that might have been during their kickstarter (if they had one, yeah that long ago). Recommend, highly with everyone else. The HD display is very useful with high WAF. Check with your water company; ours offers $125 rebate for connected, smart water saving controllers on their list. Thinking of getting a new on, since the rebate is available, the company is offering early adopters a nice discount, and mine is ancient now (would keep as a back up). The new versions offer backup of settings, reporting from multiple weather sites. I use NOAA mainly, but every now and then, NOAA goes off line for a few days and the RM runs off the forcast, rather than the daily 4/day updates. They have been great about reconnecting to NOAA, so this has been quite rare. Make sure to check over the full manual and enable increased watering during heatwaves! People answer the phones at their tech support. The NOAA/RainMachine setup offers very granular data using your address. Useful in areas like ours with microclimates. (I've no financial relation with the co, just like it, as do my plants). So, for those using Polyglot to access the RainMachine, what kind of data can you get off it? BTW, I have 4 EZFLORAs kicking around, two are solid, 2 I need to test to ensure full function. Actually, I would test them all before sending along. Any offers? Cheers
mink Posted August 30, 2020 Posted August 30, 2020 (edited) About the RainMachines While this is an old thread, in case someone lands here. On 3/28/2019 at 5:05 AM, paulbates said: To follow other comments, my RainMachine does +95% of the job on its own. I use Nodelink features to combine sprinkling notifications with my other ISY notifications in pushover. Nodelink lets me use my rain sensor to put RainMachine schedules to sleep for 48 hours when there’s been enough rain. I can also use nodelink to have a program automatically switch from every 3 days vs every 2 days sprinkling when it gets hot enough out, and back again in the fall, saving water. ... I recently found a setting checkbox for increasing watering during heatwaves, doh! In addition to (from the manual) This can be changed to allow more watering on hot days, so go through all the settings for the zones carefully, after updating the firmware. Quote Settings > Weather: Weather data for your location is fetched several times per day from various weather sources such as NOAA (US) or MET.NO (Global). Default is NOAA for US and MET.NO only for EU and Global. If two or more weather data sources are used at the same time, the result will be an average of the two data sets. We do not advise mixing multiple sources, for most applications NOAA is sufficient. Edited August 30, 2020 by mink Remove duplicate
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