{"id":462,"date":"2011-08-07T17:51:23","date_gmt":"2011-08-07T21:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.bitsofgenius.com\/?p=462"},"modified":"2011-08-07T17:56:24","modified_gmt":"2011-08-07T21:56:24","slug":"finally-internet-based-irrigation-control-for-the-tech-savvy-homeowner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.bitsofgenius.com\/?p=462","title":{"rendered":"Finally, Internet-based irrigation control for the tech-savvy homeowner"},"content":{"rendered":"

So that you know up front: I have neither purchased nor ordered the device yet. \u00a0I’m not promoting it. \u00a0I am just publishing this because so many people I talked to over the past few years really wanted what this device does and, like me, couldn’t find anything like it.<\/em><\/p>\n

I’ve been repairing my 5-year old Irrigation system recently, and I am revisiting an idea to control and monitor the irrigation system via the internet. The first time I did my research, I could only find controller systems in the $300+ range that could do this, and they were mostly designed for commerial use instead of residential use. Even worse, they wanted a monthly subscription fee, because the device would only interface through a server provided by the seller.<\/p>\n

Enter 2011, and I am revisiting the issue as I do my repairs and maintenance. After digging a bit through the forums, I found a link to Irrigation Caddy<\/a>, and it is exactly what I am looking for. \u00a0It is a self-contained controller with a 10\/100\/1000Base-T interface (i.e. hard-wired\u00a0Ethernet). It has the zone controller connections for the solenoids, and a built-in web server for configuring the device. \u00a0And the cost… a really cool $129.95.<\/p>\n

So this device is half the price of the cheapest typical commercial units, and requires no monthly fees. \u00a0To connect this to a wireless router, since I have no way to get an ethernet cable to it, it only needs a cheap bridge to add wireless to it.\u00a0This is a great solution for people who manage their network routers themselves, and want to interface their irrigation system control to it.<\/p>\n

The company now also mentions an iPhone app written by a third party, which can control the application as well. \u00a0See thier blog for details.<\/p>\n

I don’t know whether the device is capable of detecting and reporting a faulty zone controller (I would think it does). \u00a0The S1 version of this device ($149.95 instead of the $129.95 for the base model) also includes support for a rain sensor, which signals the controller to cancel the watering action when it has detected an adequate amount of rainfall. \u00a0This is a requirement in a number of places, including the area of Florida I live in (managed by the St. John’s Water Management District).<\/p>\n

I am excited and pleased to see that someone finally built an irrigation controller for DIY’ers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So that you know up front: I have neither purchased nor ordered the device yet. \u00a0I’m not promoting it. \u00a0I am just publishing this because so many people I talked to over the past few years really wanted what this device does and, like me, couldn’t find anything like it. I’ve been repairing my 5-year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,13,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technologynetworking","category-technologythoughts","category-tips-and-tricks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bitsofgenius.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bitsofgenius.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bitsofgenius.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bitsofgenius.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bitsofgenius.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bitsofgenius.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bitsofgenius.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions\/463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bitsofgenius.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bitsofgenius.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bitsofgenius.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}