This release sees the delivery of a custom card https://github.com/petergridge/irrigation_card to render the program options specified in the configuration.
The driver for this project is to provide an easy to configure user interface for the gardener of the house. The goal is that once the inital configuration is done all the features can be modified using the custom lovelace card.
The provided working test harness is self contained with dummy switches and rain sensor that can be used to become familiar with the capabilities of the component.
Image 1: All attributes rendered using the companion custom card
All the inputs of the platform are Home Assistant entities for example the start time is provided via a input_datetime entity. The information is evaluated to trigger the irrigation action according to the inputs provided.
Watering can occur in an Eco mode where a water/wait/repeat cycle is run to minimise run off by letting water soak in using several short watering cycles. The wait and repeat configuration is optional.
The rain sensor is implemented as a binary_sensor, this allows practically any combination of sensors to suspend the irrigation. This can be defined at the zone level to allow for covered ares to continue watering while exposed areas are suspended.
Implemented as a switch, you can start a program manually or using an automation. Manually starting a program by turning the switch on will not evaluate the rain sensorany rules it will just run the shedule, as there is an assumption that there is an intent to run the program.
Only one program can run at a time by default to prevent multiple solenoids being activated. If program start times result in an overlap the running program will be stopped. This can be modified with the allow_multiple attribute to achieve the required outcome you need to set this on each defined program.
- Copy the custom_components/irrigationprogram folder to the ‘config/custom components/’ directory
- Restart Home Assistant
- Copy the 'irrigationtest.yaml' file to the packages directory or into configuration.yaml
- Restart Home Assistant
- Install irrigation_custom_card from this repository https://github.com/petergridge/irrigation_card
- Follow the custom card instructions to add a card for each of: switch.morning, switch.afternoon and switch.night
- Make sure that all of the objects you reference i.e. input_boolean, switch etc are defined or you will get errors when the irrigationprogram is triggered. Check the log for errors.
- The time_date integration is required
sensor:
- platform: time_date
display_options:
- 'time'
- 'date'
Add the following to your logger section configuration.yaml
logger:
default: warning
logs:
custom_components.irrigationprogram: debug
If a rain sensor is not defined the zone will always run at the nominated start time.
If the irrigation program is run manually the rain sensor value is ignored and all zones will run.
The rain sensor can be optionally defined in each zone. You can:
- Define the same sensor for each zone
- Have a different sensor for different areas
- Configure the ability to ignore the rain sensor
You can define a 'flow sensor' that provides a volume/minute rate. eg litres per minute. Once defied the 'water' attribute will be read as volume eg 15 litres not 15 minutes.
If this binary sensor is defined it will not execute a schedule if the controller is offline. This is ideal for ESP Home implementations.
As an alternative to the rain sensor you can also use the watering adjustment. With this feature the integrator is responsible to provide the value using a input_number component. I imagine that this would be based on weather data or a moisture sensor.
See the https://github.com/petergridge/openweathremaphistory for a companion custom comsensor that may be useful.
Setting water_adjustment attribute allows a factor to be applied to the watering time.
- If the factor is 0 no watering will occur
- If the factor is 0.5 watering will run for only half the configured watering time. Wait and repeat attributes are unaffected.
The following automation is an example of how the input_number.adjust_run_time could be maintained
automation:
- id: '1553507967550'
alias: rain adjuster
mode: restart
trigger:
- platform: time_pattern
minutes: "/1"
action:
- service: input_number.set_value
entity_id: input_number.rain_adjuster
data:
value: "{{ value template calculation }}"
Run frequency allows the definition of when the program will run.
This can be a specific set of days or the number of days between watering events. This can be defined at the Program or zone level. Application at the zone level allows different zones to execute at the same time but using varying frquencies. for example: Vege Patch every two days and the Lawn once a week.
- Run Freq allows the water to occur at a specified frequency, for example, every 3 days or only on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Run Days DEPRECATED in this version, if you used this in version 3 simply rename Run Days to Run Freq to retain the same behaviour.
Defining a selection list to use with the run_freq attribute.
input_select:
irrigation_freq:
name: Zone1 Frequency
options:
- "1"
- "2"
- "3"
- "4"
- "5"
- "6"
- "7"
- "['Wed','Sat']"
- "['Sun','Thu']"
- "['Mon','Fri']"
- "['Tue','Sat']"
- "['Sun','Wed']"
- "['Mon','Thu']"
- "['Tue','Fri']"
- "['Mon','Wed','Fri']"
- "['Mon','Tue','Wed','Thu','Fri','Sat','Sun']"
The ECO feature allows multiple short watering cycles to be configure for a zone in the program to minimise run off and wastage. Setting the optional configuration of the Wait, Repeat attributes of a zone will enable the feature.
- wait sets the length of time to wait between watering cycles
- repeat defines the number of watering cycles to run
A self contained working sample configuration is provided in the packages directory of this repository.
switch:
- platform: irrigationprogram
switches:
morning:
name: Morning
irrigation_on: input_boolean.irrigation_on
start_time: input_datetime.irrigation_morning_start_time
run_freq: input_select.irrigation_freq
icon: mdi:fountain
zones:
# Adjust watering time used
# Watering time adjusted to water * adjust_watering_time
- zone: switch.irrigation_solenoid_01
name: Pot Plants
water: input_number.irrigation_pot_plants_run
water_adjustment: input_number.adjust_run_time
wait: input_number.irrigation_pot_plants_wait
repeat: input_number.irrigation_pot_plants_repeat
icon: 'mdi:flower'
# No rain sensor defined, will always water to the schedule
- zone: switch.irrigation_solenoid_03
name: Greenhouse
water: input_number.irrigation_greenhouse_run
wait: input_number.irrigation_greenhouse_wait
repeat: input_number.irrigation_greenhouse_repeat
icon: 'mdi:flower'
# Rain sensor used, watering time only
- zone: switch.irrigation_solenoid_02
name: Front Lawn
water: input_number.irrigation_lawn_run
rain_sensor: binary_sensor.irrigation_rain_sensor
ignore_rain_sensor: switch.ignore_rain_sensor
# minimal configuration, will run everyday at the time specified
afternoon:
name: Afternoon
start_time: input_datetime.irrigation_afternoon_start_time
zones:
- zone: switch.irrigation_solenoid_01
name: Pot Plants
water: input_number.irrigation_pot_plants_run
- zone: switch.irrigation_solenoid_02
name: Front Lawn
water: input_number.irrigation_lawn_run
(string)(Required) the switch entity.
(string)(Optional) display name for the irrigation program switch.
(input_boolean)(Optional) Attribute to support hiding the configuration detail in the custom card
(input_datetime)(Required) the local time for the program to start.
(input_select)(optional) Indicate how often to run. If not provided will run every day.
(binary_sensor)(optional) Detect if the irrigation controller is online. Autoated schedule will not execute if offline.
(input_boolean)(Optional) Attribute to temporarily disable the watering schedule
(icon)(Optional) The icon displayed for the program. (default: mdi:fountain)
(boolean)(Optional) Allow multiple zones to be active at the same time (default: false)
(string)(Optional) An ID that uniquely identifies this switch. Set this to an unique value to allow customisation trough the UI.
(list)(Required) The list of zones to water.
(entity)(Required) This is the switch that represents the solenoid to be triggered.
(string)(Required) This is the name displayed when the zone is active.
(string)(Optional) A sensor entity that provides the flow rate per minute. If the provided the water value will be assessed as volume.
(binary_sensor)(Optional) A binary sensor - True or On will prevent the irrigation starting. e.g. rain sensor, greenhouse moisture sensor or template sensor that checks the weather
(input_boolean)(Optional) Attribute to allow the zone to run regardless of the state of the rain sensor. Useful for a greenhouse zone that never gets rain.
(input_number)(Required) This it the period that the zone will turn the switch_entity on for.
(input_number)(Required) This it the period that the zone will turn the switch_entity on for.
(input_number)(Optional) This is a factor to apply to the watering time that can be used as an alternative to using a rain sensor. The watering time will be multiplied by this factor to adjust the run time of the zone.
(input_number)(Optional) This provides for an Eco capability implementing a cycle of water/wait/repeat to allow water to soak into the soil.
(input_number)(Optional) This is the number of cycles to run water/wait/repeat.
(input_select)(optional) Indicate how often to run. If not provided will run every day.
(icon)(Optional) This will replace the default mdi:water icon shown when the zone is running.
(input_boolean)(Optional) This will disable a zone, preventing it from running in either manual or program executions.
irrigationprogram.stop_programs:
description: Stop any running program.
- Add volume based watering option. Water can occur using a flow meter instead of based on time
- Add capability to turn on a pump or other switch when starting a zone
- fix error in remaining time presentation
- implement support for hiding configuration in the custom card
- fix issue with new installations
- Add run zone button to the custom card
- Add ability to disable a zone
- Handling new and changes zones to an existing program
- Move zone operations to a class
- provide zone level remaining time for the custom card
- improve start time handling
- corrected error on new program definition
- Enable both input number and sensor for water adjustment
- Refactor rain sensor handling
- Correct time remaining calculation
- New repository for Version 4 with improvements and support for custom card support
- Allow definition for run frequency at the zone level - feature request
- DEPRECATED the run_days attribute. Simply rename this attribute to run_freq to maintain the functionality
- Optionally allow multiple programs to run simultaneously use allow_multiple config option
- Allow monitoring of the irrigation controller hardware if supported, will not run schedule if controller is offline