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EtherRain MCS Setup

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    Correct observation. An ET inhibit will result in only irrigation later in the day. There really is no reason to use this inhibit because if the ET is low the soil moisture will not decrease much so you will not reach your ET trigger threshold to start a cycle.

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      I think I found another problem. The yard was still wet last night, so I hit inhibit tomorrow device. So tonight, it is still inhibited and says Inhibit Today-Tomorrow. I hit the off button, but nothing happens, it's locked just like the pause the other day, and there's no errors in the log. I also hit skip tomorrow, and hit it again to allow tomorrow (in the area touch page) and that still didn't fix it.
      Attached Files

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        The issue is with recognizing the Tomorrow inhibit on/off buttons from HS Device Management. They are functional from GeneralStatus. I fixed it in http://mcsSprinklers.com/mcsSprinkle...19_9_5_HS3.zip. Both HSP...exe and MCSSPRINKLERS_2009.dll are needed from the zip.

        The Touch page provides access to only the Tomorrow device (S92). GeneralStatus gives access to the associated inhibit status (S22). S22 is the only means to turn off the S92 inhibit after midnight has passed. If S22 is turn ON then it provides a Today inhibit that expires at midnight. I also changed the status text on S22 so if better reflects its ability to affect either the Today or yesterday's Tomorrow inhibit.

        Note that the debug attached is only about one minute long. It is likely the one created after you flushed the cache. Those of interest are usually larger and have older last file dates.

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          So I'm working on my Fertigation system, and I only need about 4 channels. I was thinking of using the Sonoff unit, but it cant be powered by 24vAC. I guess it wouldn't kill me to use two power supplies, but then there's the flashing with Tasmota, and I think you have to sign up with some company to get it to pair to wifi. So, are there any units that are only 4ch and powered by 24vAC?

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            well, there's no way around using a Sonoff this time as I don't see any 4 channel devices, and if I installed another EtherRain, I'd have to install a bridge for the wifi. Maybe if I could use the extra channels for Landscape lighting or something, but I think there's a 4 hour limit on runtime, and I'd probably want a 12v lighting system anyways, so..

            The Sonoff 4ch Pro says input one 5-24vDC I assume that runs the WiFi? The other input says 90-264vAC. How do you operate 24vAC valves with this?

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              The need for four valves seems like a pretty complex system you are trying to setup. Typically it is only one that enables or disables flow from the fertigation tank and mcsSprinklers take care of when to enable the flow based upon the fertigation plan you have setup.

              There is no signup with any company to enable WiFi on the Sonoff. You can plug the Sonoff into 120 VAC for its power and use whatever power source you want through the relays including 24 VAC so you can use standard irrigation valve. Just make certain your 24 VAC transformer can handle the number of valves you expect to have powered at one time.

              Any relay solution can be used and does not need to be Sonoff and does not need to be WiFi. It can be interfaced via HS device for other technologies that are supported by HS.

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                hmm well, I suppose I only need two. I mean I bought three, and surely I can over engineer to use the three, but technically, I would need to close the bypass valve, and open the fertigation valve.

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                  I ordered both versions the R2 Pro and the I older R2 non-pro. Someone complained on the review that he ordered the non-pro, but they sent him the Pro version and it couldn’t do what he was trying to do. So do you know the difference? The Non-pro seems simpler with the voltage in ports and all the other ports are out. Can the Pro do that? What’s with the Normally Open/Normally closed ports? It looks like an input relay with the NO/NC markings. It has a setting where i can program the device it can turn another port off when I activate a different port. That could be useful with the two valves for fertigation and bypass. So do I have to flash this with the Tasmota firmware? Or is that optional? Thoughts?

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                    The non-Pro switches mains at the relay. The pro allows any voltage to be switched at the relay. The stock firmware is controlled over cloud with Sonoff’s smartphone app. Tasmota has local non-cloud control using MQTT or HTTP. McsSprinklers understands MQTT. You need to use google for YouTube videos on how to flash. You will need to open the case to set dip switches for the desired mode of operation. Once open you use 3.3v serial adapter to flash it following the process of putting it in flash mode with GPIO 0 grounding during power application. Depending upon the firmware version that comes with unit you may be able to flash over the air using SonOTA.exe. I have some info in mcsMQTT.pdf on this subject, but there is much you can find with google.

                    mcsSprinklers has a good discussion on its Fertigation control. EZ-Flo was the company that offered their system to Warren (Rain8) and myself to integrate. If you want to use mcsSprinklers for fertigation control then you will be mirroring the EZ-Flo. There are very few who have asked questions about fertigation so I assume it it not something that many are using.

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                      I got my Sonoff in, and I just so happen to have a 24v DC power supply that appears to be center pin positive. And, the barrel connector fits perfectly in the Sonoff. I don’t see any warnings or anything, so I’m kinda assuming it doesn’t matter what polarity the pins are. True?

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                        Center positive is the standard. I believe it does matter. I run my Sonoff 4CHh Pro from 120VAC connections.

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                          So I'm using Round-robin for the main watering. I kinda just realized today that the Syringe cycle is also doing a Round-robin. I assume the Syringe cycle only needs to run for the programmed duration once. Can the syringe cycle be prevented from doing the Round-robin?

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                            Can you provide the debug showing your syringing cycle?

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                              I'm terrible at getting the right debug info. The auto debug created one today at 12am, and the syringe ran from 3-4pm. So I deleted all the debug reports, and created a new one, and it's 0.012 MB, but grew to 0.71MB. The auto debug created at 12am did not get deleted, and it's at 42MB, and too large to go here, I'll send on email, but I don't think a 12am file would do us any good, but I don't know. Also, you need the config file? mcsSprinklers_config.ini? I can't send the 42MB file, as aol's limit is 25MB. Do you know what the size limit on here is?
                              Attached Files

                              Comment


                                The debug is just a text file. Open one up and look at the date range it covers. Look for a segment that spans the time with which you have issue. Extract this portion into another text file. The ini file is used to correlate what was setup vs. what shows in the debug.

                                Since it is a .txt file it will compress into a zip with significant reduction in size and the entire file can be posted/emailed.

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