What moisture sensor should I buy for MCS Sprinklers?

[Bergthold]

Hello,

I've been using HCA software for a few years now, but plan to switch to the HomeSeer program when the final 2.0 version is ready.

I'm currently relandscaping my back yard for a new rose garden. I will have 31 roses on two zones, and four other zones in the front and back yards. I will use MCS Sprinklers as this looks like the best controller software. I just purchased a Rain8 II x-10 controller.

While I have the yard torn up, I'm trenching for new irrigation and electrical anyway, I would really like to put some moisure sensors in now when it would be easy to do. If anyone can direct me as to what kind of sensors I should get, how many, how deep to place them, and where I can get them, I would really appreciate it.

Mark

[Michael McSharry]

The only commercial viable ones of which I'm aware are the units associated with the Davis Weather Station. There is an active discussion in this forum with John on how they are working for him.

There are some issues with moisture sensors with respect to placement and the long term consistency of measurement. I dont have any direct experience and this comment is only based upon my research.

John was using them last year and then again this year. Hopefully he will be able to shed some light on his experiences.

There are some 1-wire moisture sensors and some other hobby type, but nothing that I have run across is what I would consider production ready.

mcsSprinkles also has a version that operates as a standalone application that does not rely upon Homeseer. It uses xAP over the LAN to integrate with Homeseer or any other automation applications.

[Bergthold]

Thank you for your response. I'm new to this forum, and can't find John's thread you were referring to. Can you direct me to where it is?

I may eventually buy a Davis weather station anyway. I'm thinking that I will run some extra wire in the underground electrical conduit that I'm putting in for some outside outlets. Any suggestions on what kind of wire I should run?

The stand alone version of MCS sprinklers sounds interesting. Do you know if it would work with HCA? Will that same stand alone program work with Homeseer if I add the Homeseer program later?

One last question, looking at your name, I'm just guessing that you are the creator of MCS sprinklers, is that true?

Thank you for assistance!

Mark

[Michael McSharry]

The thread is http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=103469

Yes I am the author.

mcsSprinklers can run standalone. The mcsSprinklers.ocx file can be placed in the Homeseer folder and it will run as a Homeseer plugin. mcsSprinklers can be run on any computer on your LAN and Homeseer on any other and Homeseer devices will be updated whenever mcsSprinkler devices are updated. The same is true for control from homeseer and it is acted upon by mcsSprinklers on the remote computer.

The short answer is that mcsSprinklers can be run in a variety of configurations to suit whatever setup you may have.

Compatibility with other automation software is via the LAN and xAP protocol. If HCA supports xAP then it is compatible. I'm not familiar with HCA to know if any xAP interfaces exist for it.

[Rupp]

Here's a link to some soil sensors that several users have mentioned over at the weather display BB:

http://www.hobby-boards.com/1wireboa...il_sensor.html