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    #46
    Hi Michael;

    Interesting. I'm assuming that you don't need access to the cloud to make this work. Looking at a youtube video, it appears that the device outputs 110 volts. Were you planning on dropping the voltage, or do you have another plan?

    By the way, thanks again for the help with my Rain8.

    Originally posted by Michael McSharry View Post
    On my to do list is to update Tasmota firmware for irrigation control logic with the Sonoff 4CH Pro. I want to make it so it can run its own schedule in a fallback mode and be slaved to mcsSprinklers for more optimal scheduling. I have the hardware and done enough modification of Tasmota to know it can be done. Just need to do it. I have another four zones that I will be laying the irrigation pipe and the 4CH makes for a good control solution to augment and then later replace Rain8 units I am using.
    Don

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      #47
      The Sonoff 4CH Pro is powered from 110V (or lower DC levels), but the relay is setup with common, Normally Open, Normally Closed so you can run any voltage level through the relay. For irrigation this will be 24 VAC.

      It is all local network control. I am not certain, but I do not think the 4CH has a real time clock so it will use NTP for time and it you do not have a local NTP server then this will come from the internet.

      Comment


        #48
        Thanks.
        Don

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          #49
          Hi everyone, I recently purchased one of these devices and wanted to share my two cents.

          It's true the device feels like it was never finished, but IMO it's still a good and useful product and a bargain at the price when compared to alternatives like Rachio.

          You can still achieve many of the intended functions with just a few tweeks to your event creation.

          For instance, the controller enable switch. Currently it will not prevent a "valve on" command from opening a valve. More likely this switch was intended to enable or disable the controllers internal schedule (which has not been fully implemented) and the valve on commands were supposed to be used as occasional manual run interactions.

          But by adding an IF check to your irrigation events, you get the same functionality:

          IF the time is xx:xx
          AND IF "Irrigation System Enable" is equal to "ON".
          THEN ...

          This way the watering event will not run if you've disabled the system.

          This opens up other options for being intelligent about water conservation.

          Create an event that sets Irrigation System enable to OFF on December 1st, and another to set it to ON on March 1st. Now your irrigation schedule automatically switches off for the winter.

          Using a plugin like WeatherXML, create a RainToday virtual device. When rain today value changes and rises above zero, set System Enable to OFF. When the value changes to zero, set system enable to ON. Now you have a smart irrigation system that won't run on a day that's had rain, and you didn't even have to buy a rain sensor.

          The button on the irrigation controller also acts as a switch for the system enable on/off. This is useful if you need to turn the irrigation off in a hurry, when fumbling through HSTouch on a smart phone might not be the best option.

          Create an event with the triggers:

          IF Irrigation System Enable changes and becomes OFF
          AND IF Irrigation Valve has a Value that is not equal to OFF
          THEN Set Irrigation Valve to OFF

          Now you can turn the system off with a button press if, say, it started hosing your wife while she was hanging out laundry. Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything...

          And finally that last option will also allow you to control the system with Alexa. The irrigation system enable switch is the only device that is surfaced to Alexa because it is a binary switch, the valve device is too complicated with too many values and so is ignored. The root node and notification child device are not actuators and so are also ignored.

          But with the switch off event we just created you can say "Alexa, turn off the irrigation system" to stop an already running watering cycle. This could also be used to disable the schedule if say you had a garden party happening that day. Just remember to turn it back on afterwards.

          If you require feedback, add notification actions to your events. For instance

          IF the time is xx:xx
          AND IF Irrigation System Enable is set to OFF
          THEN send an email.

          "Watering event did not run because the irrigation system is currently disabled."

          IF RainToday changes and becomes greater than 0
          THEN set Irrigation System Enable to OFF
          AND THEN send an email.

          "Watering has been disabled due to rainfall".

          It just requires a little bit of extra logic in how you use events to control the device.

          Something I don't fully understand yet is the "Irrigation Notification" child device. Mine has only ever said "No event". There's two possibilities here I think, either the notification device was only intended as a status feedback for the never-implemented internal schedule feature. Or, it's connected to the soil moisture/rain sensor contacts. I'll do some experimenting tonight bridging contacts and see what happens.

          Comment


            #50
            OK so yesterday I realized that pressing the user button was NOT toggling the binary system enable/disable.

            At first I thought maybe I'd hallucinated the contents of the manual, but I went back and reread it and I don't believe I was wrong about the expected physical button function.

            Click image for larger version

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            I'm wondering if this is related to the device being added secure vs non-secure. Also I'm using the S2 Z-Wave beta plugin at the moment.

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              #51
              In my opinion, this thing was a big disappointment. Hope it works for you.
              Don

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                #52
                Hello everyone! Has it been concluded that you can NOT run multiple valves at the same time using this controller? I get that I can set up an event and run each valve sequentially; however, I have several valves in my system and I cant wait several hours for the event to complete. If you cant create zones or run multiple valves at the same time, then I have to agree with @donstephens opinion. Any assistance / suggestions here is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

                Comment


                  #53
                  Originally posted by matthealy11 View Post
                  Hello everyone! Has it been concluded that you can NOT run multiple valves at the same time using this controller? I get that I can set up an event and run each valve sequentially; however, I have several valves in my system and I cant wait several hours for the event to complete. If you cant create zones or run multiple valves at the same time, then I have to agree with @donstephens opinion. Any assistance / suggestions here is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

                  You are absolutely right. This controller CANNOT energize few valves at the same time (it was already mentioned in some post above). I would say that all residential irrigation controllers work in such way.


                  If you like to energize several valves at the same time, all you need to use add-on relays and add-on power supply 24VAC with enough power for number of valves, that you need to run at the same time.


                  For example,

                  Controller Valve Line # 1 will energize your Add-on Relay # 1. This relay should be Normally Open. You can connect to relay as many existing zone valve as you wish, just don't forget about enough power from add-on power supply.
                  Controller Valve Line # 2 will energize another Add-on Relay # 2.


                  That is the only way you can run a few valves at the same time.

                  Comment


                    #54
                    At $70 with shipping I solved being able to run 2 valves at the same time by buying another controller.


                    If there are valves I always want open at the same time I just wire them together.

                    Comment


                      #55
                      Not a bad idea. I ended up using SonOff controllers (WiFi) and the MQTT plugin.
                      For me a lot more flexible and cheaper. It was not plug and play, but so far I'm happy.

                      Originally posted by grahamk View Post
                      At $70 with shipping I solved being able to run 2 valves at the same time by buying another controller.


                      If there are valves I always want open at the same time I just wire them together.
                      Don

                      Comment


                        #56
                        I setup six Sonoff 4CH Pro with mcsTasmota for another user. I flashed two OTA with Sonora.exe. I flashed two with UART and esptool/exe from ESPEasy download. I flashed two from Atom/PlatformIO IDE. They all came from the factory with Version 2.01 firmware so the OTA option is possible. Version 1.6 firmware cannot be flashed OTA, but ewlink can update from 1.6 to 2.0 as the first step in the OTA process.

                        i was going to do all six OTA but realized that the case had to be removed anyway because the factory configuration for the dip switches had to be changed with S6 slid to left and the right bank of four switches had to be moved up/on. This configuration allows each relay to be controlled independently and disables internal timers.

                        in addition to the dip switches, the Tasmota console also needed to be used to set ledstate=0 so the LED will indicate that irrigation mode is enabled. Otherwise it will indicate that a relay is on, but that is already shown by each relay’s LED. Another consideration is timezone so the irrigation start hour as well as general time reporting will match local time. This is timemode=+8 for Pacific time zone.

                        i found using the UART to be the most effective method for two reasons. OTA requires the WiFi SSID to be changed multiple times to complete the flash and one needs to pay attention to the prompts. The second is that the UART provides visibility into messages from the Sonoff so when things don’t work then there is info as to why. Of course one needs a 3.3v USB to Serial adapter. I had soldered headers on my Sonoff originally, but did not for the 4CH and just used the jumper pin contact in the three (god, tx, rx) holes.

                        My first attempt at OTA failed because I had not turned off Windows firewall. I had turned off Bitdefender firewall, but when I did this then Windows firewall was turned on (I suspect by Bitdefender). Then when I found Windows firewall was enabled I turned off the local network firewall, but still no success. Also needed to turn off public firewall to allow SSID FinalStage through.

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                          #57
                          I have just tried to set up the Go Control irrigation controller and have some issues. First I hooked up the common wire, the sprinkler valve wires and I only have one wire for the master valve so I put it into one of the master valve wiring slots. I then powered it up and tried to associate it with my HS3 z wave plugin and it did the first time. So, using the HS3 app I tried to run one of the sprinkler valves but it did not work, so I reset the controller to make sure I was starting from scratch and now I cannot get it to associate to the z wave. So I have two issues - one is how to hook up the master valve and the other is what to try now that the device will not connect to z wave. I am new to HS3 and am just trying to connect Homeseer dimmers, Dome water shut off and Homeseer leak detectors besides this Go Control unit. All the others are working with HS3, so any ideas about what to try next?

                          Comment


                            #58
                            When you say "reset the controller", do you mean exclude the node (Go ontrol) from the z-wave network, then perform a factory reset on the device (GoControl)?

                            If not, have you tried this process?

                            Are you running one of the z-wave plugin betas? I'm having consistent problems with nodes not creating all child devices at inclusion on the current beta.

                            Comment


                              #59
                              Originally posted by Fellhahn View Post
                              When you say "reset the controller", do you mean exclude the node (Go ontrol) from the z-wave network, then perform a factory reset on the device (GoControl)?

                              If not, have you tried this process?

                              Are you running one of the z-wave plugin betas? I'm having consistent problems with nodes not creating all child devices at inclusion on the current beta.
                              I deleted the node on HS3 and then did the reset procedure on the Go Control. After that I attempted many times to re-associate it with HS3 and got the blinking green led but it would not link to the z wave network. I am not running a beta (I got the USB z wave) unless they sent it to me with a beta. I just got it about two months ago.

                              Comment


                                #60
                                Originally posted by jetcobra View Post

                                I deleted the node on HS3 and then did the reset procedure on the Go Control. After that I attempted many times to re-associate it with HS3 and got the blinking green led but it would not link to the z wave network. I am not running a beta (I got the USB z wave) unless they sent it to me with a beta. I just got it about two months ago.
                                Sorry mate, out of suggestions in that case. Only other thing to try might be to "include non-secure" instead of regular inclusion. Otherwise probably a support ticket.

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