The other day our washing machine did not cut the water off and flooded the laundry room. Luckily we were home, I cut off the water and no damage. It was a $10 part to fix, but could have caused major problems if we were not home. It got me looking into z-wave water detectors and z-wave water cutoff valves.
Dues to the high costs and limited outdoor use models available I thought why not use a latching sprinkler valve? It is cheaper and made to go on outside.
I stumbled onto the OpenSprinkler Bee that supports latching valves. Someone else asked if the OpenSprinkler Bee could be a remote station of the OpenSprinkler. Ray (at OpenSprinkler) said easy enough to do, but he had to make a change to the OpenSprinkler Bee API. I'm looking into an ETA in parallel.
The idea would be to turn the value on by default. Since latching, it stays on all of the time, uses no power, and is not affected if I loose power. If there is a leak detected by a z-wave water sensor then I would manually turn off the zone, thus shutting off water to the house.
The OpenSprinler Bee supports 3 zones. The other benefit for me is we have well water and city water. Sometimes the well does have a problem ... usually in the wee hours of the AM. Today I have to turn off the well valve in the garage, then go in the front yard to turn on the city water. With an event I can turn off the well value and on the city water or visa versa from HS3. I could even tell Alexa to do it for me ...or my wife when I am out of town.
I've never used a latching value, but from what I can tell this should work. I appreciate feedback from those who know these valves. I'm looking at "Galcon 3652 1-Inch Sprinkler Valve with S1602 DC Latching Solenoid".
Thanks,
Guy
Dues to the high costs and limited outdoor use models available I thought why not use a latching sprinkler valve? It is cheaper and made to go on outside.
I stumbled onto the OpenSprinkler Bee that supports latching valves. Someone else asked if the OpenSprinkler Bee could be a remote station of the OpenSprinkler. Ray (at OpenSprinkler) said easy enough to do, but he had to make a change to the OpenSprinkler Bee API. I'm looking into an ETA in parallel.
The idea would be to turn the value on by default. Since latching, it stays on all of the time, uses no power, and is not affected if I loose power. If there is a leak detected by a z-wave water sensor then I would manually turn off the zone, thus shutting off water to the house.
The OpenSprinler Bee supports 3 zones. The other benefit for me is we have well water and city water. Sometimes the well does have a problem ... usually in the wee hours of the AM. Today I have to turn off the well valve in the garage, then go in the front yard to turn on the city water. With an event I can turn off the well value and on the city water or visa versa from HS3. I could even tell Alexa to do it for me ...or my wife when I am out of town.
I've never used a latching value, but from what I can tell this should work. I appreciate feedback from those who know these valves. I'm looking at "Galcon 3652 1-Inch Sprinkler Valve with S1602 DC Latching Solenoid".
Thanks,
Guy
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