So I have been reading here and there but so far cannot say I have found what I need. I have a few hoses and sprinklers at home which I need to manually start/shut down. Of course, I would like to automate that but cannot find the right one that integrates fine with HA, is not expensive (since I will need at least two or three of those), and do its job. Searching on Amazon is craziness because of how many of these things you can find (this is my search, if it does not work just search for Smart Hose Faucet Timer).
Can I get a few recommendations before I go ahead and order something that does not integrate with HA?
I’ve been using the B-Hyve for over a year, and I have been pleasantly surprised. They are currently off for the season, but I need to get them all running for the growing season. As soon as I do, I will share my dashboards
To control one tap for animal watering I am using an off the shelf dumb solenoid, an off the shelf 12V power supply, and a Shelly RGB2. No cloud required! Shelly connects with wifi and integrates easily with HA.
May I know the exact model you are using? I have had the Orbit 21004 in my Amazon cart for a while but haven’t bought it yet. Is there also an Orbit 21005 model, the only drawback? Both are expensive for such a simple task but I need them because I forgot to turn off the faucet days ago and it was on for about 2h
Note I’m having some unreliability with my setup - I’m not sure that the Shelly is passing through sufficient voltage to open the solenoid (I can always hear the whine of the solenoid trying to open, but sometimes it doesn’t actually open). I’m going to try with a 24V AC power supply (more suited to the solenoid), plus a relay which can pass the 24V AC to the solenoid and be controlled by 12V DC, so I can still use Shelly (12V DC) as the trigger for the relay.
Hey @RayHollister I know is being a while but did you start your B-Hyve smart hose already? I would like to take a look. Haven’t bought mine yet so far I am doing all manually which sometimes I forgot to turn watering off and my entire garden is getting water till the next day, plants are happy tough my water bill is not so happy heh
Lucky you your water is cheap! Depending were you live - having the tap open a hole night can easily add over $100 to the bill - so in that case you probably only forget one time to close the valve and after that you find yourself checking all valves couple of times a day if they are really closed
ESP + Relay + Valve = ~$10 and just add esphome to the sauce
Also easy to scale, for example I use one ESP + 4 Relays + 4 Valves =
I already forgot to shut them off a couple of times that’s why I am looking for an automated solution. My home has an irrigation system but is not working (the pump is burned and fixing it is a LOT of money). Is something I will do but not right away.
Agreed, can you post more info on these ones? as for example what are exactly you using so I can google it and take some ideas?
Note this setup with an off the shelf valve, off the shelf 24v AC power supply, and Shelly RGBW has been successfully topping up an animal water trough twice a day for over a year now.
I had 3 of the Orbit 21004 B-hyve Smart Hose Watering Timer with Wi-Fi Hub. All three died this year. Just got 2 SONOFF SWV-NH, took a while to be delivered. They paired up with out a problem and started using them.
The good thing is you are not relying on the cloud to set up and use.
Bad thing is you will have to set up an automation to turn on and turn off. Which should not be a big deal.
Useful, mine has not died yet I will wait until that day to buy the ones you mention and as per the automation, I don’t have any problem, should not be that hard using NodeRED?
And about 3-6 months after this post, they all died. One by one they stopped connecting to the wifi and then to the bluetooth. Then they stopped working manually. I think the Florida heat ruined them.