Cjr Watering System

[hampton]

Thanks for the rundown, that’s a good piece of information re: the NiMh batteries.

 

[ChefB]

This can greatly increase your Wi-Fi’s footprint:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/google...VmUl_AB0LrAYkEAQYASABEgL9NPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

It is simple to set up also. I highly recommend it.

 

[Cajunrider]

This can greatly increase your Wi-Fi’s footprint:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/google...VmUl_AB0LrAYkEAQYASABEgL9NPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

It is simple to set up also. I highly recommend it.

My Wifi coverage is excellent around the house. However, the BHyve Orbit timers will only talk to their BHyve hub. I bought one hub but I am not about to pay for another hub.

 

[Cajunrider]

Among the things I've learned. The timers automatically add weather delay based on very loose weather conditions. By default, they will add weather delay on 30% chance of rain and .05 inch of rain. I bumped that way up to 80% and 0.25 inch of rain. Good thing I saw the notification for delay on the app and cancel the delay through the internet.
The last few days of 97-98 deg F and sunny weather forced me to adjust watering cycles. So far so good.

One more thing: I use my big gumbo pot and get the water close to boiling then cut the tightly coiled 1/4" tube to length. Dropping the hose in one at a time and fish it out with tongs. A slight pull through and the hose straightens out nicely. No more fighting with those coils.

 

[Maiden69]

Yeah... that is one thing I disabled on my yard Rainbird system. I added a rain sensor, it adjusts after .25" and turns off the system after 1" of rain a week.

 

[Cajunrider]

I was gone for 10 days right in the midst of a heat wave. Yet all the trees are healthy when I get back.
I did overwatered a bit so the back yard is wet!

 

[Cajunrider]

I just received my water bill. Oh my goodness!
Hmmmm....

 

[Cajunrider]

I wound up with two 4 outlet Orbit Hyve XD hose timers connected to one BHyve hub. The connection strength of the BHyve hub isn't all that great so I had to play with locations of the hub in the house in order to connect to the hose timers, which are at different sides of the house.

Tubing wise I've used 200 ft of 1/2" and 500 ft of 1/4". 6 of the 8 zones are set up. For each zone I programmed the timers to start between 1 to 3 times a day depending on location and species. I don't have the camera set up to check the tree closely. The camera that I have just allows me to have a general look and decide whether or not what zone needs more water.

I used a variety of sprayers and emitters. Some are salvaged from past projects, some are new. My favorite are the Carpathen 100 emitters /sprayers kit I bought on Amazon. They are cheap and effective for me.

I discovered that the NiMH batteries are not suitable for hose timers. At the latter part of the battery life, the timer struggles to operate the valve. Since now I have read the battery life on my phone app, I switched to rechargeable Lithium batteries. The voltage stays at the right level much longer and the timers operate well with Li rechargeable batteries. Now my hose timers will have to compete with my guitars for rechargeable batteries

After one year of use, one of the timers has a failed valve that just won't close. That has caused excessive watering, thankfully the trees were BCs so they were just happy as pigs in mud. My water bill was 3 times normal amount.
Another thing worth noting is that I now have a schedule to swap my Li rechargeable batteries. The Li rechargeable keep the voltage up so the Orbit timers continue to report battery life as 100% up to the day the battery dies. I was on travel and checked the battery life before I went, it was 100% then it dies later that same day. Since they are rechargeable, I just swap them out once a month to be on the safe side.