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A Smart Lawn Sprinkler System? 39

Posted by Cliff from the lawn-sprinkler-systems-with-an-IQ-over-100 dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "I'm about to install a sprinkler system for my lawn. There are lots of timers and computers out there to automate the watering of your lawn. However, before I go out and buy something, I wanted to know if there are any interesting open source projects for watering lawns. I've heard about smart sprinklers that get weather from the internet/satellite and water accordingly. What have other Slashdot readers done?"
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A Smart Lawn Sprinkler System? More

A Smart Lawn Sprinkler System?

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  • Way over here... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by acceber ( 777067 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @06:50AM (#10353955)
    ...in Australia, we're about to be hit with permanent water restrictions. Sprinkler systems are absolutely out of the question or we get hit with a fine. Watering the lawn/garden can only be done on certain days before 9am and after 5 pm.

    If you're looking for solutions to water your gardens, aim to get a system which is economically efficient. Use your common sense as well, don't water your gardens if it looks like it's going to rain and I'm sure the lawn without having to be watered by the sprinkler system everyday.

    Also, place them strategically around the lawn so that you are getting the maximum use out of the sprinklers, placing them where the water hits the pavement more than the lawn should be avoided.

    The most important thing is, to get something that is efficient and doesn't use up huge amounts of water. In the long run, you'll save money and if you're in an area that is prone to long periods of time without rain, then others will appreciate you for it.

    • Re:Way over here... (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Sorry, I must be missing something. How are sprinklers incompatible with watering at (say) 5 AM? All the timers I see at the local home improvement store are electronic and perfectly capable of watering, e.g. every third day at 5:30 for 15 minutes.

      The one I've got (can't remember the brand) is pretty easy to reprogram, so I constantly tweak the program to changing weather patterns.

  • Lawn? I don't need no steenking lawn. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nathanh ( 1214 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @07:20AM (#10354057) Homepage
    I'm about to install a sprinkler system for my lawn. There are lots of timers and computers out there to automate the watering of your lawn. However, before I go out and buy something, I wanted to know if there are any interesting open source projects for watering lawns. I've heard about smart sprinklers that get weather from the internet/satellite and water accordingly. What have other Slashdot readers done?

    Ask yourself if you really want a lawn. I suspect most people don't but they've never stopped and considered the alternatives. Consider these problems with lawns...

    • Incredibly high maintenance. You'll be mowing that lawn every weekend during summer, removing patches of crabgrass, reseeding the dead spots, fertilising twice a year, etc.
    • High water usage. Not only does a lawn have a large surface area but it also provides very little protection for the soil. You're the number one contributor to ground salination and rising water tables when you have a lawn.
    • Usefulness? Lawn really isn't that useful. It isn't pretty. It doesn't shade the house, or hide your ugly brick walls from the street. You can't sit outside on the grass without looking silly. Some people claim they have grass so their kids can run around on it, but there are sports ovals for that. Why do you want a private oval in your backyard?

    The silliest thing about grass is that it's an artificially stunted plant. The grass wants to grow long but by mowing it you are cropping it to the roots. The grass is permanently kept in the juvenille state. Why bother?

    So what did I do? I got rid of my grass. A few mounds of dirt to give the garden a bit of privacy. Woodchip on top to shade the soil and blanket the roots. I put in some native bushes, flowers and trees. Built a nice path through the garden. Then I built a paved area where I can put some chairs and a small table. Now I can sit in my garden and enjoy the beautiful scenery. I don't have to see the neighbour's laundry hanging on their washing line. I also don't have to water it more than once a week because of the woodchip. Native birds, lizards and insects love my garden; it's a healthy thriving ecosystem. Meanwhile my neighbours waste 3 hours of every weekend mowing their ugly lifeless lawns.

    • Re:Lawn? I don't need no steenking lawn. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Ianoo ( 711633 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @07:39AM (#10354097) Journal
      I quite agree. We replaced the lawn in our backgarden with a patio area adjacent to the house and some steps up (it's on a hill) to an area of decking surrounded by bushes, gravel, woodchip, and so on. It looks much better and is much easier to maintain than some browny-yellowy grass rectangle (which is the colour most lawns end up during the summer months).

    • Re:Lawn? I don't need no steenking lawn. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      My kids and my dog can't run and play in your garden and woodchips. Diving for a frisbee (by either) would be rather painful. And how are we supposed to play croquet? Also, too many obstacles for whiffle ball...

      Some people really like a large, all-purpose space. Different strokes for different folks.

    • I've held this opinion of lawns for some time; grass serves very little useful purpose. The problem is that it's what's expected of everyone to have. I hope that you never have to sell your house; your yard situation will discourage quite a few potential clients. I've even heard of places where neighborhood communities complained about somebody's non-standard lawn arrangements to the appropriate town council and forced a change.

      Alternative lawns are awesome. But if you're ever planning on selling your hou

    • Re:Lawn? I don't need no steenking lawn. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Stinking Pig ( 45860 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @11:18AM (#10354795) Homepage
      I so don't miss our lawn, ripped it out ASAP. Front yard is all native plants and herbs, backyard is vines and flowers. The kiddies have what's left of the flagstone patio that the previous owners put in... what's left is not a lot as my son likes to pry up the flagstones looking for bugs.

      A previous poster mentioned subsurface drip... there were sprinklers in place for the lawn, so I replaced all their heads with four-way splitters feeding lengths of thin drip hose with little half-circle sprayers on the end for plants that need more water. The hoses are all under dirt and cedar chip, it uses much less water, and hardly any of the water is evaporating away before the plants get it. Cheap, easily adjustable, highly recommended. Won't work for a grass lawn though.
    • 2 words: Mosquito Haven

      They'll hang out in the foliage and you'll have that nice little sitting area just sitting there.

    • You may have a zoning ordinance which requires you to have a lawn and mow it and keep it green. Many, many towns do. They even have "weed ordinances" which fine you if you have native plants. Too bad because native plants are better adapted to your soil and climate conditions, and some are quite attractive.
    • The silliest thing about grass is that it's an artificially stunted plant. The grass wants to grow long but by mowing it you are cropping it to the roots. The grass is permanently kept in the juvenille state. Why bother?

      Coincidentally, the reason is because it's for my juvenile states. My kids, that is. Ages three, two, and one, all of whom just love to run around on a big flat lawn (which has to be kept short, because the one-year-old actually stumbles over unmowed grass), ride their trikes down the hil

  • Just get a good timer (Score:5, Informative)

    by linuxwrangler ( 582055 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @07:42AM (#10354106)
    "Smart" means getting tried and true equipment designed for the purpose. A good timer will do everything you need reliably and with minimum power draw. Just be sure to get a timer with non-volatile memory and a backup battery for the clock.

    Any decent timer will allow you to add a rain sensor that will turn off the sprinklers if it rains. Most rain sensors consist of pieces of material that absorb water and swell up causing them to push a switch. The sprinklers won't resume till the sensor dries out and the amount of moisture needed to stop the sprinklers is adjustable. Butt simple and reliable.

    If you want to get way fancy then you can get a system that incorporates soil moisture sensors.

    Depending on your situation you may want to check out subsurface drip irrigation for the lawn. Subsurface drip is generally more expensive but really excels 1) in very hot areas, 2) for oddly shaped or narrow areas that don't work well with sprinklers, 3) where it is often windy and 4) on steep slopes.

    • Re:Just get a good timer (Score:3, Insightful)

      by KDan ( 90353 )
      The sprinklers won't resume till the sensor dries out and the amount of moisture needed to stop the sprinklers is adjustable. Butt simple and reliable. If you want to get way fancy then you can get a system that incorporates soil moisture sensors.

      Sounds about a bazillion times more reliable than any weather report I've ever seen!

      Daniel
    • Living just a half mile from the St. Clair River, which flows 190,000 cubic feet per second, Water [usgs.gov] shortages have never been a concern; but my "smart" lawn spreaker system is usualy just opening the valv and pushing the "manual start" button. I've only watered about 10 this year;
      my seceret is;
      1. don't cut too short, never less than 1.5 in
      2. fertilize by putting half as much, twice as often if needed.
      3. TLC, Thin layer composting or mulching

      if the cut leaves start to build up, somethings wrong, usualy needs

  • MisterHouse ... It Knows Kung Fu (Score:5, Informative)

    by 2TecTom ( 311314 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @08:23AM (#10354195) Homepage Journal
    "Code has been written for DSC Alarm pannels, Stargate LCD displays, Slinke IR send/receive, Marrick X10, RCI X10 sprinklers, Xantech preamps, ISDN modems, voice modems, ComPool and Aqualink pool equipment"

    http://www.misterhouse.net/ [misterhouse.net]

    There's several perl sprinkler scripts ...
  • They are shaped like flowers and have bendy piping, and comically rave around when the water flows through them, and waters your garden through thier rose flower heads (the sprinkly bit)

    I think sprinkers should be used at a minimum, if you put a timer on a permanent water coneciton, have an absolute minimum, also water after sundown (less evaporation) and not when it rained.

    You can try a simple water detection system rather than sat weather - or soil moisture content meteres around the flowerbeds.

    Or belo

  • Waste of Money (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jeffkjo1 ( 663413 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @10:26AM (#10354546) Homepage
    I've heard about smart sprinklers that get weather from the internet/satellite and water accordingly. What have other Slashdot readers done?"

    When you put in a sprinkler system... you plan it out accordingly so it fits your lawn, where you have trees (and need less water due to shade), where you need more water (gardens), and so on. As well, you can also have a rain gauge put in with the sprinkler system so that it doesn't run after it's rained. The only reason to have a satellite controlled system is to impress your neighbors momentarily before they realize what a dope you are for wasting money on that.
    • The only reason to have a satellite controlled system is to impress your neighbors momentarily before they realize what a dope [smokedot.org] you are for wasting money on that.

      First, if you grow your own, then it's not wasting money (grow outdoor if you can't buy lights, hell grow outdoor if you can).

      Second, I've always wanted to start a 'planned growing environment control software' project. I.E. a a suit of programs for controling water, light, humidity and other things when growing plants. Ideally this program c

  • I use X10 and Indigo (Score:4, Informative)

    by Frogbeater ( 216054 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @10:50AM (#10354648) Homepage
    I had tried X-10 years ago and it seemed pretty lame, but I recently installed the latest hardware on my home server and bought a Rain8 [wgldesigns.com] and a rain sensor and it works great.
    The best part is that the Indigo [perceptiveautomation.com] software for OSX that drives the X10 has an awesome community who have come up with plenty of ways [perceptiveautomation.com] to do what you're asking about.
  • Mark Gibbs at Network World ran a http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2004/071904gear head.html/ [nwfusion.com]couple of articles about networking the garden. X-10 came up, as well as some other interesting technical problems. He points to a couple of sources for software, mostly closed source. And xeriscaping http://www.google.com/search?&q=%22xeriscape%2 2/ [google.com] may give you a few ideas about designing for a water-restricted future.

  • $20 solution for a $1 problem (Score:4, Insightful)

    by a9db0 ( 31053 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @03:22PM (#10356273)
    Back in the early days of the space program, NASA spent tens of thousands of dollars on research to develop a pen that would write in zero gravity. The Russians used a five cent pencil.

    Use a timer. A basic four or six zone timer with battery backup will be far more cost effective and reliable than a computerized and connected solution. I had one of the fancy electronic timers for a while. After having it knocked out by lightning a couple of times (remember, these are connected to low voltage lines running underground across your property) I got a better solution.

    I bought an inexpensive 6 zone timer with built in battery backup that I could set up in acordance with local watering restrictions that would handle my needs. It even had the ability to hook in a rain sensor to interrupt the cycle if it had been raining recently. It worked great. (May still be, I sold the house.)
  • Use a frikin' hose. Not only is it cheap but it helps with stress.
  • I would like to do the same with my pot plants on my patio. I always forget to water them. I imagine sensors in the pots attached to a computer, so it "knows" if the plants need water and then opens a tap on a water hose. And I reaIly mean plants in flowerpots. Although, speaking of pot, I wonder if there are such systems for cannabis growers ...
    Of course the system has to run on an old Mac or Sun Workstation or any other old hardware that's small and looks kinda cool at the kitchen window.
  • Bury a tracer wire along with the plastic tubing, so that you can find it again in the future.

    I noticed the local gas company doing the same with their lines.
  • I moved into a brand new home 3 years ago and did the landscaping and watering system myself.

    I'm in Sydney, so the above comment on water restrictions applies!

    7 X10 Universal modules and a few relays mean I have x10 control of up to 64 zones (42 of them currently in use!) all computer controlled of course.

    The system works well and being able to sh/perl script everything has had many advantages, mainly due to the adaptability.
    1) I adapted one zone to do automated water changes on my (large) aquarium
    2) Whe

  • I did this (Score:3, Interesting)

    by tf23 ( 27474 ) <`moc.todattol' `ta' `32ft'> on Monday September 27, 2004 @10:04PM (#10369012) Homepage Journal
    I installed a sprinkler system in my house when it was built ~2 years ago.

    First thing, have a plumber come in and install a deduct-meter (if your house isn't new you can probably do it yourself. I couldn't, I'd lose my plumbing warranty for the first few years).

    Then shop around for controllers. I bought one that had plenty of extra space for valve control, as well as weather control, master water valve controller etc etc.

    Then get your trusty plot plan out and figure out where things are going to go. Try to imagine the future too - because you can always trench extra lines while you have your yard torn up. But going back and trenching in add'l lines (like I was digging this evening till the mosquito's came out) just sucks.

    So plan plan plan!

    As far as being geeky with it - some of the controllers have serial ports. For me, this wasn't a priority. The controllers (atleast mine) has a good interface, and it's easy to set and configure. Even though I have a few linux boxes sitting in the basement next to it, I've not had the urge to try and wire it into the LAN and play. I don't know that I ever will.

    Hope that helps.

    Oh - be sure to investigate micro-irrigation. I just found out about this stuff on Saturday. The heads are tiny and come in various (even bendable) formats. No trenching involved. It'll even do hanging plants. Once we put the beds into the backyard and the plants in the spring I'll be running the mico-stuff everywhere that I can. I wish I'd have known about it when I setup my front yard with Pro-sprays.

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