DTW irrigation timer

[LJ farming]

Is anyone using an Alexa, Google, or any other smart outlet to control their irrigation pump in their DTW system? I am wondering if there are smart plugs/outlets on the market that can be programmed for multiple daily irrigation events down to the second? It’s getting really really old reprograming my current Autopilot timer every week to add an additional irrigation event. If someone is using one that saves the program for each week that would be great to hear as well. Thank you for and insight provided.

Peace out,

LJ

 

[Ca++]

On a typical 8 event timer, you can delete an event, then deleting again puts it back. So you are activating events, and just changing duration, usually adding the the end time.
I'm unsure how a smart version would stop the need.
In the past, I have had multiple timers. They are $10 items. I would just plug in the one I need. The 1 second interval does increase the cost, but it's still under $20

 

[LJ farming]

I’m looking for an unknown number of events at this point but an educated guess is 3-12 and it would be extremely nice if once your system is dialed in that each weeks events could be saved so that you could just change the timer to whatever week you are on and it would already be programmed for x# of waterings at y# of seconds.

On my current autopilot timer that will do up to 8 events per day there is no way to save your program for next time it is needed so I have to reset it every week to add another watering. As well if you screw up just slightly and don’t catch it on your double check you could water grow 12am to 12:01:30 pm instead of 12:01:30 am which would be a really neat disaster to deal with as well as blown up pumps and what not. I have not done this yet but it’s literally the slip of a finger and a miss on recheck and you would have a small disaster on your hands. It would be nice if once you got something programmed correctly you could just choose the week your on and sleep well and then religiously remember to change the week. It would even be better if some timer/programming genius actually made a specific timer program for growers that you just hit go once it’s programmed on FLIP day and make minor adjustments as needed.
As we all have all been told: wish in one hand and shit in the other……. So I’m not holding my breath.
There is a very smart programer on here that might be willing to make it???? Not to put you on the spot or anything E. Haha

 

[Ca++]

A have years of watering frequency logs.
You might start with less than one a day. I start at one, and size my pots around that. This might be 4 mins. Reaching 6 mins before I move to two events of 3.5 mins each. The 6 is my max duration, due to pot size. Over time my 3.5 min intervals move towards 6 mins. Then I change to 3 events per day, 3.5 mins each. Over time, I move to 4 events of 5 mins each usually.
This isn't clockwork though. I can't set a timer at day 1, because of plant size and weather dependency. Some might not take off as quick as they should if they are not ready for 1 a day. Other setbacks might occur, where you don't know a new plant so must learn it. Sometimes a plant just won't accept batch watering frequencies, as it's not a good match for your usual plants.

There are ways you can switch off in a flood situation. Pumps that sense dry running. There is no timer that can know the future though. Even dialed to perfection, you would probably employ a few to switch between, or find one with a cancel that puts things back. Unfortunately I have never seen one sold as such. It's more like persistent memory. My timers are unlikely to suit anyone but an electrician. There are some in the 3 phase pump thread though

 

[LJ farming]

Thank you CA. I know I’m just being cheap as well as if I hadn’t read an advertisement about a new fancy “irrigation controller” Damn what will they come up with next. I wouldn’t even know I need one which I really don’t because I have never done over 6 waterings in a day and my timer will do eight. But every Sunday I dread the 30 minutes it takes to reprogram the timer. However I do like the idea of messing around with crop steering and/or being able to dial something in as close to perfect as possible and rarely having to mess with it. It leaves more time for actually being able to smoke some the more hands off things are in my book. Don’t get me wrong I’m in my room 2-3 hours minimum everyday but I will pay a couple extra bucks to get rid of any of the repetitive busy work. I think we all can agree there is more than enough of that in trimming alone.

Peace out,

LJ