Comment Feed for Channel 9 - Does programming your lawn sprinkler seem so much harder than it should be? Here's a Netduino/Azure/WP7 solution for you... http://files.channel9.msdn.com/thumbnail/451813c9-764c-454f-91e3-0f7e974fc2c9.png Channel 9 - Does programming your lawn sprinkler seem so much harder than it should be? Here's a Netduino/Azure/WP7 solution for you... I don't know about you, but it sometimes feels that programming my lawn sprinkler system is a lesson in futility and that I must be pretty stupid, because programming that thing can't really be that hard, can it? Also it bugs me that in our connected world, that these devices are so, well, dumb. Why can't they check the weather themselves? Why do I have to go into the garage at all to program the thing? Well, we don't, there is hope. There are come very cool connected systems, such as Cyber Rain, but what's the fun in that? I wonder if we couldn't build a cloud connected, Netduino based, system that let be control if via a Windows Phone 7 device? Mike Linnen did just that... Lawn Sprinkler the Introduction Part 1 The new craze for Home Automation is to use technology to Go Green. One aspect of Going Green is about managing resources in a more efficient way. I have seen a number of other hobbyists build projects that manage the amount of electricity or gas that they use within their home. In this project I am going to manage the amount of water I use for watering my lawn. In part 1 of this series I am going to cover the big picture of what I am attempting to do. RequirementsOf course I needed a few requirements to define the scope of what I am attempting to do. Support for up to 4 zones Be able to manually turn on 1 or more zones (max 4) and have them run for a period of time Be able to schedule 1 or more zones (max 4) to come on daily at a specific time of the day multiple times a day. Be able to schedule 1 or more zones (max 4) to come on every Mon, Wed and Friday at a specific time of the day multiple times a day. Be able to schedule 1 or more zones (max 4) to come on every Tuesday and Thursday at a specific time of the day multiple times a day. Be able to turn off the system so that the scheduled or manual zones will immediately turn off or not turn on at their scheduled time. Be able to do any of the above requirements remotely. Do not turn on the sprinkler if rain is in the forecast (Go Green) Do not turn on the sprinkler if the ground is already moist enough (Go Green) Be able to automatically set the clock when daylight savings time changes. ... The SprinklerI am using a Netduino Plus as the microcontroller that operates my sprinkler heads. I choose this device because it uses the .Net Micro framework and it also has an onboard Ethernet controller which makes connecting it to my network a real easy task. You could very easily use another device to control the sprinklers as long as it could handle the HTTP messages and had enough I/O to interface to the rest of the needed hardware. This device is responsible for the following: Monitor the schedule and turn on the sprinklers if it is time to do so 4 Digital Outputs Onboard clock to know when to run the scheduled time Watch for HTTP JSONrequests that originate from the Windows Phone The onboard Etherent works well for this Watch for HTTP JSONrequests that originate from the weather service telling the sprinkler the chance of rain The onboard Etherent works well for this Watch for HTTP JSONrequests that originate from the time service telling the sprinkler to change it’s onboard clock The onboard Etherent works well for this On power up ask the time service for the correct time The onboard Etherent works well for this Monitor the Off pushbutton and cycle the mode of the sprinkler through the 3 states: Off/Manual/Scheduled 1 Digital Input Yellow LEDgoes on when in the Manual state 1 Digital Output Green LEDgoes on when in the Schedule state 1 Digital Output Monitor the ground moisture (Note: I haven’t done much research on how these sensors work so this might change) 1 Analog Input Persist the Manual and Scheduled programs so that a power cycle wont these values ..." Lawn Sprinkler the Demo Part 2 Here is a video that demonstrates how the Lawn Sprinkler system works. Here's some snaps from the doc's Yes, even a very cool and complete PptX deck, too Finally a snap of the Solution (Note, you'll need the beta [I used RC1] version of .Net MF, v4.2 which you can get from http://netmf.codeplex.com) If you've always wondered what it would take to build your own, connected lawn sprinkler system, these two posts look to be a great place to start.   Here’s a few more links you might find interesting: Lawn Sprinkler Source & Doc'sNetduino NancyFx Windows Azure Service Bus Netduino is opening up to an wider audience with the .Net Micro Framework v4.2 release.Net Micro Framework CodePlex Project  Today's post comes via WMPowerUser, How to control your garden sprinklers with Windows Phone 7 en Wed, 22 May 2013 10:18:51 GMT Wed, 22 May 2013 10:18:51 GMT Rev9 Re: Does programming your lawn sprinkler seem so much harder than it should be? Here's a Netduino/Azure/WP7 solution for you... Using Azure just to control your sprinklers? Overkill and expensive solution.

posted by ZippyV

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Does-programming-your-lawn-sprinkler-seem-so-much-harder-than-it-should-be-Heres-a-NetduinoAzureWP7-#c634507565535972450 Sun, 04 Sep 2011 18:09:13 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Does-programming-your-lawn-sprinkler-seem-so-much-harder-than-it-should-be-Heres-a-NetduinoAzureWP7-#c634507565535972450 ZippyV