this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2023
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Home Assistant is open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts. Perfect to run on a Raspberry Pi or a local server. Available for free at home-assistant.io
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Hey there, I have an Ecowitt system. I use it to tell me when to close the curtains based on sunlight, use it to tell me when to open or close the windows, and I also have some of their soil moisture sensors in my garden to tell me when to water. I plan on expanding that last one to an automatic irrigation system!
The one catch is that you'll want to lock it down on Ecowitt's site, otherwise other people can see your sensors.
I'd like to hear more about those moisture sensors if you'd be willing to share
How many do you have? (If multiple) do you space them out around your yard? Do you find it to be accurate enough? Do you have experience with other systems to compare it to?
Sorry for the 20 questions. I've lived in a condo my entire adult life but I'm buying a house soon and lawncare scares me lol
Honestly moisture sensors would be nice to have later, but you don't need to start with that. A smart irrigation timer from companies like Rachio will be just fine for the begining. It adjust the watering schedule based on current weather conditions so you don't have to make manual changes from season to season.
Sure! I have three, in different spots in different gardens. I do find them to be pretty darn accurate, especially if you calibrate them like the instructions say. I don't have anything to compare them to, but their data makes pretty graphs in home assistant and their backend.
I use the Ecowitt moisture sensors for potted plants. Given their size, I wouldn’t recommend using them for your lawn because you have to be sure to not hit them when mowing.
Automated irrigation systems are reasonably consistent. I moved from my lawnless apartment to a house with a backyard of grass. I left out a few empty containers across the lawn, waited for the first watering cycle, and adjusted the timings based on the distribution.
As someone who moved from condo life into having a significant amount of deck plants, you just need an irrigation system and it doesn't need to be smart.
I use the b-hyve as a water timer, it's on my WiFi and tied into home assistant but it's fully self sufficient on its own. It's only job is to turn on the water. It is smart enough to not do it when it's rained recently.
The water runs to some fat black pipe that runs around my deck, with smaller hoses plugged into it that go into the plant pots. In the pots are either drip emitters, or what's better is an emitter hose that releases water every few inches. This is called drip irrigation and outdoor pots have holes in the bottom, so you can't really over water. Mine runs for 20 minutes every morning at 6am and everything thrives.
Lawn care you'll need some sprinklers or something, but before you invest make sure you look up your local regulations for water restrictions. Where I live you can't water a lawn during peak summer, at all. Drip irrigation is always allowed because it's very water efficient.
I also have ecowitt sensors. I ended up using a software defined radio and rtl-sdr to decode all the station and sensors. It’s been working great.