Just to make clear how the system works detecting Actuator/Sensor anomalies, here what happened to my system just few days ago. I got this mail:

The soil moisture sensor reading went below the threshold I set to 48, so the system activated the irrigation for two times. But after the evaluation period, the reading was still below 48 so the system sent a warning mail as above.

The chart was this:

Indeed the first warning mail was sent on June 26 around 16:00, after reading the mail I activated the valve manually for 50sec and everything was ok (this made me a little confused).

But then I got another warning mail on June 28th. As you can see from the above chart around 00:00 the system activated the irrigation for 30sec two times but the sensor reading was still going down. The day after after at about 8:00, I read the mail and I tried several manual activation, the valve was actually not working anymore. Took some time to get a new valve, and before the end of the day I was able to manually activate it, this time it everything worked. (the old valve was kind of stuck)

To be noted that starting from the warning when it detected an anomaly the system was not proceeding anymore automatically. The automation was reactivated when sensor reading was again over the minimum threshold (or the reset button is clicked).

Hi There,

Most of your understanding is right about the automation, but there is one issue, Sensor value should be : Begin: 60, End : 0. If you set like this, in this way when the sensor goes below 60, it starts with duration=5, if it still continue to go down, below 30 it goes with duration=10. The activation will be every 15min, but if you want to have longer periods between activations you can set the value: "Pause between activation" to be higher than 15 min.

On the other side, the system has a specific page that is designed to work with hygrometers. It is the "autowatering" page.

There are some benefit in using this specifically designed setting: The algorithm is designed to detect anomalies and to stop watering in case the sensor reading is not coherent with the pump/valve activation. In case you have the mail set, it will send you messages in case of anomaly. The "autowatering chart" will be enabled in the "data" page and the pump activation will be associated to the sensor reading in the chart using the same colour.

You can have a look at this page to see the setting instructions:

https://hydrosysblog.wordpress.com/applications/

Chapter: "Irrigation Automation". In case something is not clear, please let me know.

Regards,

Angelo

Hi,

So far great system, just running in issue when trying to run on automation mode.

I have calibrated my moisture sensor to read from 0%=air to 100%=in water.

I would like the moisture sensor reading to be able to run a pump in order to automatically water my plant.

I would like the pump to start when the moisture is below a 30% reading and stop when reaching 60%.

I have set an automation on the following:

Moisture sensor readings : every 15 min

Sensor value : Begin: 0, End : 60

Actuator values : Begin 0, End : 10s.

Number of steps : 2

Pause between activation : 1 min "I do not understand this parameter"

Interval for SensorData evaluation : 2

What I expect from those settings :

Since there is 2 steps, the system check from Step1: 0 to 30, and Step2: 30 to 60.

Since there is 2 steps, actuator will run for Duration1: 10/2=5 and duration2: 10/2=5

When in Step1 range the system will run for duration1 until upper range of Step1.

When in STep2 range the system will run for duration2 until upper range of Step 2.

I think that it will never go to below 30% moisture because STep2 will be activated first!

Am i correct with the concept?

Thanks for your help

Now the "MIN" and "MAX" is called "begin" and "End" to better represent the parameter. The 'begin' is actually the starting point and the 'end' indicates the range and direction. So in my previuos setting, the algorithm starts to take action at 2 degrees and takes incremental steps toward 0 degrees.

Hi,

Thanks for your swift response! It's clear to me now how I should use this feature. Just one more question: In the example you put 'Min' as 2.0 and 'Max' as 0. Should this be the other way around?

I only need the Min value to work. The 25 Max value I used just for testing, as it's hard to simulate 2°C indoor :D

Hi,

Just one clarification before addressing your specific config, the automation algorithm is triggered every time there is a sensor reading, by default the sensor reading is set every 15 minutes. So you have to expect the algorithm to make a decision every 15 minutes. This value can be changed to be faster. I recommend not to go below 2 minutes for the rpi 3 and 5 minutes for RPI zero.

To change the reading interval, go to HardwareSetting, and change the “time” filed value associated to your sensor (in this case tempsensor1). Edit table and set “time” field to “00:02:00” this indicates 2 minutes interval (default is 00:15:00).

Now, back to your question, the automation algorithm can work only between intervals, so for your case I think you can use two relays, one for the heater that activates below 2 degrees and another relay that activates above 25 degrees.

As example you can consider the below setting:

In this case, the number of steps is set to 2. So the algorithm will divide the sensor values range in 2 interval, form 2.0 to 1.0 degrees and from 1.0 to 0.0 degrees. The actuator range is also divided to 2, from 0 to 10 sec and from 10 to 20 sec.

Every time there is a tempsensor1 reading, if the value is between the 2 and 1 degrees, the relay will be activated for 10 seconds. If the value is between 1 and zero, the relay is activated for 20 seconds. For readings below zero, the relay is activated for 20 seconds.

Hope this will help you to better understand the algorithm, if further questions, I’ll be happy to help.

(Note: I recently uploaded a new release of the hydrosys4 0.94 (11 March) that makes the sensor reading more reliable)