Author: ChengY
I am a beginner in the smart devices market. There are too many devices and I am not quite sure which one to invest my time and money on. I have always wanted a good way to monitor and control my garage door; I even attempted a DIY solution with a Raspberry Pi and a relay board until my brother in law recommended the LiftMaster MyQ (I also learned about the EcoBee Smart Thermostat from him).
I now have three smart devices (LiftMaster MyQ, EcoBee Smart Thermostat and Smart Sprinkler). The LiftMaster MyQ solution consist of two modules, an 828LM Gateway and 888LM Garage Door Opener. The 888LM is needed if you have older LiftMaster garage door opener. Note, the MyQ product is also sold under the Chamberlain brand and as far as I know, they are the same product. MyQ allows me to monitor and control my garage door from remote location via my phone (iOS and Android). I love being able to open my garage door when I am driving my own car and being able to remotely open the garage door for my kids.
My second smart device is the EcoBee smart thermostat; which I got for free with free installation from SDG&E through their Reduce Your Use Rewards program.
For the smart sprinkler, there are many products on the market and they typically cost over $200. My brother-in-law and a co-worker have the Rachiro system (Amazon best seller) and they are happy, but I didn’t want to spend $200. Another co-worker elected to go with the OpenSprinkler system because his sprinkler has 23 zones. Other systems don’t support that many zones or is expensive to support that many zones. The OpenSprinkler system ($160) has 8 zones built-in and can be expanded to 56 zones by adding three additional expansion boards, each board adds 16 additional zones and cost $58. My house only has 4 zones so I don’t need the expansion board but for $160 plus a $16 wireless Wifi router (TP-LINK-TL-WR702N), it cost almost as much as the Rachiro system, which I feel is a better and nicer looking system.
I am still looking for a cheaper solution and since I already have a Raspberry Pi and I like tinkering, I thought of going with the OpenSprinkler Pi, which is only $78. Just as I was about to order the OpenSprinkler Pi, I came across the TIAO Smart Sprinkler for $60 that can control up to 16 zones. TIAO also makes the Smart Sprinkler Pi for $50 and can also control up to 16 zones. The TIAO Sprinkler systems are fully compatible with the OpenSprinkler systems. They runs the same firmware/software and are compatible with the same OpenSprinkler mobile application.
I was worried about selecting the TIAO as there was very little information and some of the information is incorrect (board size on Wiki is of by one decimal place; it should be 4.82 x 3.42) or is out of date (raspberrypi.org last post before I order was May 15, 2015). I question if it is truly compatible with the OpenSprinkler system and can be upgraded to newer firmware? After more research and reading the “Finding the perfect Irrigation Controller” blog by johnzink, I decided to go with the TIAO Smart Sprinkler system because the price was right and hey, John got it working. I went with the non-pi version because for $10 more, I get the LCD display and I can save my Raspberry Pi for other project. I referenced John’s blog to install my system but I decided to write this blog to to capture my installation experience and also to cover security topic with OpenSprinkler software. I hope you find the information informative.
I ordered my controller from DIYGADGET.COM and because I was about to go on a trip, I didn’t have time to research a different box and without knowing how deep the box should be, I elected to pick the same box as John (BUD Industries NBF-32012). Before I get to the actual install, here is the list of parts:
- TIAO SmartSprinkler (~$60).
- TP-LINK TL-WR702N Wireless N150 Travel Router (~$15). Note – You need a router that can run in client mode. I am really happy with this TP-LINK.
- BUD Industries NBF-32012 (~$22)
- 8 GB MicroSD ~$5. This is needed for the system to store the logs. Originally, I didn’t have the memory card installed and so I wasn’t able to retrieve the log of run history.
Total Cost: ~$105 with shipping
** Note this is for a 24 volts AC Sprinkler System. If your sprinkler is DC, you should check out the OpenSprinkler DC system.
Installation Step 1 – Removing the old Hunter Sprinkler system
- Unplug the power from the wall
- Open the sprinkler system
- The white wire is Common or Ground
- The other four wires are the four zones. I only have 4 zones and the mobile app/web interface allows you to name the zone, so it really didn’t matter if I mark them or not
- Disconnect all five wires plus the two black AC power wires and remove the old sprinkler system
- Un-mount the old sprinkler system from the wall
Installation Step 2 – Assembling the TIAO Sprinkler System
With my setup, I elected to mount the TIAO board to a piece of wood board and mount the wood board to the box.
- Being a home PC build, I have extra screen legs that are used to mount motherboard to the computer case. I mount these legs to the wood board.
- Mount the LCD board onto the Sprinkler board; be sure to align the pins
- Mount the sprinkler board to wood board
- Install the MicroSD card. The SD slot has a latch cover; slide the latch downward to open, install the MicroSD card with the contact pins at the bottom and facing the board. Close the cover and slide it upward to lock
- Mount the wood board (with the sprinkler already mounted) inside the box
- I drilled a hole on the bottom side of the box to fit the original PVC tube that house the wires
- Mount the box onto the wall
- Connect the wires; see board layout diagram on the Wiki; the black wire in the diagram is the Common/Ground, and the blue wires are the AC power. Since it is AC, there is no positive/negative, so the order is not important
Installation Step 3 – Hookup Wi-Fi and configure the travel router into client mode
If you have Ethernet cable to the sprinkler controller location, you are luck. For most of us, we have to use a small travel wireless router that is configured as Client Mode. The Client Mode allows the Sprinkler system to use the travel router as a wireless client to connect to your home Wi-Fi.
- Drill a hole to run the USB power or Ethernet cable into the box
- If Ethernet, connect the cable and skip to step 8
- Connect the travel router to the Sprinkler system using an Ethernet wire
- Connect the USB cable to the travel router
- Connect the USB power adapter to the power outlet; the travel router should now turn on
- At this point, don’t turn on the Sprinkler system yet
- Follow the instruction that comes with your router to set it to client mode
- Turn the power switch to the ON position. After a few seconds, the display should show the SD card symbol and the Wi-Fi signal symbol at the bottom right and if the router was configured correctly, the sprinkler system should get an updated date and time, but the time may still be incorrect; you will have to set the timezone later.
Installation Step 4 – Install and configure the mobile app
- Install OpenSprinkler app for iOS or Android device
- Run the OpenSprinkler App and select to Add a new Site via the Manage Sites page. I had to select Manually Add Devices; the Scan For Device did not work for me
- Give the site a name, enter the IP address (press the B1 to display the IP) and enter the password (default: opendoor) and click Submit. The app should now connect to the Smart Sprinkler controller
- Click on the Menu button (bottom right) and select Edit Options
- In the System tray, select the your location to set the timezone and check the “Enable Logging”
- In the Station Handling tray, select 8 or 16 stations. I selected 8 since I only have 4 stations; so it is easier to only disable 4 unused stations
- In the Weather and Sensor tray – Enter the Wunderground Key, select Zimmerman and select California Restriction if you live in California. Get the Wunderground Key (Here); the Developer plan, which is free, is fine
- In the Advanced tray, I unchecked Use DHCP because I want to use static IP. Using static IP forces the OpenSprinkler software to always use the same IP address. Also select NTP Sync to allow the system to synchronize its time with the NTP server
- Click < Back to save and return to the main screen
- Use the Weather Diagnostic menu to check that OpenSprinkler is able to pull down weather information
- You can now Edit your program and test run your system
Installation Step 5 – Remote access and Security
Once you reach this step, your Smart Sprinkler system is operational but only when you are connected to the home wifi. To access your system remotely, you will need to setup Port Forwarding on your home router; refer to your router manual on how to do this; you will also want to setup DNS lookup; your router should have this support. When setting up Port Forwarding, you are telling your router to send all connection requests to your router port 80 to be forward to the Smart Sprinkler IP on port 80. This opens your Smart Sprinkler to the internet where it can be hacked if you don’t have SSL setup. To setup SSL, you will need to pay for registered domain name and the SSL certificate plus an SSL proxy server to install the certificate and proxy the connection to the Smart Sprinkler system. This is getting way too complicated and recurring cost. The solution that I came up with is to setup my router as a VPN server using self-generated certificate. My NetGear router has in-build OpenVPN server functionality; which I used to generate the VPN certificate. Then I installed OpenVPN client on my iPhone and copied the certificate files onto the iPhone using this instruction. Now, when I want to remotely control my Smart Sprinkler system, I simply VPN into my home router and run the OpenSprinkler application
TIAO Smart Sprinkler vs OpenSprinkler
| Smart Sprinkler | OpenSprinkler | |
| Number of Zones | 16 | 8 |
| Display | White on Blue background, not very good | Black on green background, looks better (from internet image) |
| Case | Doesn’t come with case, but I prefer this solution for custom installation | Has a nice finished case |
| Expandable | Not right now | Yes, up to 3 expansions board |
| Documentation | Poor | Great website |
| Cost | $59.99 | $159 |
The Smart Sprinkler is essentially a clone of the OpenSprinkler and is claimed to be fully compatible. I didn’t experience any issue that would make me think otherwise.
Credit to Ray Wang for creating the OpenSprinkler controller and making it Open Source and credit to Samer Albahra for creating the OpenSprinkler mobile app. Both their work help to bring Smart Sprinkler to market.
This is my first blog ever, so I apologize if there are any mistakes.
Thanks,
Cheng
chengysite 