Our last sprinkler timer was not working properly. As it turned out the timer was only part of the problem. The wiring at the valves was rotted from being in the sun and there were places the previous owners had taken shortcuts and wired multiple valves together to get all the zones to fit on a cheaper timer. Even when the last timer was working, the zones that had more than one valve wired together had too many heads running at once. This made for lower water pressure and inefficient watering.
So I repaired the wiring. But to break out the 9 valves to separate zones again was going to require a different timer. Most timers have 6 or 8 zones. Anything above 8 zones starts getting pricey anyway. So after digging around in the local hardware stores and online I decided to check out some web based timers. Some are crazy expensive. Some will even check the weather for you and alter your watering schedule based on the weather. I didn’t need that, or especially the cost of that. I kind of accidentally stumbled on the Irrigation Caddy. At $150, it may seem expensive, but is really a bargain as a web controllable sprinkler timer. Since Irrigation Caddy can run up to 10 zones. So, we were able to break the valves out to individual zones again.
It took longer to set up the programs in the web interface than it did to connect the wires. Since there are no buttons, knobs, or dials on the irrigation caddy itself, I never have to stick my hand in that black widow infested corner of the garage again! The tricky part is that you have to have an Ethernet cable that can reach to the Internet Caddy. My garage does have network since that is where the services to the house come in. But definitely something to be aware of. Some users have successfully used a wireless bridge to connect their Caddy to their home network. You do not need internet or network access for the Caddy to run. You only need it to program it. So in theory, you could just bring the Irrigation Caddy in the house, plug it into your home network, program it, and then put it back wherever your sprinkler wires are (the wires have a quick disconnect thing). But then you don’t really get the full benefit of the web interface. You will definitely want the web interface when you are first setting up and testing your schedules.
Scheduling with the web interface is easy. I did have some confusion about the days, odd/even, every other, thing. But when you read the manual a little you realize how powerful and flexible the scheduling can be. It is too long a topic to get into here probably, but you can get pretty granular with the watering control.
It is also easy to manually run zones if you are just sitting in the back yard and you wanted to turn the sprinklers on for the kids to run through on a hot day. Just bring up the web interface on your laptop, tablet, or smartphone and turn on the zone! The web interface is not really optimized for the iPad or iPhone yet. But I bet there will be an interface in the future. And yes, there are regular firmware updates, or at least there have been lately.
I don’t know what else to say. If you imagined in your head what you would want a web controllable sprinkler timer to be, Irrigation Caddy would probably nail it, or be really close. It just works. And for the ultimate endorsement, it even got the “what electronic thing did you buy this time” seal of approval!
Now that I had the joystick fiasco behind me it was time to get down to some build time! In the previous posts I have gone through the modifications to the gimble mount, the skull mounting tabs, and some of the electrical connections that will be needed. For those that did jump on the VSA offer you are ahead of the game. If you also purchased TrackSkull from MonkeyBasic.com then you could be way ahead of the game.
Here is a little clip to show that yes, it can be done. Yes, there is still more to do. I have not constructed my servo extension yet. The audio does not sync yet. The top of the skull does not fit properly. And the software is not easy to deal with. But it will only get better from here on out.
Here are some additional build pictures. The gimble is pretty solid now. There is still one issue where if you turn to fast to the left the weight of the skull will cause the servo to over rotate and then the skull will try to spin around backward. I just have to get the left/right tab and servo arm in the right combination of position to remedy the problem. As you can see in the photos there is also a little work to do inside the skull itself. There is a chunk of plastic that will interfere with the left/right gimble tab. It will hit if you have the skull tilted forward, as if looking down, and then try to turn the prop left or right. A dremel took made quick work of the plastic.
Well… The TrackSkull application was working great – right up until my 8 year old Microsoft Sidewinder joystick up and died. I have no idea why. But it just stopped working. Poof.
Have you tried to buy a joystick lately?
Target - Stab in the dark. They used to have more computer stuff. Clearly that has changed.
Staples – Another shot that might have panned out in the past. I knew they carried some peripherals. But the selection has dwindled.
Radio Shack – Huge disappointment, again. Do they ever have what you want or need anymore? How are they still in business? The only people I ever see in there are “old people” arguing with the clerk (Who is typically clueless) about why they can’t get a replacement battery for their 12 year old cordless phone.
Game Stop – Semi disappointed. The accessories are obviously not their bread and butter. The displays are kind of haphazard. So I am going to give them a pass on this one.
Best Buy – Home of the $99 HDMI cable that you can get other places for $10. Came through in the end, but at an almost $10 premium. If time wasn’t the crunch, I could have purchased on-line with free shipping and had it in time for next weekend.
My extensions have arrived. They shipped pretty quck. I have just not had a lot of time to spend on this the last few days. I did change the servo horn for the left/right motion of the skull. It is smoother, and does not over extend anymore. And the joystick input on TrackSkull from MoneyBasic.com is working great. They are having a sale, btw, through Aug 31 (2011).
A thought occurred to me. And I may change direction and go this route. So I wanted to share my new alternative.
Get some servo extensions. Go to a local RC or hobby store and get 4 6″ servo extensions. Cut them in half. Splice them onto the 2 ends of your 25′ of CAT5 cable. Use the wiring guide as shown in the other extension posts. It will reduce the number of connections you need to make. And it doesn’t alter the existing servo cables on the servos.
Servo <—> male end of server extension <—> 25′ CAT5 <—> female end of servo extension <—> SCC 32
So now that we know we want to use CAT5 cable we may as well begin hacking, cutting, and splicing. In Part II I mentioned that stranded CAT5 is probably a better choice for this project. Since I can repair my own cables easily, I am going use what I already have laying around my “lab”. I have a 25′-30′ length of solid CAT5 wire.
I have also decided to not just add 25′ of wire to the skull. I don’t want 25′ of wire in the way when I am setting up or taking down the prop. So I am going add a new connection at the skull with a short piece of wire, and then connect the 25′ extension to that. I will be using a DB9 serial connector.
There is a male and female connector for this. Again, I am using what I have around the lab to put this all together. So…
I will cut the connectors off the servos, and using a short piece of CAT5 cable, attach a male DB9 connector to the servos. I will then take my 25′ piece of CAT5 and on one end attach a female DB9 connector, and on the other end I will splice the servo connectors back on. Writing it makes it sound more complicated than it is. The key is to make sure the same wires are connected on both ends when you are done. My color scheme as shown below is simply what I came up with. You can choose your own as long as it matches all the way through.
In the diagram below you will see that I am using both brown wires, and both green wires for the Red, and Brown servo wires. This is from the discussion with Mr Chicken regarding having the wire able to carry enough power to the servos. So by doubling up on the Brown and Green pairs of CAT5 to carry the ground and VS1 (or power) we should be able to get enough power to the servos based on what I have read on other 3-axis skull forums.
I will update this post with pictures from the build when I start working on the actual cable.
After some reading it looks like the best option is to go ahead and use CAT 5 cable to extend the servos to the PC. There are lots of references to using lengths of CAT 5 that are 50′ or more with no issues, as long as the servo power supply is correctly sized. Our kit came with a power supply that can provide up to 2 amps. That should be plenty of power to push through 25-50′ of CAT 5 cable.
So what is CAT 5? It is sometimes called UTP or Unshielded Twisted Pair. It has 4 pairs of wires that are twisted together. It is most commonly used to connect computers to networks. The cable that runs from your home DSL modem to your computer is a CAT5 cable.
CAT 5 comes in different grades. There is CAT5, CAT5e, and also CAT6. E and 6 are more expensive. You do not need the E or the 6. Plain old CAT5 will be fine. You can purchase a length of bulk cable from a hardware store or buy a long CAT 5 patch cable at someplace like Fry’s, or order one from Monoprice. If you get a patch cable, you will be cutting the ends off anyway.
One more thing – CAT5 wire comes in stranded and solid. Bulk wire is often solid. Patch cords are usually made with stranded wire. This makes them more flexible and the wire in the cable is less likely to break from being moved around over time. So stranded is probably the way to go. So if you do go to the hardware store, check if the bulk cable on the spool is solid or stranded.
So the next step is to figure out what we are going to cut and splice, nut, crimp, or solder, to what.
Extending the servo cables is not quite as straight forward as it may or may not appear. In the class Mr Chicken showed us how he used a 4 pair (8 wires) CAT 5 network wire to extend the servo connections to the SCC32 servo controller board.
There are several things to consider before trying to extend the cables.
Will you house the SCC 32 somewhere safe in the prop and power it locally? If so you can do a relatively short extension to the controller and run a single serial cable, which can be up to 50′, to the show PC. Otherwise you have to run a long CAT 5 wire from the prop to where the PC will be, and then power the controller near the PC. This could cause problems if the wire run to the servos is too long and you get to much voltage drop between the contoller and the prop. Your servos may not function correctly.
I have not decided yet, as I am not sure where I will be placing the prop in my haunt yet. I can always splice more wire in place, but I would prefer to not do that if I can help it. A 25ft serial cable from Monoprice is less than $4 (Man I love that place).
So my main concerns for keeping the SCC 32 local to the prop are:
Protecting the controller from the elements
Having power for the contoller (120 volts for the servo supply) So that means an extension cord to the prop.
My concerns with having the SCC near the show PC are:
Will the wire run be too long for the servos to operate properly?
The L brackets that attach to the servo mount plate and the skull did not fit properly inside the skull. The screw holes are too close to the edge of the plate. When the L brackets are mounted to the plate and turned so they face the skull edge, they extended past the edge of the plate a little. The plate is already a tight fit, and with the brackets not quite fitting correctly, the plate would not fit properly into the skull. It would push the sides out a little and then the top of the skull would not fit properly.
To fix this I simply turned the L brackets around the other way and used a longer #4-40 bolt to reach the threads.
Our last sprinkler timer was not working properly. As it turned out the timer was only part of the problem. The wiring at the valves was rotted from being in the sun and there were places the previous owners had taken shortcuts and wired multiple valves together to get all the zones to fit on a cheaper timer. Even when the last timer was working, the zones that had more than one valve wired together had too many heads running at once. This made for lower water pressure and inefficient watering.
