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Shop > WGL > RAIN8NET
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WGL 8-Zone Sprinkler Controller Driven by an RS232 Serial Port
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The Rain8net is a modular 8-zone sprinkler controller module that is controlled over any RS232 serial port. It is capable of driving standard 24VAC irrigation valves directly.
Expansion modules may be daisy chained to provide control and 24 VAC power to as many as 2040 irrigation zones from a single COM port. The Rain8net requires a computer or other home automation controller running 24/7 to control the irrigation schedule.
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Documentation on the Simple Protocol used to Communicate with the Rain8PC.
Subject: Rain8 RS232PC
SERIAL PORT Initialization:
N-8-1 4800bps
COMMANDS:
Commands are single byte. When sending on/off, the valve number is stored in the lower 4 bits (1-8),
with the command
(on/off) in the upper 4 (3 = ON & 4 = OFF).
Examples:
VALVE ON OFF
1 0x31 0x41
2 0x32 0x42
3 0x33 0x43
4 0x34 0x44
5 0x35 0x45
6 0x36 0x46
7 0x37 0x47
8 0x38 0x48
Using a terminal program like Hyperterm, set serial parameters to N-8-1 4800bps and select a COM port
that the Rain8 is connected to.
Send the number 1 (ascii 0x31) to turn on zone 1.
Send the
letter A (ascii 0x41) to turn off zone 1.
The Rain8 will respond by echoing back command and turning on or off selected zone. The standard
Rain8PC allows up to four zones to be active at the same time. Zones are
not interlocked unless
requested on special order.
SPECIAL COMMANDS:
Unlike on/off commands, ALL OFF and STATUS do not take valve numbers. These commands are single byte.
ALL OFF = 0x55
STATUS =
0xF0
ALL OFF will simply echo 0x55 back and turn off all zones that may have been active.
STATUS echos command then displays the current status of all eight zones. The format is bit
mapped with bit 0 = zone1, ... bit
7 = zone8. A set bit indicates the zone is active.
00000000b = all zones idle
00000001b = zone 1 on
00000010b = zone 2 on
00000100b = zone 3 on
00001000b = zone 4 on
00010000b = zone 5 on
00100000b = zone
6 on
01000000b = zone 7 on
10000000b = zone 8 on
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HomeSeer Script Generator
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 For HomeSeer users, we offer a free program that generates a VB script automatically.
All the user has to do is enter the zone
name, X10 address and the run time for as many as 24 zones. It is no longer necessary to write the Visual Basic Script that would normally be required to achieve this task.
Additional features are:
- Global modification of all run times. This provides a means of increasing or
decreasing run times 5% by pushing a single button. Use this as the days warm up
and additional water is needed.
- Total Run Time displays the length of time the complete irrigation cycle will
take.
- Irrigation interval can be set from 1 to 6 days. Use this feature if it is
desired to schedule an irrigation cycle on a repetitive basis. For example, you
could program HomeSeer to call the script every day, but set this value for 3.
Now every third day an irrigation cycle will occur, while the “off” days will be
skipped.
- Aborting a cycle is a simple matter of turning the zone that is currently
active, off. That zone will stop immediately and the script will be terminated.
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