–Force update(this step optional)
luup.call_action(“urn:upnp-org:serviceId:VRainSensor”, “Update”, {}, 27)
–Get current state
local rain = luup.variable_get(“urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:SecuritySensor1”,“Tripped”, 27)
if (rain == “0”)
then
luup.call_action(“urn:upnp-org:serviceId:SwitchPower1”,“SetTarget”,{ newTargetValue=“1” },15)
return true
else
return false
end
This works for me based on past rain. Can’t really reconcile why you wish to rely on “forecast”!
Just started getting a Vera3 dashboard error “VRainSensor : Error, failed to GET=http://api.wunderground.com/api/…”
??? ??? ???
[quote=“chuck1026, post:82, topic:180668”]Just started getting a Vera3 dashboard error “VRainSensor : Error, failed to GET=http://api.wunderground.com/api/…”
??? ??? ???[/quote]
I got the same message when I logged in as well. After looking into it the problem is with the API itself. It looks like the API never returns a response when requesting the history of a personal weather station. Airports are still reporting their history just fine. I think it will correct itself with time. For now the plugin will still give you the current precip today as well as the forecast.
Ok that makes perfect sense! Thanks for the explanation 
.
Blakem, nice job, thanks for doing this.
I’m going to crudely estimate evapotranspiration based on temp alone. I know at 65f a quarter inch of rain is meaningful, and at 95f it’s not. So I think any attempt to adjust the threshold precip. is advantageous. Otherwise the threshold number needs to be constantly tweaked as the seasons progress.
Blakem, this is a GREAT plugin, thank you for putting it together. I’m leveraging it with my newly installed OpenSprinkler (and the plugin for that device obviously).
One thing that strikes me as being extremely well-suited to add to your plugin (incoming feature enhancement request!) that I realize takes it SLIGHTLY out of it’s current paradigm, is the addition of a temperature threshold, very similar to the precipitation one you put together. Here in the tundra of Colorado, we’re nearing the season of freeze alerts and the like, and I think an algorithm similar to what you’ve done with the precipitation (leveraging the weather data you’re already tapping!) based on temperature and thresholds, to similarly turn off the device (when it drops below a certain temp threshold), would be FANTASTIC.
I looked around, and couldn’t find anything else that fit this need, and thought you were already well poised to augment your plugin with this type of thing, if others found it useful.
Food for thought, and thanks again for your efforts!
[quote=“bwillette, post:86, topic:180668”]Blakem, this is a GREAT plugin, thank you for putting it together. I’m leveraging it with my newly installed OpenSprinkler (and the plugin for that device obviously).
One thing that strikes me as being extremely well-suited to add to your plugin (incoming feature enhancement request!) that I realize takes it SLIGHTLY out of it’s current paradigm, is the addition of a temperature threshold, very similar to the precipitation one you put together. Here in the tundra of Colorado, we’re nearing the season of freeze alerts and the like, and I think an algorithm similar to what you’ve done with the precipitation (leveraging the weather data you’re already tapping!) based on temperature and thresholds, to similarly turn off the device (when it drops below a certain temp threshold), would be FANTASTIC.
I looked around, and couldn’t find anything else that fit this need, and thought you were already well poised to augment your plugin with this type of thing, if others found it useful.
Food for thought, and thanks again for your efforts![/quote]
Cool idea
Would a freeze alert require more than two fields?
Even the enable bit wouldn’t be absolutely necessary. It gets more complicated if freeze alert is based on forecast. Considering irrigation is often started at the coldest time of day, the best freeze alert might look at the forecast and set the rain flag based on the forecast low. I assume you don’t want to irrigate immediately before freezing temps.
Freeze alert needs to be optional, as irrigation is used to prevent frost damage on some crops.
[quote=“dzmiller, post:88, topic:180668”]Would a freeze alert require more than two fields?
Even the enable bit wouldn’t be absolutely necessary.
…
Freeze alert needs to be optional, as irrigation is used to prevent frost damage on some crops.[/quote]
This seems reasonable, and obviously the temp threshold would be based on the low temp of the day. Maybe the enable/disable toggle would help with the optional qualifier you mention.
I was thinking it’d be nice to have it setup like the precipitation is done now, where you can optionally include the forecast, or base it strictly on the current temperature (no need to having a history of days, like the precip does however). Most flexibility that way I would think. I agree with you though, MOST of us would want to use the forecast in this case.
Shouldn’t be a problem to look at current temp and the next forecast periods. That would turn the flag on with generally dropping temps, and turn it back on when the current temp is acceptable and no freezing temps are expected soon.
Realistically it would probably work fairly well to just look at current temp and set the threshold value fairly high. Say “set the flag when the temp falls below 40”. But with the WU forecast lows readily available it seems that these values should be used.
This functionality really shouldn’t be separate from Virtual Rain because the freeze control needs to be preeminent over the precipitation flag setting logic.
That was my thought too, it would nicely complement what has already been done here, and the two features could (optionally) work in concert. Only downside would be the plugin does more than just rain now, so the name may not fit anymore! Hehe.
Again, just throwing all this out here to see if anyone else resonates with the idea like I do. The plugin is wonderful as it is.
That was my thought too, it would nicely complement what has already been done here, and the two features could (optionally) work in concert. Only downside would be the plugin does more than just rain now, so the name may not fit anymore! Hehe.
Again, just throwing all this out here to see if anyone else resonates with the idea like I do. The plugin is wonderful as it is.[/quote]
I am sorry I have been away from the thread for some time. I think frost protection could be added but would the threshold be compared to only the low temp of the current day or the lowest of the low temps visible in the forecast?
Also I have currently a version of the plugin with evapotranspiration but I stopped developing it. The problem I was having is that I was trying to make it completely balanced which is difficult. The plugin cannot balance all the water without knowing how much irrigation is applied and that made it too complicated. An automatic threshold might just work though. You can set the number of days to the period that you normally irrigate then if the total rain is over the evapotranspiration total of that period it will trigger a rain detected condition. That way there is no balancing but it will give you an adjustable threshold. You just set the crop coefficient factor which is 0.60 for warm grasses and 0.80 for cool grasses.
No worries Blake, I just brought it up a day ago, you’re allowed a break now and again!
I think it would be the lowest of the low temps you’ve selected, where you can use just the current temp, OR include the forecast optionally, as you allow with the precipitation (ie today, 1 day ahead, 2 days ahead, etc). You just don’t need the concept of ‘accumulation’ from past days, as this doesn’t really make sense for temperature I think.
Thanks for considering this feature!
Yeah, you really can’t do the ET model for irrigated land without knowing the irrigation. There’s at least one effort to add ET to opensprinkler. I assume this will involve the user entering irrigation rate per zone. Then the irrigation controller will accumulate irrigation amounts based on zone run time.
In the diverse home landscape I expect ET models won’t produce better results than simpler approaches. Which is why I’m looking at ramping the threshold based on temps. Everyone in potentially hot summer areas, who is closely attending their irrigation system, will be doing that manually anyways. So why not automate the function.
Anyone running multiple occurrences of Virtual Rain? I tried and had problems.
Has wind been considered?
Some higher end controllers have an anemometer option that sets the rain flag for windy conditions. Easy to code in scenes, so perhaps it doesn’t need to be included in the plugin. But on most controllers wind would be implemented through the rain flag, so perhaps it belongs in this plugin as an option.
WU likely offers both a short term average and gusts in the API. How to handle these two current conditions is the only wind issue I can think of.
This plug-in looks great, but when I install it, I can’t seem to finish configuring it. The “Settings” tab has the message “Please refresh your browser then reopen this tab…”, but after refreshing or restarting it persists. I tried uninstall, reinstalling to no effect.
Any suggestions?
Thank you.
I wanted to post the resolution I found to my problem referenced in the post above. I created a scene and used the LUUP call to set my device API key and a few other settings for the sensor. After I did this, the settings tab began to display properly with values.
Just thought I post in case anyone else has the same problem and this resolves it. The plug-in looks really great, I am now putting it to use with my Irrigation Caddy!
I created a dutch forcast tile (.json)
Is anyone else having trouble with this plugin? Its giving an underground error when its been working fine for several months
Yes I have been having the same problems the last couple of days with it not updating. I remember this happening a year ago and returning to normal in a short time. The problem is with the WGET LUUP command where it returns with a status other than 0 for successful. I think the Weather Underground API just does not respond quick enough some times so the connection times out on the Vera side. I will continue to monitor it, but I am hoping it will return to normal in a day or two. Currently when a GET is not successful it will default to reporting a no rain condition so irrigation can resume.
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