How to delay - Weather, Rain, or Soil Moisture?

[nanogeek]

Hi,

I'm neew to Python and RPi
I was looking for a way to replace my garden watering computer and decide to try using RPi
I started writing my own code and then found SIP. It meets my needs perfectly.
I successfully set up SIP on a Zero W. (I haven't actually connected the relays yet - still waiting for them to arrive, but it runs my LEDS just fine.)
The web interface is fantastic.
Thank you so much.

I live in a region with a rainy and a dry season.  During the height of the rainy season (which sadly is getting shorter and shorter) the watering system is simply off. During the dry season it is on. I am looking for a way to modulate the system during  transitions between seasons.

I noticed that there is an option for a rain sensor. I assume that is to delay watering.
I see there is a weather plugin as well.

Two questions:

Can I use a soil moisture sensor in place of a rain sensor?

Where can I read about the weather plugin?

Thanks again for all your kind help

Nanogeek

[dan]

The weather plugin may or may not be useful. The best way to learn about it is to install it. That will give you access to the documentation and allow you to test it to see of it will work for you. You can always un-install it if you don't want to use it. Weather data tends to have a low spacial resolution. in other words, it covers a rather large area and local conditions can vary quite a bit. Water requirements are dependent on other factors as well such as soil type and the type of plants.

Rain sensors are fairly inexpensive. They can stop watering for a period of time during and after rain is detected.

There is also the monthly_adj plugin that lets you set a percentage of watering time for each month and SIP will automatically adjust the amount of water applied on a per month basis.

Of course you can manually set a rain delay on SIP's home page when it rains. This is useful in situations where there are watering restrictions such as not watering within 48 hours after measurable rain as we have here in California.

Soil moisture sensors are probably the best way of accurately controlling irrigation. I have started using watermark sensors this year:
https://www.irrometer.com/sensors.html#wm

I plan to develop a SIP plugin that takes advantage of the sensor data. It is going to be a while though since there will need to be one or more ways to communicate between groups of sensors and SIP. I also need to gain more experience with the sensor date to be able to make a useful plugin.

Dan