How about a Wyze garden spigot controller? There are a number of products of this sort, but none of them are particularly elegant, or affordable.
This could work as an adjunct to the Wyse Sprinkler control software. It could present itself as an additional zone, or as a stand-alone irrigation system. It would also be helpful it the device had two or three hose attachments, so you could create a “poor man’s” irrigation system…
I would like to see something like this. I have the sprinkler system from wyze but I would like something like this for my garden area that isn’t connected to the sprinkler system
I’m interested in the B-Hyve units, despite the terrible name. There is a small plug-in base that supports the hose end models only.
Do you know whether the larger wired 4/8/16 node bases support Bluetooth to the hose end timers in addition to the wired traditional valves? I think they do.
I don’t know if they do. In general the byhye main unit are likely decent but they really failed with the hose facet timers. You can get them to work but scheduling sucks as soon as you have more than one of them because they treat the as separate systems instead of zones of the same system. I’ve also had to factory reset the a few times to get them working again.
Thanks! I’m actually considering trying to use a regular wired valve instead of the hose end Bluetooth receiver valve (even though I will be using an existing outdoor faucet / bib). I imagine it can work with the right adapter. I’ve never done sprinklers before.
I’ve got a B-Hyve hose timer working with Alexa but it was not easy.
I bought a 4-port WiFi wired sprinkler controller thinking it would also talk to the hose end timer because they both have Bluetooth. Wrong. I had to buy a little $30 WiFi transceiver just for the hose end unit.
Their software treats the sprinkler controller and hose end as entirely separate timers. Alexa integration can point to one OR the other, but not both. There is a separate setting for Google integration so I suppose you could cover both timers if you have both smart home systems.
On the wired sprinkler controller you can just say “Alexa, tell B-Hyve to water” and it will manually start all zones. Doing the same when the Alexa skill is using the hose end unit will NOT work. It says it will but nothing happens. You have to specifically say "tell B-Hyve to water station 1 for X minutes*, even though of course there’s only a single station/zone on a hose timer.
I wanted to make that easier via a custom Alexa routine, but Alexa insists that “water my plants” means “what are my plans” no matter what accent I speak in.
I finally just used a different trigger (“watering”) and the custom routine works.
I hope this helps someone out (and tips Wyze on how they could improve on this). But I still don’t understand why Wyze charges a subscription for weather based watering when their competitors do not.
I have the 8 zone irrigation controller and it is awesome!
What I am looking for now is a single valve battery powered irrigation controller. There are places on my property that aren’t irrigated and don’t have access to a 24v power line. For people on a budget that don’t have the technically ability to setup a full irrigation system, I think this product would be key.
an example of and existing product would be this controler
I think it’s best as a low cost single valve rather than multiple valves so you can expand as necessary. Maybe a hub as well like the example product.
Would probably not be WiFi and would have to be Bluetooth connecting to a separate hub. (That’s how Orbit does it.) Battery powered WiFi is hard to do without regular recharging.
But maybe I’m wrong - your example claims 6 months on a couple of 1.5V batteries. I don’t see how that’s possible but…
Edit: On second look it appears yours uses a hub and Bluetooth too?
Edit 2:. Oh never mind. You said “WiFi hub” from the beginning. I read it too fast, sorry.
There are wifi hose timers out there that basically just screw onto a hose (or hoses) and they are hella expensive. I bet you guys could make an affordable one that actually has a decent interface. The watering timer you have now is great for people who have irrigation systems but for us normal folks who have to just stand out there with a hose or go turn on the water from the valve, an affordable, easy-to-use timer/scheduler that we could manage even when we’re away would be next level.
I also would really like a Wyze smart hose timer/controller with multiple spigots. We rehab flower beds every 2-4 years so in-ground sprinkler system doesn’t work for us.
Something like this, but that works with the Wyze app and at Wyze value pricing.
There are really not that many options currently for smart sprinkler valves. There is the Orbit B-Hive and a few other brands but for the most part I can’t pay $50 per valve and the apps of many of these are really hard to navigate. I would pay $30 per valve if it had a good app. Just an app controlled timer that sits at your facet before your above ground irrigation lines. Alexa controlled, sprinkler+ compatible, timers and other features would be great!
Got the bhive system and it’s pretty terrible. Returned it. Too expensive for 1 timer and bad bad bad app and connection. Few alternatives.
Love to use the traditional wyze controller, but my property has hose bibs spread out all over so the regular wifi timer is not practical without a lot of long wire runs.
Here’s what would make a killer hose timer
3 zone output. Sweet spot IMO and means you don’t have to buy multiple smart timers for each zone. Big cost saver. No one has this.
Rechargeable battery with a solar panel add on. Again, no one has this.
Manual on/off on the device itself! Gotta be able to repair drip systems without pulling out an app when my hands are all dirty and wet. No one has this either!
The bhive system uses a wifi hub indoors. In my case, I have wifi to all my bib locations. I don’t see an advantage to the hub for the user.
Lastly, price point. Traditional dumb 1 hose timers are around $30. 2 hose around $45. 4 hose around $60. 1 hose wifi around $60.
Bring the above features to market for $50 at Home Depot and they will sell like hot cakes.
Has anyone tried RainPoint timers (the bright yellow and black system)? I’m intrigued but I haven’t tried it yet. It requires a hub that controls up to 8 (I think) timers, which come in single and double zone versions. It’s currently over $100 to control 4 zones (hoses) but I might try it if the prices drop over the winter.
Interesting, hadn’t seen them. But their Bluetooth controllable hose timers have no display and thus no local control at all? To me that makes them a much poorer choice than the B-Hyves…
Good observation. But the same can be said for most of my smart home devices. Everything is controlled via an app these days and I always have my phone on me. Besides, I’m getting older and I loathe bending over to change settings on my sprinklers. I’d prefer to do everything on the app.