Sprinkler Controller - Allow more than 1 zone to run simultaneously

Wishlist
1

tl;dr
Provide a way for more than 1 zone to run at the same time THROUGH SOFTWARE. Let us power up at least 3 zones at a time. Give us a warning/modal/pop-up that says “yo, this is not default” and run at our own risk.

More Info
The Wyze Sprinkler Controller, like most smart WIFI controllers, does not allow for more than a single zone to be running at the same time. The top two reasons are seemingly due to::

  1. Users not having enough water flow to supply multiple zones at once.

  2. The Controller itself not being able to handle X amps at the same time to keep open Y solenoids at once.

For more users, this kind of makes sense. Most users are probably using the Controller for your typical lawn irrigation - pop up sprinkler heads!

However, a bunch of us use the Controller for a “smart garden” and drip tape. If you’re unaware of what drip tape is, it is a low-PSI, low-GPH mechanism for providing accurate watering to your plant roots. And some of us are doing this “off-grid”, meaning we are not using water supplied from the house.

In my specific scenario, I am using a 1000 liter tank and a 5 GPM RV pump to feed 3/4" line to a handful of Rainbird solenoids. Each solenoid then runs to a garden bed with different veggies and is wired to the Wyze Controller zones accordingly.

As most of you probably can guess, different vegetation has different watering requirements, and most folks will put each vegetable or gardening bed on its own “zone” to accommodate this. For example:

Zone 1 = Bed with tomatoes, basil
Zone 2 = Bed with peppers, beans
Zone 3 = Bed with tomatoes, cucumbers

Currently, if I want to water these 3x zones, I have to run them serially (1 at a time) for the duration required to hit their water requirements.

The electric requirements make a little more sense. “Electric budgeting” is a thing, but the Controller and PSU both can safely accommodate at least 3x zones at once. And who is to stop the user from pig-tailing the solenoids together anyway and shoving that into a Zone?

Summary of reasons why the status quo is silly:

  1. Serial runs are wasting electricity; if the pump can handle the water flow requirements (GPM and PSI) for all those zones simultaneously, let us do it.

  2. It falsely assumes that watering at any point of the day is fine; this can promote fungus growth or evaporated water if done at the incorrect time of day.

  3. It falsely assumes that users have access to water 24/7/365; some states, local townships, or HOAs have ordinances in place that say you can only use water for irrigation during a small time window.

  4. It falsely assumes that the user is stupid and will blow their gear up; if the controller can safely power X solenoids at once, let the user do it. There’s nothing stopping them from pig-tailing the solenoids together anyway.

Happy to chat more about use-cases :slight_smile: