Garden Wet Play - 12V Solenoid Control System

[marksman]

Good Morning All,

Im starting a project to build a "wet play" system for the kids in the garden, those of you with kids may of seen things like this in some parks, if not its basically arcs of water, sprayers, water shooting up / back and forth etc.

Im working on the plumbing side of things outside of this request which is basically a tank, a pump and some plumbing to hook it all together.

Now, the bit im here for is the solenoids, im thinking 6 water output solenoids (one going to each end point which may be an arc across the garden, shooting up in the air or a spray type end) and one overflow port (may not have this, pending pressure relief valve research. If I went this route any time all other solenoids are closed this one would be open to allow water flow back to the tank so not to damage the pump which otherwise would be pumping nowhere)

What im after is a way to control the solenoids including timing, patterns and being as flexible as possible.

All on / some one / patterns / 1 after each other / 2 specific ones on etc so we can generate arc patterns, as above as flexible as possible as the endpoint designs / placements arnt confirmed yet and im sure there is other fun things I could do with the timings that I haven't thought of yet.

What are peoples thoughts on how to handle this requirement?

Thank you in advance.

Regards,

Aidan

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

You'll get the most flexibility with a software-based solution. There are many options here, such as an Arduino microcontroller board, a tablet or smartphone driving a bluetooth I/O module, or a laptop driving a USB relay driver board.

Do you have any programming experience?

What features of the programmable device are important to you?

Edit: Oh, and welcome to Electronics Point

 

[marksman]

Hi Kris,

Thanks for your response.

I think I would agree a software solution would make most sense then some sort of interface.

The software I think its the important bit, I work in IT but I don't do an programming so that's not something I can do myself.

Some sort of network device would be ideal with maybe a web interface so its usable by iPad or something but im reasonably flexible. Ideally something that you can just power on and it will carry on cycling patterns etc then more granular control via another interface of some sort.

What the software is I assume is the main question if that's the case?

Apparently solenoids can take up to an amp DC as well so I assume some "reasonable" hardware also would be required for the interface but i may be wrong.

The budget for the whole system is £100 so nothing "mega commercial" is really going to be an option, open to all and any suggestions though.

Regards,

Aidan

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

I think having two levels of programmability ("something that you can just power on and it will carry on cycling patterns etc then more granular control via another interface of some sort") would be an extra and unnecessary level of complexity. If you already have some level of programmability in the host (laptop, smartphone etc) then I would use that for the sequences as well.

You can try Googling USB relay board and bluetooth relay board. There are products out there.

 

[marksman]

The interface is the easy bit though? (At least that's that impression im getting)

What about the software? Or are you suggesting the board would come with the software to do the job?

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

I don't think any of it will be easy.

I'm suggesting that all the software runs on the host - the laptop or smartphone, or some microcontroller board such as an Arduino. That would include the interfaces to any control devices (smartphones have several types built in), the overall control logic, and the sequences. The software would send individual commands to the I/O board.

 

[marksman]

Ok, that makes sense. I will continue to Google on the above suggestions.

Hopefully someone will have some experience / may have some suggestions on product combos etc.

So you think it would be a relay control rather than direct solenoid control?

PSU > Relays > Solenoid
Controller ^^^

Regards,

Aidan

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

Not necessarily. An I/O board with MOSFET outputs instead of relay contacts would be better, because there's nothing to wear out.

It's probably worth waiting a day or two to get some other perspectives and suggestions from other Electronics Point folks too.

 

[marksman]

Yeah, no major rush, still concreting the garden!

All other suggestions and advice also most welcome.

Thanks for your suggestions so far Kris.

Regards,

Aidan

 

[marksman]

It seems boards that interface with the likes of R-Pi are easily available at low cost :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131297384530

This would just need some sort of software to run on the Pi then? Which is the hard bit.

Regards,

Aidan

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

Yes, they're pretty cheap and you can get I/O boards for them. I'm sure there would be example code that does the sort of thing you want, that you could modify without too much trouble.