Following up on this topic
http://www.x10community.com/forums/index.php?topic=14082, I decided to get a Rain8 Classic instead of the Rain8 2-way
http://www.wgldesigns.com/rain8.html and devise a different way to check for reliability. With a maximum of 5 minutes watering time in each zone per cycle, I configured the Rain8 EPROM to automatically shut off each zone after 6 minutes in the absence of an X10 signal that would turn the zone off.
The AHP Activity Log is not posted from the CM15A signals unless x10nets.exe, the AHP service that loads when Windows starts, is running. The irrigation must run when the computer is shut down, so I needed some way other than status signals to determine if the X-10 irrigation commands are being acted upon by the Rain8.
The Rain8 Classic has a Pump Relay mode, that puts 24VAC at the zone 8 terminal whenever any of the other zones 1-7 is activated. Instead of a pump relay, I attached this simple half wave rectifier relay circuit
http://www.csnetserver.com/computers/X-10/Pump%20Option%20Relay%20Circuit.pdf to zone 8 to drive an old electric clock.
The AHP irrigation macro is set up for 4 zones: 2 turf zones with three 5 minute cycles each an hour apart and 2 drip/mist zones with two 5 minute cycles each 2 hours apart. The total irrigation time for all zones and cycles is 50 minutes. I set zone 7, that is not connected to any irrigation valve, to 10 minutes in the same macro, so that the total time the pump option relay circuit is ON is an even 1 hour. This makes the clock an easy to use reliability indicator, because if everything is working, the clock should run one hour each time the irrigation macro is executed (plus a few seconds for macro overhead).
Thanks to AHP allowing delays to be set to the second, I can remove the measured overhead of 4 seconds from the 10 minute zone 7 time and the clock runs almost exactly 1 hour each day the irrigation macro is activated. This way, when I check the clock during the day, after a pre-dawn irrigation cycle, if the clock is not exactly on the hour within a second or two, I will know if something went wrong. I have been running the macro daily with the water shut off (no irrigation needed this time of year) and so far it's been perfect
2 dummy appliance modules have been set up in AHP to serve as master switches.
The first appliance module "Activate Rain8" triggers 2 macros for Rain8's inhibit mode which disables all zones, perfect for the rainy season here. The appliance module ON macro turns Rain8 inhibit OFF while the appliance module OFF macro turns Rain8 inhibit ON.
The second appliance module "Activate Schedule" triggers 2 macros. The appliance module ON macro sets Flag 16 while the appliance module OFF macro clears Flag 16. The irrigation macro has a condition that Flag 16 must be set to run the macro. This way, when rain is in the forecast, turning the "Activate Schedule" OFF disables the irrigation when the timers send the signals to run the macros, while a remote control used to test each irrigation zone will still work.
3 always active seasonal timers are all that are needed to match the average evapotranspiration rates here in Northern California:
Sundays and Wednesdays April 1 to October 31
Fridays May 1 to September 30
Mondays June 1 to August 31
With the AHP interface it is easy to make adjustments as needed for hot/cold and wet/dry variances from the norm.
I can see why people are enthusiastic about X-10.
Edited to correct spelling
