HydroFLASH Beta Version 99.01.20

[Support]

Update - Code has now been released as version 2.00.00 and can be downloaded under the Firmware Updates Topic
Beta Code attachments have been removed from this topic.

This is the BETA version of HydroFLASH to be formally released as Version 2.0 shortly. It has numerous improvements and features in both the Watering features and Insteon features. Below is a list of the improvements and added features. Please download the preliminary manual for additional details on the features listed below. Additionally there are references and examples for Scene Macros (Both watering and insteon control) on the Insteon Programs page under the Edit Scenes link on the built in HydroFLASH web pages. When you download and update your Android Mobile app, be sure to go to the HydroFLASH (Web Page) System Settings Page, and check the Enable New Mobile App features check box. Do not check this box this if you are using a mix of iPhone and Android devices as it will affect the ability of the iPhone app to function correctly. We are working on updating the iPhone app now.

WARNING - This is in beta release and therefore may have issues that may produce undesirable behavior. While we have done a great deal of testing to ensure this version operates as expected there may be issues that arise and that is the reason for beta testing. We appreciate those of you who are willing to test this version and provide feedback from both a operational and feature performance perspective, however we do not recommend updating your device if your device is not physically accessible should a issue arise. Therefore do not update your unit if it is remotely managing a property or facility that you can't gain access easily. While this seems like common sense, we needed to state it clearly.
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Changes and Improvements

1. Added Insteon Scene programming to allow controlling numerous devices at the single press of a button.

2. Added Watering Scene programming to allow custom watering schedules based on day of month, time of day, unlimited start times and more.

3. Added NOAA Forecast data to allow preemptive Rain delay enabling based on the percent chance of rain in the coming days. (User defined level and days to look forward)

4. Added Watering Run Time adjustments based on daily forecast temperatures. If enabled you can create a stepped or linear adjustment based on a baseline temperature value. This will increase or reduce watering based on the values entered. A simple Excel spreadsheet with graph and user entered fields can be downloaded using the link below to enter your with the values and see the results.

5. Added Insteon Thermostat programs page to allow multiple Thermostat programs setting temperature, mode, time of day etc.

6. Added Insteon Scene programs page to allow the scheduling of Scene programs you have created.

7. Added Insteon Events programs page to allow external Insteon events to trigger Scene programs you have created.

8. Added Mobile App Push Notification option to Insteon Events and Rain Delay Events. If selected HydroFLASH sends your mobile app a notification when any of the selected events you choose occur. The settings for these are on the System Settings page (Rain Delay push notifications) and on the Event Programs page (for each event). You also need to enable the push notifications option on your HydroFLASH mobile device under your Controller Edit Menu. (Currently Android Only, iPhone update will be coming soon)

9. Watering Scheduler now runs internally at a 1 second resolution. Program Times are entered just as before in Hours:Minutes so no changes are needed to your watering programs. What this does provide is the ability to have HydroFLASH increase or decrease the run time by small amounts based on the temperature adjustments if enabled. Additionally the Monthly percentage values that are applied will effectively reduce watering in meaningful amounts for stations with short run times. For example, stations that are set to a 1 minute run time with a 50% reduction will only run for 30 seconds. Previously there was a 1 minute minimum and the percent adjustment had little or no effect on stations with short run times.

10. Added Insteon logging option on System Settings page. Keeps log file from filling up in the event a device goes off line. Only enable if you are actively diagnosing a Insteon communication issue.

11. Watering Program End Times are now calculated and displayed regardless of having the Start Time Enabled check box checked or not. This is for referencing the End Time value if using a Watering Scene macro to create a schedule so you can schedule the correct times for repeated Watering Scenes.

12. Added Manual Scene control to the Manual Insteon web page to allow manual activation of scenes.

13. Added Scene Edit page to the Insteon Programs page to allow the creation, editing and deleting of Scene macros. Simple interface to allow editing and management of Scene macros. Will be adding this to the Mobile app soon.

14. Simplified the Wireless setting page, eliminating some settings that were not needed. WPA2 and WPA-Personal (WPA-PSK) are functionally under the same menu selection. Updating to this version should not require you to change any settings on your Wireless version.

15. Updated Wireless driver. We need feedback on this as we have had some of you have issues with HydroFLASH disconnecting from your network after extended time periods, while all other features working correctly. There have been other improvements in the lower level kernel components that fixed other issues that may have been related to this issue so again feedback is needed if there are any noticeable improvements (or issues) when using the updated software.

16. Updated the File Management to allow moving up and down the directory structures with the additional option of being able to select individual files for deletion. (Careful here as you can delete your program, scene or other files). This is more of an maintenance feature should you need it.

17. Cleaned up the System Settings page adding headers to group similar settings and some help information.

18. Cleaned up the Status page placing METAR data in framed box and added NOAA Forecast Data with Probability of Precipitation and Forecast High and Low temperature values.

19. Added a link on the Status page to the NOAA weather site to provide a look at additional weather information.

20. Daily METAR Temperatures (High and Low Values) are also collected and stored for the previous 7 days and are used as a backup to the NOAA temperature data should it not be available.

21. METAR Hourly Rainfall amounts are now tracked for a 24 hour period vs the previous 12 hour period and stored in the event of a power cycle.

22. Added information to the Status page indicating the currently calculated Watering Time Adjustment percentage.
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This covers the bulk of the updates and improvements...Should we have missed anything we will update and edit this post.
Thanks for your patience in waiting for this beta release.
HydroFLASH Team

Please post any issues or comments with Beta versions under this forum only and note the Device Type (Wired or WiFi) that you are using when posting.

Other Notes:
The NOAA weather forecast data is based on the Latitude and Longitude you enter on the System Settings page and is independent from the downloaded METAR data.

References / Helper Info
Run Time vs Temperature Excel file http://cloud.hydroflash.net/docs/Run_Time_Adjustment_vs_Temp.xls

[WitteGeek402]

Both the firmware and the Andriod app are installed so far so good. I would recommend when you post the firmware update you go over why the additional permissions on the app were needed. Makes the paranoid among s feel better.
Awesome.

[Noircogi]

Can you please post some example screens for the "Watering Programs", "Insteon Scene Programs" and "Scene Editor" pages to do something simple like schedule watering for multiple stations in sequence with a start time relative to sunrise? It's not obvious from the manual which "enable" vs "assigned start time" values should be checked on the "Watering Programs" page.

[Support]

Hi,

I''ll attach some screen shots also but here is the basic for watering using a script:

1. Enter your run times on the desired program page and save as you would normally (1,2,3 or 4).
2. Don't check any of the Start Times "enabled" check boxes. (The scene programming will determine the start time).
3. Go to the Edit Scenes link on the Insteon Programs page.
3. Create a new scene file by entering a name and then click the "Create Scene" button. (Name it something meaningful to you, like "Daily Watering")
4. Select it from the pull down list and click the "Load Scene" button.
5. In the Edit Box you can now enter criteria for the watering scene as shown below.
WATERCYCLE, RUN, NONE, ANYDAYS, 1
The above when executed will run Program 1 anytime the scene is called to run.

On the Scene Programs page do the following:
1. Select the Scene you created, the desired Start Time, Days of Week and Enabled (Station) check box.
(You can stipulate offsets from sunrise, sunset fixed time AND run every options.

2. Now on the schedule you created it will run Program 1 at the time you set on the scene program.
(If you selected the run every option then the time value you entered is a delay between running the watering scene in hours and minutes)

By further modifying the Scene Script you can add additional filtering criteria like:
WATERCYCLE, RUN, +SR01:00\-SS1:00, ANYDAYS, 1
Waters only between the hours of 1 hour after sunrise and 1 hour before sunset. This would be used with the "run every" to say water every 3 hours between these times, on the days selected in the scene program page.

WATERCYCLE, RUN, NONE, ODD, 1
Waters Only on Odd days of the Month

WATERCYCLE, RUN, NONE, EVEN, 1
Waters Only on Even days of the Month

WATERCYCLE, RUN,NONE, 1;5;10;15;25, 1
Waters Only on the Calendar days specified of the Month.

The rules are first driven by the criteria you specify on the Scene Programs Page and then further filtered by what you stipulate in the Scene Script.
This results in a very powerful and flexible, but simple way of creating watering scenarios for advanced watering cycles.

The key word for watering scenes is WATERCYCLE.

Insteon Scenes are created the same way with all of the criteria available for device in the Scene Macro as in:
My Light, 50%, +SR0:00\-SS0:00, AD0:1
Turns on "My Light" 50% brightness between sunrise and sunset, delays 1 minute and turns off

Turns on "Lab Fan" between sunrise and sunset, delays 5 minutes and turns off
Lab Fan, ON, +SR0:00\-SS0:00, AD0:5

Again each line on the file contains a command for a specific device. You can even place different time criteria for each device so that if the scene is run in the morning it would turn some things on or off and in the evening turn different devices on or off.

Here are a couple of more complex scenes.
This is a "Front Gate Opening" Scene (and Event driven if desired) Comments are not part of the scene file!

Cabinet Ceiling Cans,ON,NONE,AD0:01
Turn on interior Ceiling Cans for 1 minute to alert occupants

Flood Lights,ON,+SS0:30\-SR00:30,CD0:05
If 30 minutes after sunset and 30 minutes before sunrise, turn on floods, turn off after 5 min ONLY if not already on

Front Porch Light,ON,+SS0:30\-SR00:30,CD0:05
If 30 minutes after sunset and 30 minutes before sunrise, turn on floods, turn off after 5 min ONLY if not already on

Note the "CD" vs the "AD" which is "Conditional Delay" vs "Always Delay" (also can be "NONE") The CD tells HydroFLASH to only set a delay to turn off the device if it was not not on already. Keeps light from being turned off by a scene when you want them to stay on because you were outside working with the flood lights on and you wife comes home, opening the gate/garage door and causing the scene event to happen (leaving you in the dark 5 minutes later!).

Here is another more complex scene: I won't go through each line but (if at night) it basically shuts off the lights, turning a hall light on for 5 minutes so you can get to bed and turns the heat back on the thermostat. The last two lines have different time criteria so if it is run in the morning it will turn on a couch lamp and some can lights.

Front Door Entry light, 50, +SS1:00\-SR4:00, AD0:05
Dressing Area Cans, 25, +SS1:00\-SR4:00, NONE
Couch Lamp, OFF, +SS1:00\-SR4:00, NONE
Livingroom Ceiling Cans, OFF, +SS1:00\-SR4:00, NONE
Cabinet Ceiling Cans, OFF, +SS1:00\-SR4:00, NONE
Dining Room Corner Lamp, OFF, +SS1:00\-SR4:00, NONE
Upstairs Den Lamp, OFF, +SS1:00\-SR:400, NONE
Rear Patio Pole Light, OFF, +SS1:00\-SR4:00, NONE
Landscape Lights, OFF, +SS1:00\-SR4:00, NONE
West Wing Thermostat, HEAT 65:75, +SS1:00\-SR4:00, NONE
Couch Lamp, ON, -SR2:00\+SS1:00, NONE
Livingroom Ceiling Cans, 40%, -SR2:00\+SS1:00, NONE

Hope this gives you a better idea of how it works. Simple but very flexible and powerful!

Here are some screen shots (The Edit Scenes page has all the help you see built in to it)
The first one shows the Scene Programs page and three examples using the Watering Scene - Note that these are just examples and not realistic programs with respect to when they are scheduled.

Scene Programs.jpg (120.04 KiB) Viewed 31209 times

Edit Scenes Watering.jpg (88.98 KiB) Viewed 31209 times

Edit Scenes Page.jpg (82.91 KiB) Viewed 31209 times

Insteon Macro Commands.jpg (63.08 KiB) Viewed 31209 times

Insteon Scene Criteria.jpg (134.34 KiB) Viewed 31209 times

Watering Scene Macro Cmds.jpg (209.93 KiB) Viewed 31209 times

[Noircogi]

Thank you for the clarification. My main confusion was on the "Watering Programs" page. I got it working as a test and have things set up to run just before sunrise in the morning.

[Support]

There is another option you can add to your Scene File Name that we forgot to mention.

If you append a "-nl" (dash nl lowercase) to the Scene File Name it will not put an entry into the log file when the scene is executed.

This is to prevent filling the log file when you perhaps have a Run Every option enabled and a short duration for the time value. A good case for this is shown below.

The scene file is named "Light Sweeper-nl"

Flood Lights,OFF,-SR0:15/+SS0:15,NONE
Front Porch Light,OFF,-SR0:15/+SS0:15,NONE
Back Porch Lights,OFF,-SR0:15/+SS0:15,NONE
Landscape Lights,OFF,-SR0:15/+SS0:15,NONE
Back Yard Floods,OFF,-SR0:15/+SS0:15,NONE
Deck Can Lights,OFF,-SR0:15/+SS0:15,NONE
Deck Porch Light,OFF,-SR0:15/+SS0:15,NONE
Jacuzzi Porch Light,OFF,-SR0:15/+SS0:15,NONE
Patio Rope Lights,OFF,-SR0:15/+SS0:15,NONE
Garage Rear Flood,OFF,-SR0:15/+SS0:15,NONE

It is set up on the Scene Programs Page as with a Run Every option of 5 minutes and will turn off any outside lights that may have been turned on accidentally during the day automatically. As you can see the Scene Macro Conditional Times only allows it to operate 15 min before sunrise to 15 after sunset even though the Scene is run every 5 minutes using the Run Every option.

Another Tip
Also there may be a scenario where a light or device is ON and you just want to turn it off in 5 minutes. That macro line would look like:
Lab Lamp, NONE, NONE, AD0:05

As you can see there is a "NONE" for device state which simply tells HydroFLASH "Don't do anything but create a delay value of 5 minutes, then turn the device off".

Hope this helps!

For those of you using the newer version please don't forget to post some feedback here or send support your thoughts!

Thanks!

[Noircogi]

So far, everything I've tried has worked great. It even kept all of my old settings when I upgraded. (On both of my hydroflash wifi units using fixed IP addresses)

Of the new features I've verified that the second-accurate scaled watering times work as expected and was able to schedule to two systems to run their watering cycles before sunrise like I've always wanted.

I also got my son to help me and "reverse-linked" all of my switchlincs so I can try some of the triggering features.

I like the updated main status page a lot.

So far, I've only used the web interface. Are there changes to the IOS and Android apps?

[Support]

Thanks very much for the feedback.

Yes we have released the updated Android version that has the added features including the push notifications which you might really like for some Insteon Events or simply for the Rain Delay notifications. There is also an additional Weather menu option on the More page that shows the weather info. We will be adding the Temperatures to this screen before final release.

We are currently working on the iOS updates.

The Event triggering is pretty cool for all kinds of things. I recall someone wanting to use a motion detector to kick off a short watering cycle at night to keep the deer off the lawn....that would be clever....

Keep the feedback coming!

Thanks!

[kg6jzz]

Excited to get the new iPhone app for the new triggered features. I am planing to connect HF with an IO module to the pool to detect low water level and have HF turn on the pool water to fill for a given time period to bring the water level up. Very cool.

[WitteGeek402]

I'm playing a lot with events so far so good. Basic scenes only so far.

Will there be more conditional events added as we go forward? Specifically, I'm thinking if the Metar data shows a freeze coming I could trigger a scene that performs a shutdown of my sprinkler system. This would be forward looking instead of real time monitoring of the temperature. Would have saved me talking my wife through the process this week whil I was out of town.

I'm thinking others can think of even cooler event triggers we could use.