Variable Range Sprinkler

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/6409575 w=470&h=352]
[Pete], a musician, and the guy behind SparkFun’s pogobeds and locking footprints has a sprinkler hack. He wanted to keep his dog, Choppy, happy with a green lawn while also keeping his sidewalk water free. To solve this problem, he hacked his sprinkler and hose to adjust the sprinkler’s range. He uses an Arduino to read a potentiometer signifying the direction that the sprinkler is facing and a servo to adjust a hose valve that controls the sprinkler’s water flow. Be sure to check out the video above to see it in action.

14 thoughts on “Variable Range Sprinkler

  1. Hey thanks! This was a fun project! Sparkfun was kind enough to post it on their homepage yesterday! (http://www.sparkfun.com) And I found out from a comment about another guy doing some fancy sprinklers. No videos, but it sounds pretty cool and you can check it out here: “The SmartRotor” http://www.innogation.com

    Also – hey Dixon – great minds think alike! I’m schemin’ up a board that will have 5 trim pots for user input. It will allow you to input different water pressure levels for 5 different windows of sprinkler position. Right now I gotta set my pressure levels in the code and re-upload, but it would be way better to adjust it in real time.

    You guys got any other ideas for an input device?

    Anybody interested in seeing my hacked arduino sketch? I’m sure there are much more efficient ways to write it, and I’d be happy to learn!

    1. Hey Martin,
      It took quite a bit of force to move the valve, so it was nice to have the strength of the serve to move the valve. I don’t think the mechanical movement of the sprinkler head could have had enough power to move the valve. But hey, maybe with a better valve, it could be done.

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