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Comment by notatoad | Hacker News Reader

This seems like kind of a silly. The Ubuntu panel he shows there is simple because programmers have hidden all the complexity. Whoever installed the sprinkler system hid the complexity too - they closed the door on the sprinkler control panel. If you wanted it to be simple, you should have left the door closed. You don't need to adjust it. It should have been programmed by the installer to account for seasonal rainfall. Day-to-day rain does not matter at all to your sprinkler programming.

If you want to poke around (literally) under the hood, you don't get to complain about complexity.

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But the point is it shouldn't feel like you are going "under the hood" to simply change sprinkler schedule. We still INTERACT with Nest without the need to go under the hood. If you simply "closed the door of sprinkler", you can't interact with it. Nest hides the complexity and provides simple interface for the user.

The problem is that poking around under the hood shouldn't be necessary. If the sprinkler system worked well enough without ever needing to open the hood, then everything's fine. But it looks like that's not the case.

Well, it's an interesting question. Is there a market for a $300 sprinkler controller? Rain Bird doesn't think so. I paid about $50 for my controller, and it's relatively easy to use, certainly better than the OPs: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003LY4I14/ref=wms_ohs_prod...

Also, the OP is eliding over the fact that that controller is probably 10 years old.

It may be 10 years old, but it's still what's being sold: http://www.amazon.com/Rain-Bird-ESP-4M-4-Station-Controller/...

Not only is it unnecessary to poke around under the hood, it's bad. If you're changing your sprinkler configuration, you're doing it wrong. You're supposed to set the schedule and never touch it again. Changing the schedule (because of rain or weather) is not as good for your lawn as just leaving everything alone. The only control you should ever be touching is the master shutoff valve. Your sprinkler isn't supposed to care about daily rainfall, because that doesn't matter in lawn care.

The only problem with the sprinkler in the article is that the internal clock is set wrong, and you can be pretty sure that the reason the internal clock is wrong is because the author tried to tweak things. Don't do that, and the problems go away.

But completely apart from the health of your lawn, wouldn't you save water if you had the sprinkler cancel a regularly scheduled watering if it fell during a rain storm?

If you're changing your sprinkler configuration, you're doing it wrong.

Or your lawn is dying because there hasn't been enough rain. Or your lawn is dying because there's been too much rain. Or you're resodding a part of your lawn. Or you're removing part of your lawn to put in a garden. Or you've started using rainbarrels to naturally irrigate your backyard. Or your city has changed which days you can water your lawn on.

you can be pretty sure that the reason the internal clock is wrong is because the author tried to tweak things.

It could also be because the power went out or because of Daylight Saving Time.

And all of that doesn't forgive bad UI. As the end user, the chap that installed the system shouldn't have to put up with a bad UI. There is absolutely no excuse for a poorly designed interface. None.

What? You are speaking as if all seasons are the same year after year. Last winter here in the valley during winter the rain started months after it was supposed to and it was spotty at best.

I would argue the opposite, that the more you tinker with your system you will get better and better results. Daily rainfall does matter in lawn care because during hot summer days like this, you do need more water than during cool, cloudy winter days. This is common sense to anyone with half a green thumb. Not to mention, during the rainy season, you will probably do damage to your lawn if you over water.

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