The Internet Sprinkler Project

The lawn irrigation system at my house has always been only marginally acceptable. The plumbing has been plagued with leaks, the sprinkler heads don't perform particularly well and the system puts a lot of water on the non-lawn areas. Like most residential systems, it had a "dumb" timer with a dismal user interface that required a trip to the garage to make control changes. The leaks were resolved a few years back when I installed a master valve (i.e., now it only leaks when you're trying to water the lawn anyway), but the controls were still annoying.

The Rainbird ISA 408 was probably cutting edge technology in 1994 when this system was installed, but I knew I could do better. I considered several network connected controllers and finally settled on the Irrigation Caddy S1 because it is the right price and doesn't depend on an outside "service" for scheduling. It's easy to use as is and can also be integrated into my uber home control scheme. And, of course, it is network connected!

After installing the Irrigation Caddy, I worked on some long standing control wiring issues -- OK, I buried the wire that was running across the yard, the one that kept getting run over by the lawn mower. In the process, I "found" the supply side water line to one of my zone valves with my trenching spade. Spade 1, PVC pipe 0. Tami was particularly impressed with the large but very neat hole I dug to repair the damage... But, I digress. After putting everything back right again, I proudly told my neighbor Bruce about "The Internet Sprinkler Project". His response was simply and predictably, "John, you're such a geek."

As the great philospher Popeye the Sailor said, "I yam what I yam and that's all what I yam!"

Repairing Lightning Damage

Since I didn't start this blog until well after the repairs were underway, it's kind of hard to do a chronological recap of all the stuff that I've replaced.  The first thing that had to be put back in order was a router so that we would have VOIP phone service and e-mail, then the garage door opener, but after that it's been a matter of fixing whatever was most annoying at the moment.  My philosophy on the repairs is to make the repaired system better than the system it replaced.  That's why the new router is a Cisco 2651xm, replacing a Cisco 2621, the switch is a Cisco 2970G replacing a Cisco 2924xl, and that garage door opener is a LiftMaster 3800 Residential Jackshaft Garage Door Opener instead of the Overhead Door chain drive wall rattler.  The RJO is really quiet and as cool as something like a garage door opener can be (hey, Jay Leno installed three of them in his Garage Mahal!!!).

Today, I found an HAI Omni IIe system on Ebay which I plan to use in place of the Ademco 4100 that failed somewhat unspectacularly after the strike.  The Ademco didn't make a fuss, it just turned on all it's lights and quit quietly.  The Omni II will allow me to integrate some home automation features with the alarm system which is something I've been wanting to do for some time now.  This should make plenty of fodder for future blog posts!

First Blog

We have decided that a blog might help communication between the 30-ish members of our systems administration group at my regular day job, so I have started this personal blog as a way to learn about blogging in general.  We may decide to host our group's blog internally but I thought that this Google hosted "blogspot" blog might be a really easy way to get started.

With all that said, I plan to write about my recent adventures in rebuilding my home infrastructure after a devastating lightning strike.  The lightning strike occurred at 12:54 PM on July 30, 2011.  The strike was recorded on several devices in our home that ceased to function at exactly that time.  While putting everything back together has been an expensive and time-consuming process, Tami and I feel blessed to have lost nothing more than a pile of electronic trinkets.  A close friend lost his home to a lightning induced fire a week or so before our incident.  Weather events this spring and summer have caused many families in our area to have lost loved ones in addition to their material possessions, so our problems pale in comparison.

BTW, the name "Morning Coffee" came to mind since I plan to write most of these entries while I'm drinking my daily two cups of Joe.

So, as I hit "Publish Post" for the first time, I salute all who have blogged before me.  Here goes!