I’ve been experimenting with Node-RED to automate my garden irrigation system, and I’m really excited about how it’s coming together. Right now, I’m using a Hunter valve controlled via Hydrawise, and I’ve got a bunch of sensors hooked up—soil moisture, outdoor temperature, rainfall, you name it. Everything works pretty smoothly, though there’s still a bit of tweaking to do for optimal performance.
One thing I’m really curious about is adding a new layer of automation based on historical weather data. Specifically, I want my system to check if the temperature exceeded 30°C over the past two days. If it did, I’d like the irrigation to kick in automatically at 4:30 AM the next morning, regardless of the current conditions. This would be especially useful during heatwaves when my plants need extra care.
The challenge I’m facing is figuring out how to retrieve the maximum temperature values from the past two days and use that data to trigger my irrigation system. I’m wondering if there’s a way to pull this information directly from my outdoor temperature sensor or if I need to set up a separate data logger. I’ve heard that some systems allow you to store historical sensor data, but I’m not entirely sure how to implement that with Node-RED.
I’m also thinking about how to structure this new automation without overwhelming my system. Maybe I can create a new flow that checks the temperature history every evening and sets a flag if the threshold is met. Then, the irrigation system can reference that flag in the morning. It sounds a bit complex, but I’m confident I can work through it with some research and maybe a bit of trial and error.
If anyone has experience with similar setups or knows of a reliable way to access historical sensor data in Node-RED, I’d love to hear your thoughts! It would be amazing to get this feature up and running to ensure my garden stays healthy, even during those intense summer days.