Role an manipulation of binary_sensor.smart_irrigation_zone1_watering_now

[HennieMouton]

I see these boolean sensors in HA, and assume they are set true when HAsmartirrigation is in charge of valves, and the valve for zone1 is on. I further assume these booleans then also help with the "Last watered" status, likely in sensor.smart_irrigation_zone1_last_irrigation.

I use smart_irrigation as originally intended by Jeroen, where it is used only for calculating watering durations of zones, but the valve and pump control logic is a separate system with complex logic.
For smartirrigation to have more of an idea when watering took place, etc, I would like to update the watering_now booleans and other variables if need be, so the info shown on the smartirrigation info tab would be valid.

Is there a service built into smartirrigation by which we can update those variables, or any other way to do so, given that I assume correctly above.

[altmenorg]

Your guess is right, and there is no need to set those values by hand: Smart Irrigation can follow the valves your own system drives. Two ways, depending on how much it should see:

1. Observed watering (no automation needed). In Settings, General, turn on observed watering. Then, on each zone, set the Linked valve/switch to the entity that waters it, a switch, a valve or an input_boolean. Smart Irrigation only watches it and never opens or closes anything, as long as direct valve control stays off. Whenever that entity is on, by your logic, by hand or by anything else:

• binary_sensor.smart_irrigation_<zone>_watering_now is on while it runs;
• when it closes, the water balance is credited from the run time and the zone's throughput, and sensor.smart_irrigation_<zone>_last_irrigation is set;
• the Info tab then reads from real runs.

If your pump logic has no single entity per zone, an input_boolean that your system turns on and off around each zone's run does the same job.

Once observed watering is on, it is the only thing that credits the water balance. Remove any reset_bucket or set_bucket call from your automations, or the water is counted twice. See Observed watering.

2. Report each run yourself. If you'd rather not link anything, call smart_irrigation.credit_watering at the end of each zone's run, on the zone's sensor, with seconds set to how long it actually ran. It credits what was delivered instead of resetting to 0, and sets the last irrigation. The watering_now sensor stays off in that case, since nothing tells Smart Irrigation the valve is open.

Option 1 is the closer fit for what you describe.

[HennieMouton]

I have one more question: I need to check in my irrigation automation if observed watering is on, or whether my automation must reset the bucket. How can I test that?

[altmenorg]

Good question. There is no entity for it today: observed watering is a setting you choose once, in Settings, General, not a state that changes, so your automation does not need to test it. Pick one of the two and write the automation for it:

• Observed watering on: your automation only opens and closes the valve. No reset_bucket, no set_bucket, no credit_watering: Smart Irrigation credits the run by itself when the linked valve closes, and any of those calls would count the water a second time.
• Observed watering off: your automation ends each zone's run with smart_irrigation.credit_watering (or the reset, if you prefer it).

If you switch between the two later, change the automation at the same time. Should you have a case where the automation really has to know (one automation shared by several installs, for instance), say so, and I'll look at exposing the setting as an attribute after the coming stable release.

[HennieMouton]

I do have 4 different scenarios - 2 irrigation devices at one site and 2 at another - all running the same automation, and I am testing the observed watering on only 1 of 4 at the moment. So it would help me to know if it's on. I see the boolean smart_irrigation_zone_watering_now is true while a zone is on if observed watering on, so I'll use that as indicator for now. It's not as clean as a true exposed binary_sensor.smart_irrigation_oberserved_watering, but it will do.

[altmenorg]

That makes sense, thanks for explaining the setup. One catch with using watering_now as the indicator: it does not tell you whether observed watering is on. It is on whenever the zone's linked valve is on, whichever feature linked it. So:

• on an install with observed watering on, it goes on with the valve (what you saw);
• on an install with observed watering off but a valve still linked to the zone (linked earlier, or by direct valve control), it goes on too, and your automation would skip the reset there;
• it only stays off where the zone has no linked valve at all.

If your three other installs have no linked valve on their zones, your check works as you intend. If any of them has one, it would leave the water balance unreset after a run.

Until there is a proper entity, the safest switch is one you own: an input_boolean per install (say input_boolean.observed_watering_on), set by hand to match the setting, and tested by the automation.

Your case is a good reason to expose the setting itself. I've noted it for after the stable release, as a read-only binary sensor on the Smart Irrigation hub device.

[HennieMouton]

Appreciated.
I have one more question: you have a setting to ignore rainfall below 20% or so of the day's ET. In the same vein, I often cool down my garden with some watering of 5 minutes or less per zone at 14:00 and even at 12:00 if very hot, i.e. temp over 30 C in my case. Some plants like Christmas Roses wilt if they are too hot so this is just to cool down the leaves, so it does not really contribute to the garden's watering. Is there a setting to ignore watering of below X minutes or liters or maybe the equivalent of the 20% ET in watering? I guess I could go back to manually resetting the bucket, but such a setting would be handy in my case.

Just to clarify: My idea is that, if watering is <= X only per zone/valve, it does not count, but if watering is > X, all of the watering should count as per normal.

[altmenorg]

Not today: with observed watering, every run of the valve is credited (minus the zone's lead time). A cooling mist of a few minutes mostly stays on the leaves and evaporates, so leaving it out of the balance is fair.

I am adding a per-zone setting for v2026.11.1, "ignore observed runs shorter than", empty by default: a run at or under it is not credited, a longer one counts in full, exactly as you describe.

Until then, the simplest is to save the zone's balance before the cooling run and put it back with smart_irrigation.set_bucket once the valve has closed.