Makers and developers that enjoying making devices and projects using the Arduino platform might be interested in a new Arduino shield that has been unveiled this week in the form of the OpenSprinkler Bee (OSBee) shield.
The OpenSprinkler Bee is an open-source Arduino shield for battery-operated (latching solenoid) sprinkler valves. Ideal for projects that are designed to be used in the garden, lawn watering, flower and plant irrigation, together with other water based applications.
The OpenSprinkler Bee Arduino Shield has a built-in boost converter and H-bridges to control up to 4 different valves at the same time and the Arduino shield as you might expect is completely open source.
The boosting voltage is defined using the software and the OSBee Arduino library provides easy-to-use software interface. Watch the video below to learn more about the OpenSprinkler Bee Arduino shield. You might be asking how the OpenSprinkler Bee differs from the other OpenSprinkler products?
“The main difference is that OSBee is designed to work with battery-operated sprinkler valves. These valves internally use a latching solenoid, which only draws power when you open or close the valve, and does not draw power if it remains in the same state.
So it’s very efficient and suitable for battery-operated controllers. The other OpenSprinkler products, such as OpenSprinkler 2.1s, DIY 2.1u, OSPi 1.4, OSBo 1.0, are all designed for 24V AC sprinkler valves, which operate on 24V AC and require a power adapter / transformer.”
For more information on the new OpenSprinkler Bee Arduino Shield jump over to the Rays Hobby website for details.
Source: Dangerous Prototypes
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