Hello,
first I would like to say big thanks to Felix for his superior work! I'm reading your blog from early begging. Keep going the same way!
I have working on several projects for home automation and one of them are similar to sprinkler hw and can be adapted. What is it, I will keep as secret for now.
My initial revision had possibility to control 8 zones(5V logic support), hardware pulse debounce, OneWire connector, but now I need to control more and I'am on the way of building it expandable. There are my initial version picture of RelayMote v1.0:
So, the new one will use shift register to control stuff. And will be expandable with possibility to control <50V devices w/o additional board. But if you want, you can add Relay, SSR, etc board to control bigger power sources.
Currently I'm thinking to include or not include on board 24VAC to 5V switching regulator. I would like to hear your comments. My project do not need it, as I'm trying to keep it small as possible to make it universal, but to be compatible with sprinkler functionality seems it must have it.
If skipping then by example we can add cheap LM2596S Chinese board to get needed voltage for power.
If to include then which one solution to implement LM2596S-5.0, MC34063/MC33063 or some other?
Waiting for comments and questions.