Before permitting pump mode operation, AR1 checks that battery voltage exceeds 12.25 volts. Below this threshold, the battery is considered insufficiently charged to reliably restart the pump, and pump mode is forbidden.
AR1 also requires that both TimeON and TimeOFF exceed 10 minutes. This minimum cycle time prevents excessive starter wear that would result from very rapid cycling—if cycles are shorter than 10 minutes in either phase, recirculation mode must be used instead.
If the user has requested pump mode via the Home Assistant dashboard but these safety conditions are not met, AR1 automatically downgrades to recirculation mode and publishes a status message to MQTT topic home/sprinkler/driver/info with the content "DOWNGRADED". The dashboard can display this message, informing the operator why their selection was overridden.
When conditions improve (battery charges above threshold, or operator increases timing values above 10 minutes), AR1 upgrades to pump mode and publishes status "PUMP".
This automatic mode selection ensures that the system never enters an unsafe configuration while still giving the operator maximum control authority when conditions permit.
A special case exists when both TimeON and TimeOFF are set to zero. Intuitively that suggests "don't cycle the water on and off", so consistent with that AR1 sets the valve to allow water through uninterrupted irrespective of pump/recirculation mode. That is, the P1 valve is set to pass-through position and remains there.
The shed cooling system (P2) offers analogous flexibility via TimeON2 and TimeOFF2 configuration. However, P2 adds thermostat mode as an option.
For shed cooling, when both TimeON2 and TimeOFF2 are set to zero, P2 enters thermostat mode which behaves identically to the autonomous mode thermostat logic described earlier: one-minute pulses when internal temperature exceeds 47 degrees after cooling below 45 degrees, with escalation to continuous mode if pulses occur less than two minutes apart, and immediate continuous mode above 60 degrees.
When TimeON2 is greater than zero and TimeOFF2 is zero, P2 operates in forced continuous mode regardless of temperature. This allows the user to override the automatic thermostat mode if they want cooling running constantly to achieve maximum cooling. When TimeON2 is zero and TimeOFF2 is greater than zero, P2 is kept off and no cooling water flows. When both values are greater than zero, P2 runs timed intermittent cycles identical to P1's recirculation mode behaviour.
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