Eve and Adam. Plaid Systems

Hop over to Kickstarter this morning and you'll see the smart gardening platform the Eve Ecosystem launched its crowd-funding campaign. Built specifically to work with the SmartThings home automation hub, Eve is designed as an irrigation controller that automatically adapts to the conditions of your yard. It can manage up to 16 different watering zones of your home's existing sprinkler system. You can control each zone individually from your smart phone or tablet, or let Eve do the scheduling for you. It'll process data from its moisture sensor -- called Adam -- placed in your yard, and take into account any weather info gathered by the SmartThings hub, to give your lawn the exact amount of water it needs.

Eve, the first product by Plaid Systems, will have plenty of connected capability right from launch, including IFTTT functionality, courtesy of the existing SmartThings platform. For example, you could have your sprinklers automatically turn off whenever you open the front door, then turn back on a set amount of time later.

SmartThings, a former Kickstarter project itself, was recently acquired by Samsung to help them grow their footprint in the ever-growing smart home market. With a bevy of motion sensors and power controls already at its disposal, SmartThings can now use Eve to expand outside of the walls of the Smart Home.

Screens from the app. Plaid Systems

The increased profile of SmartThings caused by the Samsung deal can only help Eve with its Kickstarter campaign. The downside of Eve building its system for SmartThings is the greatly increased initial cost for interested parties who don't already own a SmartThings hub, as the Eve Irrigation system won't function without it.

On its own, the SmartThings hub costs $99. The Eve Irrigation controller will retail separately for $150, with each Adam sensor tacking on $55. Together, the two sell for $200. All prices will be consistent for Kickstarter backers and shoppers once it hits store shelves, though Plaid is offering a limited number of discount devices for those who pledge early. They plan to have the product ready to ship by March of 2015. Currently, the Eve Ecosystem is not available overseas.

Even with the cost of the SmartThings hub, Plaid's pricing for both the Eve and Adam components pits it favorably against the competition. The Rachio Iro functions as an irrigation controller similar to Eve. It costs $249 or $299 for an 8 zone or 16 zone capacity, with the low price matching the cost of an Eve plus a SmartThings hub.

Similar to Eve, you can use the Iro to manually control each sprinkler zone or allow it to take care of the watering schedule for you. Rachio's device connects directly to your Wi-Fi router, so it can adapt to weather information without the need for a separate hub.That said, SmartThings allows Eve's system to scale in a way that Rachio's can't match.

Adam. Plaid Systems

Read more:
The Eve Irrigation System hopes to make your garden perfect

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August 19, 2014 at 10:09 pm by Mr HomeBuilder
Category: Sprinkler System