We are happy to announce the availability of our new iPhone app for the IrrigationCaddy available now at the Apple App Store. You can take a look at it here:
The app will allow you to control your IrrigationCaddy Web Based Sprinkler system on the go.
You will be able to control your caddy from your iPhone, and schedule as well as run your sprinklers from it. You will be able to see the current status, whether the sprinkler zones are active, waiting to run, or inactive, etc.
The app requires Firmware version ICEthS1-1.2.171 or higher to be running on the caddy.
Here are some screenshots:
That is awesome! How is the android version coming?
I would love to use a mobile app to control my IC but I have an Android phone. Will there be an Android version?
Yes there will be one as well, don’t ask me exactly when though, but soon. Probably by early next year.
I purchased the app. When you add your caddy to the app it asks for the ip address. Is this the internal ip address (LAN address) or your WAN address. I am assuming its your WAN address and you have to use port forwarding to your internal address.
However I have COX for my internet and they do not issue static IP’s. So how to I get around this? How do I access my IC when I am away from my home and not on my LAN and the IP address changes?
I also set it to the LAN address while I was at home (192.168.1.XXX) and it would not connect even though I am on the same LAN network as the IC. Can’t figure that problem out as well.
The IP address could be either. If you have port forwarding setup already, and you want to access the caddy from the outside, then you would use the WAN ip, and the port you setup for port forwarding. If you don’t have port forwarding setup, or if you just want to access it internally, then you would use the LAN ip, and usually port 80, unless you changed it.
If I were you I would setup both, one to access it externally and one entry to access it internally; as if you had 2 caddies. The reason for doing this is that accessing it using the WAN IP even when you are connected to your local WiFi, means that the call has to go out into the internet first then come back into your router and be forwarded to the Internal IP; as opposed to staying inside your LAN, which is much faster.
If COX does not give you a static IP then use a Dynamic DNS service. A dynamic DNS service will allow you to map your WAN IP to a domain name like “mylastname.com”. Then when the ISP changes your IP, the service will remap the domain name to the new IP. This way you never have to remember the IP, instead of the IP you would always use “mylastname.com”, which will always be up to date.
For your last problem, make sure that the phone you are using is connected to the local WiFi, so that the phone also gets an IP like 192.168.1.xxx. if the phone still says 3G or 4G or LTE, then it means it is connected to a tower and not your local WiFi; therefore it will never know what 192.168.1.xxx is.
Hope that helps.
Also note that unless you reboot your DSL / Router modem often, the Dynamic Address that your ISP (COX), gives you, is likely to stay that way for a very long time. You can go months without a new IP.
Gustavo, I am having problems configuring access to the IC from away from my home. I set up port forwarding. I have the external port set at 6035 and the internal port at 80 with the internal ip of the IC.
I am using dyndns.org to manage the external ip. When I associate the address (caddy.dyndns.org) to my external IP, where do I put the port number? If I dont put the port number and type in the address (caddy.dyndns.org) doesnt it send it to port 80? Don’t i need it to send it to the address AND the port (6035). I am not sure how to configure it.
Or do I simply type cadd.dyndns.org:6035 when I am traveling?
Also, is it true that I can not “test” this when I am at home with a compiuter on the same network? I have to be away from my home on my phone on a different network to test this?
A little confused.
Even when I type in the actual internet address at home (numnerically 68.2.122.XXX:6035) it does not bring up the IC page. I have windows firewall completely turned off and have my netgear router port forwarding port the external IP with port 6035 to the IC address 192.162.1.XX.
Never mind. Got it working. You have. To be on a different network than your home to access via remote settings
Hi Fred, sorry for the late reply, I didn’t realize you had posted.
if you are using the iPhone app, then in the area where you configure a device, it gives you 3 text fields, 1 for the nickname ( that is just some friendly you make up for your own reference ), 2 is the IP or hostname ( that would be the IP in this case the external IP, or the caddy.dyndns.org hostname ), and 3 is the port number ( this is where you enter the 6035 port number you used for port forwarding ).
caddy.dyndns.org:6035 will work from a web browser, but not from the iPhone app because even if you delete the port number and leave it blank when you configure the Device, the app will add a colon “:” at the end, which will make the call fail.
It is not true that you cannot test when you are at home. If you configure the device to use the external IP and External port you used for port forwarding, it will still work. If you have WiFi enabled on the iPhone, the HTTP call to access the caddy will probably be captured by the router and reroute back into your network. Worst case scenario it would go up to your ISP, and the ISP would send it back into your router, which will then do the port forward to the caddy.
If you turn the WiFi off on the iPhone then the call will go to a tower and get routed appropriately, and eventually going back into your router where it will get port forwarded to the caddy.
Hope the previous rant helps someone.
Downloaded and installed your new iPhone app and configured my 4 controls units. I’m able to connect to each of them with the Status button but the Programs button doesn’t seems to be connecting. Most of the time it will just sit there with the network connection indicator spinning and some times it will return a timeout error message.
Hi Larry,
What firmware are you running on the Caddies?
It requires ICEthS1-1.2.171 or higher.
I think your issue is with the firmware version being older that the required one.
I had a similar issue but I had the required firmware. I think I resolved it by turning off authentication on the IC, connecting with the app to the Programs section successfully, then turned authentication on the IC back on… Might have been coincidence….
So far I’m impressed with the app! Just need to wait until the Spring to actually use it though!!!
Thanks for putting in the time to make this possible!
Here is the version I’m running:
ICEthS1-1.1.347
How do you update the firmware to the latest version?
Go to the website at:
http://irrigationcaddy.com/Documentation.html
and download the:
“Firmware Upgrade Instructions”
“Firmware Upgrade Utility”
and the latest firmware “ICEThS1-1.2.171
Since you have multiple units I would do one at a time if I were you. Disconnect all, except for the one you want to upgrade. Once upgraded, turn that off, and move on to the next one. Then you can turn them all ON.
Gustavo,
Is there an issue with the fios routers’ ability to work with your mobile ap?
There should be no issues related to the app + a FIOS router. If you have problems with port forwarding with the FIOS router, the problem should look the same whether you are on the iPhone or a laptop.
That said, the FIOS routers are tricky, and we ve noticed a few users that have issues with them. A user in particular had to assign a static IP to the caddy using another router, then plugged it back into the verizon FIOS router for the router to be able to work with it. We don’t have Verizon FIOS here so it is hard to test with that specific setup. At the same time though there a lot of other FIOS users that have not had any issues, so not sure what the issue might be.
If you send a ticket to support@irrigationcaddy.com with more detailed information, and maybe some screenshot we might be able to help you navigation through the issue.
Gustavo,
I believe I have multiple hurdles here. I have the ic connected to the iogear bridge and also a fios router. Do you have any thing in print that can guide me through the process? I want to use the mobile software as a remote control at home, lan ok for that. While I am away, I want to be able to go in and turn the entire system off if necessary. I cannot get the sequence correct on ip address’s using the bridge and fios router?
To confirm, is the connectivity OK within the network? but not from the outside?
In other words do you only have issues when you are remote and trying to get in through port forwarding?
Gustavo,
Most of the way there. I found the router external ip address, programed that with port forwarding to port 80. Went into ap and changed the ip address to the router address. I know am able to connect via 3g with all functions. But, when I go back to wi-fi connection, the ap will come up but will not allow me to do anything on it. If i try and change anything, it kicks me out. I turn off wi-fi and it works great. I noticed in wi-fi, manually entered zone names will not appear, just the default, zone 1 off. Any ideas, I really need this to work in house as a remote and from the road for the ability to change zone times and turn system on and off.
Hi Terry, ok so now it seems that you have it working with port forwarding but not from your lan?
yes, one or the other, never both. When I use the router ip address in the ap and ask the fios router to forward any incoming calls to port 80, works great on 3g but on wi-fi, i get the caddy screen that is non operational.