This set of nodes enables communication with the Rainbird irrigation controller via a local LNK2 connection. To use these nodes, you need both the Rainbird controller and the LNK2 add-on properly plugged in and configured. It should work with most Rainbird devices using LNK2 wifi module but currently it is tested with ESP-me3. Original protocol implementation was also tested with ESP-RZXe. This module is exposing nodes that allows both to query state and start/stop irrigation proces. It is intended to be used with node-red NRCHKB homekit integration which allows to expose irrigation system in Apple Home app.

Prerequisites

To connect, you need the LNK2 IP address and PIN:

• LNK2 PIN: This is the code you set up in the Rainbird mobile app when configuring the LNK2.
• LNK2 IP: This is the local IP address assigned by your router.

This package uses modified protocol code of node-rainbird to communicate with Rainbird controllers.

Available Nodes:

rainbird-info

Fetches basic information about the Rainbird sprinkler controller via the local LNK2 connection - serial number, model, date and other usefull informations. The payload contains following:

1{
2  "serialNumber": "xxxxxxxxxx",
3  "modelID": "xxxxx",
4  "protocolRevisionMajor": "xx",
5  "protocolRevisionMinor": "xx",
6  "hour": 13,
7  "minute": 21,
8  "second": 19,
9  "day": 25,
10  "month": 5,
11  "year": 2025,
12  "pageNumber": "00",
13  "stationsAvail": 10
14}

rainbird-state

Retrieves the current IrrigationState from the Rainbird sprinkler controller. The payload will contain:

1{
2  "irrigationState": "_state_"
3}

The irrigationState indicates whether the Rainbird controller is running a program. This does not provide information on active zones, but acts as a flag that controller is set to start irrigation automatically.

rainbird-active

Fetches information on currently active zones (sprinklers) from the Rainbird sprinkler controller. Rainbird allows to have only single node running at a time. The returned payload will include:

1{
2  "pageNumber": "00",
3  "activeStations": "00000000",
4  "activeZones": [0, 0, 0, 0]
5}

New Feature – HomeKit Mode: In "homekit" mode, this node detects changes in zone state and outputs only those zones that have changed. The output is formatted in a way compatible with HomeKit NRCHKB "Valve" node:

1{
2  "payload": {
3    "Active": 1,
4    "InUse": 1
5  },
6  "topic": "2"
7}

rainbird-config

Configuration node for managing the controller's setup.

rainbird-startZone

Manually activates a specific zone for a set duration (in minutes). If another zone is already active, it will be deactivated. It accepts message:

1{
2  "payload": { "Active": 1 },
3  "topic": "zone_nr",
4  "time": "time_in_minutes"
5}

where

• msg.topic: Specifies which zone to activate.
• msg.time: Defines how long the zone should run (in minutes).
• msg.payload.Active: Is a key that confirms that we want to start this zone. Additionally, if a message contains:

1{ 
2  "payload": 
3    { "SetDuration": <time_in_seconds> }, 
4  "topic": "zone_nr" }

The duration is stored for that zone and will be used for future activations. This enables direct integration with HomeKit valve controls.

rainbird-stopZone

Stops all sprinkler zones, halting irrigation.

rainbird-delayStart

Delays the start of an irrigation program by a specified number of days. The delay duration is provided in msg.payload.

rainbird-startProgram

Manually starts a program by specifying the program number in msg.payload (e.g., Program "A" = 1, Program "B" = 2). This feature is not supported on ESP-RZXe but works on ESP-me3 and may work on other models.

rainbird-getDelay

Retrieves information on whether a program's start has been delayed. The payload will return:

1{
2  "delaySetting": number_of_days
3}

Example Flow

An example flow is provided in the examples folder of the repository. This flow demonstrates how to integrate and use the available Rainbird nodes within a Node-RED environment.

Credits

This package uses a modified version of node-rainbird originally developed by @bbreukelen. All protocol decoding and encryption logic is based on that excellent work.

---

Maciej Szulc, 2025