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Which controller will work?
We have recently purchased an avocado grove and We need to upgrade my sprinkler system. I need to be able to water for at least 12hr per station and then wait 12hr before the next station turns on. This is due to the limiting capabilitiy of the well. Is there controller that will do this for us. We currently need 7 stations but we may need more in the future.
One old technique to acheive this was to have a controller with at least twice the zones you needed, and to water on odd-numbered zones, and to have the waiting time on the even numbered zones.
That's a good idea Boots has there. I think the Hunter ICC could be creativly programmed to do what you want. It has 4 programs with 8 start times per program. Program D you can program up to 12 hours per zone. It has a delay between stations up to 10 hours so the empty zone would only have to run 2 hours. Or maybe your well could handle the 10 hour delay instead of 12. It's expandable up to 48 zones. The way I see it you could get away with having to program 13 of the 32 available start times. 7 at 12 hours each on D and 6 at 2 hours with the 10 hour delay between on A. Good luck!
If I can't fix it, it's broken!
I have looked at the Hunter ICC and it does look like a nice unit. But I am still confused by your solution. How is the empty zone programmed? If I can get some more water out of the well I will want to water for less time and put more water on the trees but I still the 12 hours between station starts so they all go on and off at the same time otherwise the cycle will change each day. I know what I am trying to do is not the norm for sprinklers and there is no ready solution. One idea that I had was simply to by sone less expensive controller and program each one on its own day and that way I don't have to try and trick the controllers into doing what I want. As far as the cost buying 6 or 7 controllers is cheaper than one of the controllers with all the features, most of which I don't need. What I am trying to water are avocado trees and the need about 300-400 gal each a week during the summer. Right now my well will only support about 180 gal. I know this is less than I need but that is all the trees have been getting in the past and they seem to do just fine.
Thank You,
Looking forward to you replies
Hi, I'm confused too. Maybe the schedule I suggested before wont work because program D will run at the same time as program A. So skip that idea. I was trying to get you the least number of stations needed. I'm almost sorry I answered this question because I'm thinking too hard. =) Buying a bunch of controllers probably isn't a good idea. Here's one problem with that. The time of day will change.
For example, you have them all sequenced in the beginning. All the controllers say 5 pm. Come back in 6 months and they'll all be different. They could be as much as 15 minutes apart. I don't recommend going that route. I'd stick to one controller. It wont cost that much more to save you heacaches down the road.
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Ok, here we go again.
I wish I could remember what the max run time is for a station on programs ABC. I believe it's 5.9 hours on the Pro C. So I'll figure it using that as a reference.
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You'll need 28 stations. All set to run 4 hours on program A. You'll be using the seasonal adjustment of 150% so each one will run 6 hours. Station 1 and 2 will run for 6 hours to valve number 1. Station 3 and 4 will run to an empty zone. That's 4 zones for 1 valve.
Just repeat for the remaining 6 valves for a total of 28 zones needed.
Good luck!
If I can't fix it, it's broken!
If more irrigation is to be added, then maybe it's time to fit the new work to the existing well, and to look towards reworking the existing system. Then you can run continously, and just use a controller with drip capability, like the Hunter ICC (on its program D) ~ If you don't need rest periods for the pump, life will be simpler.
An 'empty' zone is just programmed for whatever recovery time the well needs. No wire is actually connected to that zone on the controller.
First I want to thank Mr fixit and Boots for your responses.
I was having a tough time with the delay for the Hunter ICC but I think
I have figured it out. So, I would like to run it by you and see what you think.
First I will program station 1 for 12 hr with program D and then I will use the program delay between station which is up to 10 hrs. by setting it for 5 hr and 59 min. Next run station 2 for 2 min and the delay program will run for another 5 hr and 59 min and then station 3 will run for 12 hrs on D and so on. I should be able to do this with 13 stations and the cycle should repeat itself since I am only going to program 1 day a week.
Let me know what you think.
The Hunter ICC will allow for only 2hr on AB&C and I would need 5 channels per sprinkler using the 150% seasonal.??
Thanks again for the help and especially getting me to think about solutions..
It sounds like you figured it out. I had to read what you wrote a few times to follow. So you're basically running everything with one start time. Good job. I knew there was a solution in there somewhere.
As far as the 2 hour on ABC goes, that can't be right. I think it's somewhere between 6 and 8 hours max per zone. There's really no need for that because I think you already have a good plan. 13 stations. Wish I'd thought of it. =) I'd like to make one suggestion though. You're trying to run the clock exactly 24 hours a day. There might be a slight delay between each zone. Over time your start time wont be the same. It might say the same time but it will come on a few minutes later. So, if you set two or three of the delays one minute less, the time zone 1 comes on will remain constant. Good luck!
If I can't fix it, it's broken!
Thank you for your help. Looks like I will buy the Hunter ICC. Everyone I talked to seemed to like it and now that I have a solution to my complicated watering scheem, I am much relieved.
Once again thank you.
There might be better solutions. How many acres are under irrigation right now? What sprinklers are being used? I have dealt with systems that needed to have a rest period for well recovery. The systems were poorly designed, or sometimes, a replacement pump had a flow that exceeded the well's capacity.
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