One of the great advantages of an automated irrigation system is that, if properly installed and programmed, irrigation will be automatically, correctly, and efficiently applied. This ensures a flourishing summer garden, saves water, and preserves the value of your property.
Unfortunately, proper programming is often complicated, since many irrigation controllers:
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- Are difficult to program (i.e. it can be difficult to change a programmed watering),
- Have confusing knobs and dials,
- Are limited in their functionality – only a certain number of zones and schedules can be managed, and
- Are inconvenient to use (i.e. you may need to go outside and manually turn off a scheduled watering if it is raining).
To get the best results, you need to ensure that your irrigation system does not limit what your landscape requires. Because all plants have differing growing requirements, it is important to know what your various plants need, and how to best care for them (i.e. how often do they need to be watered and how long do they need to be watered).
Some scheduling capabilities that are important include:
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- Number of “starts” per day – this refers to how many watering “on’s” that can be scheduled in the same day. For example, a vegetable patch may need to be watered in the morning and in the evening (2 starts in the day).
- Number of “starts” in total – this refer to the capability of the controller to remember all your separate schedules. For example, if you want 2 schedules on Monday and 3 different schedules every other day of the week, then the controller will need to store 20 schedules. Unfortunately many controllers cannot do this!
- Durations – this refers to how long a zone/area can be watered with an “on” (i.e. the time period in hours/minutes/seconds). You will want to easily change durations (e.g. reduce the veggie watering from 10 minutes to 5 and a half minutes because of cloudy weather, or simply omit a watering on a rainy day) without having to be onsite, or needing to reprogram the entire watering schedule. Most controller cannot do this!
Most irrigation controllers are extremely limited in what they can do regarding these necessary scheduling capabilities. Make sure you chose a controller that can meet your needs and is flexible and easy to use.
Send us a message for more details about the Easy Irrigation Control Systems scheduling capabilities.
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