Sprinkler control systems
 

My Rain Bird that came with the house is on the fritz. I know of several members with a little slice of heaven in your backyard. Post up your controllers. I have 8 zones and need a new brain. Post up pics of your plants/pools/patios while we're here. Haven't seen any in a while. I'll post mine when my grass greens back up :mad:

I have a rain bird 8 zone controller. Do you need the directions?

I bought this but haven't installed it yet.....pretty dope in the world of home automation

http://smile.amazon.com/Rachio-Smart...1WT63CVGCMZ02C

Cabledog, I would say yes but this thing won't even acknowledge the correct function on most dial settings. I think it's shot

Phatboy, it's crazy what you can control from a phone! That's too much Intel and data for a sprinkler setup. Super cool for sure though. Although I would like to know my #s on each zone. I'll keep it in mind, thx fpr linking it

Cabledog
On second thought I'll take that manual if you can scan and send it easily. Maybe I'm not using the right settings or something simple

I'm at work now, will send later.

Here is a link that might have it until I can scan mine.

https://www.rainbird.com/landscape/s...ontrollers.htm

Have you had any storms lately? Irrigation controller's are pretty easy to get smoked out by lightning if you get a strike anywhere out in your yard (travels up the valve wiring). Take a good sniff and if it smells burnt inside the controller, it's likely toast. That being said, I've seen a lot of Rainbird controllers just fail too.

I used to sell and install the stuff, and the one I prefer is the Irritrol Total Control, which was very reliable and could accommodate whatever program you wanted. After that, I'd go Hunter.

Not sure I'll be much help, but just relocated from SoCal to TX and I've been dealing with getting our sprinkler system setup properly. It's been not so easy as we went from getting about 20 ft of rain in a month not long ago, to things drying out as far as lawns are concerned recently. Anyways, house we bought has the Rain Bird SST12000 and I've found it to be pretty easy to use once I took the time to sit down and read the manual. We sit on a large corner lot and have 11 zones if that makes a difference. Since the OP asked asked, I guess I'll post a pic. Not much to look at. We're about to have to dig out most of the system in the back as a pool and putting green will be going inAttachment 39408

http://rayshobby.net/ospi/

A buddy and I are also working on a program that will do the following:

Ping local weather forecast for the following: sunrise, dew point, humidity, and temp
.... once that data is pulled in, the controller will only turn on if there is no dew on the grass (based on temp, humidity, and dew point), and then only run the sprinklers for up to 30 mins after sunrise (so you don't burn off / evaporate all your water).... still have a ways to go though.

Good start Stanfield! SST series caught my eye. Thanks for posting it. Does it have buttons or a dial? Trying to get away from the dial systems. prone to problems
IMO

Nick, a few have weather sensors built in, but it sounds like you guys are taking it to the next level. definitely room for improvement

I recently redid my landscaping and used a Irritrol rd600 with a weather station. I looked into a lot of the new fancier wifi based systems, but this is proven technology and works great. Monitors the weather and compensates for rain, heat etc. I can run 3 start times and 3 zones with 6 stations each.http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...9a89895462.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...d56e2bd4ff.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...9f7802506c.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...84a9bee81f.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...89200fbcee.jpg

This was my "before"

Ours has a dial, to help with the programming, way more buttons than I was originally comfortable with, and a small LCD screen. As a total noob on a new piece of property tho, I was able to get it sorted out pretty quickly. I would def recommend to someone else.

Here's my issue. Menu and functions don't always correlate with the dial
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...a8c1f6b267.jpg

Not helpful regarding timers but I thought I would add a lawn tip.
Most lawn guys set the irrigation around here for 20 minutes every other day. I used to go out in the morning and see the sidewalk and driveway soaking wet and still got dead spots in the lawn.
I switched to a simple 6 minutes every day (3AM) and now I have no run off at all and my lawn is the envy of the neighborhood. Water here is crazy, my bill can go over $230 a month so we try to be careful.
Empire Zoysia

The problem with this watering method is it doesnt encourage the root systems to grow deep, and they are shallow which requires more water. I deep water my lawn 3-4x a week. 4:30 AM I run for 10 minutes, then it turns off for an hour and restarts for another 10 minutes. Running 20 minutes continuous just creates runoff, you need to let the water absorb deep.

I had the same problem with the same controller. Get the Irritrol rd600 with weather station like I mentioned above.

Another problem with this method, is that lots of places have watering bans, where you can only water on odd or even days, so daily isn't an option. Run-times just depend on if you have a sprayhead or rotor zone, and what kind of soil you have. If you've got clay, you're better off doing a couple of shorter runs in the same day to allow the infiltration. If it's sandy, you can get a lot more water down with minimal run-off.

I had the same problem with the same controller - ours is about 12 years old. What I found though is if I turn the dial slowly - meaning give it a second to think at each point it works fine. Might be worth a try.

You're right that helps. I've still got one or 2 dial positions that won't recognize.

bought this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ACR5CS8C4ZH0Y

grass is greening back up. Had to trick current time to 3 hours later so that it runs at the right time. Can't wait to set it and forget it!

On woot today - 15 hours left of the deal

http://www.woot.com/offers/8-zone-in...ef=cnt_dly_img

Nick looks like a good unit! thx for posting it

Boarder85, nice backyard. So the natural pond was there? Been looking hard at putting one in, just not sure of the best way to do it as they're fairly new to the US. looks like a solid bottom pool almost like gunite. nice rock work as well. also looks like it has a traditional pool style filtration system. polaris even! looks very clean!

The pool was there when we bought the house, it was built in the early 90s. The builder is from Northern California, their website is whyfly.net

Very cool site. I've looked at doing the more natural water features but really like this idea. thanks for sharing

Got my new brain in and its working perfectly. Running two water times per day until the grass can get caught up. Install was super easy
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08...c52239419f.jpg

That's funny I have the same problem with the same controller too. If I push in on the dial I can usually get the functions to match up. It started doing it about 2 years ago and hasn't chit the bed yet....yet.