Recent Posts

51

Setting Up Irrigation Schedules - Post Your Schedule! / Re: More Variety with Watering Schedules

« Last post by Jim on December 03, 2013, 08:25:05 pm »

Hi Scott,
To my knowledge there isn't a way to run a cycle on every 3rd day.  The reason we didn't implement every N day on LawnCheck  because most people want to know which days of the week their sprinklers will run - especially in mowing season.

You can more closely estimate an every-third-day schedule using two programs:  set one program to run on a 3/4 schedule, for example Monday and Thursday, and then create another program to run once a week, for example on Saturday.  You can scale back the irrigation times on the Saturday programs as needed.  This will give you a 3/2/2 schedule

Hope this helps.
Jim

52

Setting Up Irrigation Schedules - Post Your Schedule! / More Variety with Watering Schedules

« Last post by Scottf on December 01, 2013, 03:31:10 am »

Hi

Does anyone know of a straightforward way to implement a schedule that only waters every third day?

The existing schedule options allow you to water on odd or even days but this means watering will occur every second day and is what I am currently using.

If you select the days to water as being every third, there is obviously going to be a day where watering occurs two days in a row.

I don't use any third party services and am currently only using the options available on the "lawncheck.com" website.

Any ideas would be great

Thanks

53

LawnCheck Introductory FAQ / Can I use a weather station with LawnCheck...

« Last post by Jim on November 02, 2013, 09:01:14 pm »

If the weather station that you want to use is subscribed to the Weather Underground network, then yes LawnCheck can obtain the weather information from that station for use in controlling your irrigation. 

IMPORTANT NOTE:
The original developer API that WeatherUnderground has provided since 2013 was discontinued in February 2019.  They offer a new feed to weather station owners who upload weather data to their site.   Keys are available from their site.   As of March 2019 the new keys are available and the new PWS API is supported by LawnCheck. 

See our weather help page for more information.

 

54

Feature Requests / Increase number of cycles

« Last post by PEvans on October 09, 2013, 09:08:30 am »

People like Urban Farmer recommend splitting zone run times into 7-10 or more cycles; this is particularly useful for conventional sprinklers (with high precip rates) over clay soil and/or sloped conditions.

I would also suggest setting the default number of cycles at the max (rather than "1", the min). I'm not an expert, but I suspect low effective precipitation rate is always better, and runoff is never good. With the inter-cycle delay set to "auto" the total length of the program is not affected, it's just more efficient.

 

55

Feature Requests / Re: Total Time indicator for individual program

« Last post by PEvans on October 09, 2013, 09:00:24 am »

Ditto this suggestion as a simple way to make sure the schedule doesn't run into the late morning when evaporation is higher.

56

Feature Requests / Re: Total Time indicator for individual program

« Last post by Jim on September 02, 2013, 09:22:00 am »

Yes, displaying a total cycle run time/end of cycle time is possible and would be very useful.  We added a similar indicator to our OptiRain for Windows scheduler during its last update and so also need to provide this in LawnCheck, (along with a visual skip and overlap indicator!).  We'll try to get this done this fall/winter.  We spent a lot of time on the weather source last year and now need to add some improved usability tweeks for scheduling.

Thank you for the suggestion.

Jim

   

57

Feature Requests / Total Time indicator for individual program

« Last post by PBembower on September 02, 2013, 08:54:59 am »

Would it be possible to add either a Total Time indication or a Scheduled End of Cycle indication to the Schedules Screen?  Base-60 math is not my strong suit, so it would be very helpful to have some indication of when an individual program would normally end assuming its start time and calendar-based percentage.

58

New Questions, Ask Your Questions Here / Re: Setup & programming for 2 EtherRains

« Last post by PBembower on August 31, 2013, 10:04:19 am »

Thanks, Jim. That's very helpful.

With the Mac computer, I can open lawncheck in two different windows, and put up the schedules in one for viewing while actually working in the other. That makes it easier to avoid conflicting start- and run-times. Perhaps Windows and others can do the same. It really is a wonderful and powerful tool. Worth every penny, when you consider that one month's water conservation in July or August or September could easily pay for the cost of the EtherRain controller.  After that it is pure green!

PaulB

59

New Questions, Ask Your Questions Here / Re: Setup & programming for 2 EtherRains

« Last post by Jim on August 31, 2013, 08:39:09 am »

Hello PBembower,
Each controller that you add to LawnCheck is provided with 5 independent programs.

So, to add your second controller, click the "add device" button, and enter the name of your second controller, along with the zone names and optional GPM numbers.  Click save.  Both of your controllers should show up in your account screen. 

You'll need to make sure that the device name that you use is the same name you used when you configured your EtherRain; and make sure your new controller has your LawnCheck account number configured in it and is set to "poll" mode.

To add programs to your second controller, click on the second controller in the listbox, then click the "select device" radio button, then click "Begin."  The program schedule screen will be shown.  It will be empty, you should be able to click a link on that screen to add a program to your schedule.  Use a "smart landscape" program.

At this time there isn't a linkage between your two controllers so you have to manage the start times to ensure programs don't overlap.

Hope this answers,
Jim

60

New Questions, Ask Your Questions Here / Setup & programming for 2 EtherRains

« Last post by PBembower on August 30, 2013, 04:38:49 pm »

My installer has just added two zones to my system, bringing the total to eleven zones. I have the controller, but would like to see an example of how programming two units works.

Do I need to use a separate program for each controller, and if so how does the five-program limit come into play?