Total Landscape Care Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/183921
irrigation Smart Water BY KEN WYSOCKY Find the irrigation controller that best fits your site. L ong ago, back in the B.C. era (Before Controllers), irrigation systems were only as efficient as the person who remembered to manually turn them on and off. By comparison, today's technologically advanced irrigation controllers are light years removed from reliance on memory, a faucet bib and an opposable thumb. Generally speaking, today's controllers fall into two categories: timer-based units and smart models. Timer units are similar to alarm clocks; simple to use, they allow you to determine what days of the week an irrigation system should run, when it should start watering and for how long. Smart controllers are more complex. In essence, they collect on-site meteorological data — such as temperature and rainfall amounts — and logically adjust a pre-set program accordingly to maximize watering efficiency. "When you move into smart controllers, you're deciding to let the controller make watering decisions for you," explains Adolfo Meza, product manager for contractor controllers, Rain Bird. "By accounting for various factors, you can get a O C T O B E R 2013 TLC1013_Irrigation.indd 45 TotalLa nd s ca p e C a re . c o m 45 9/25/13 2:05 PM