Hunter VSX Operating Manual Download Page 1

VSX OPERATING MANUAL

®

VSX Programming
and Operations Manual

Summary of Contents for VSX

Page 1: ...VSX OPERATING MANUAL VSX Programming and Operations Manual ...

Page 2: ...Set Date 11 Set Main Scale 11 Set Schedule Length 12 Set Schedule Day 12 Set Day Change 13 Set FCP Inhibit 13 Set Response 14 Set MR Runtime 14 Set MR Pump 15 Set PINS 15 Writing a Field Controller Program 16 Naming a Program 16 Typing Instructions 16 Assigning a Schedule 17 Daily 17 Day of Week 17 Assigning a Start Time 20 Stations Run Times Events 21 Blocks 23 Station Options 25 Delete an Event ...

Page 3: ...ies Specifications 47 The VSX controller may be used as a standalone controller for up to 60 stations or 103 stations in a decoder system It may also be part of a central system connected to a central computer via radio or hardwire com munications You can upgrade a standalone VSX controller to a networked controller at any time by adding communications kits and connecting it to a central computer ...

Page 4: ...ams are provided in the software manual for the central software Why two different kinds of Programs Different superintendents manage their irriga tion in different ways and irrigation systems go through many different phases in their annual cycle The VSX Field Controller is equipped to handle every phase of irrigation including grow in seasonal changes overseeding winter ization and special appli...

Page 5: ...enables and disables Rain Shutdown 2 Sets run times and order for stations and Blocks 3 Accesses multiple options and controller settings Different sets of options appear depending on mode controller is in with other keys 4 Saves field inputs and edits 5 Selects between fixed choices in the display and selects Rain Shutdown yes no when Off is pressed 6 Alphanumeric buttons for data entry 7 Clears ...

Page 6: ...omatic operation when irrigation is required again If you do NOT want to enter Rain Shutdown press the OFF button again upper right of the keypad or any other button except ENTER This will simply shut down all current irrigation until the next scheduled Start Time Note that if another automatic Program was scheduled to start one minute later the controller will begin irrigating again in one minute...

Page 7: ...tion TOGGLE to NO and press ENTER or simply press EXIT Controller Setup When you start up a brand new VSX controller or if you have erased the controller memory and are reprogramming from scratch you must set up some basic operating information first Press the OPTIONS button The display will show Pause Watering Press the OPTIONS button again The display will show List FC Settings Press ENTER The d...

Page 8: ... whether the Pump output turns on whenever a station is started by a Maintenance Radio command Current ET Day This is only used in central systems which calculate look ahead sched ules based on evapo transpiration rates and download them to the controller This display will indicate which day of the ET schedule you are on When the controller has finished sequencing through the FC Settings it will s...

Page 9: ...are not using Maintenance Radio the Address is not necessary When the display shows Set Address press ENTER The display will show Type the address you want with the number buttons on the keypad and press ENTER The display will show SAVED Address 2 The address is now saved You can use any 3 digit number and controllers in a central system do not need to be sequentially num bered However each contro...

Page 10: ... reduce or increase all of the Run Times in the controller by the selected percentage from 1 to 250 in 1 increments This enables you to quickly adjust the amount of irrigation for weather or other conditions without changing the basic programs At 50 each Run Time will only run half as long and at 150 each Run Time will run one and half times as long Note In the Program Options you can also scale i...

Page 11: ... Type the number of the new Schedule Length with the number buttons on the keypad and press ENTER The display will briefly show SAVED and the new Schedule Length selection After a moment the display will revert to You may now press the OPTIONS BACK or NEXT buttons to view more options or you may press EXIT to leave the Edit Settings mode Set Schedule Day The Schedule Day shows which day of the Sch...

Page 12: ...ay Change to an exact hour no minutes To set the Day Change Press ENTER at the Set Day Change display The display will then show Type the number for the Day Change hour 8 in this example with the number buttons on the keypad and press ENTER The display will show The current selection will be capitalized Other selections will be in lower case Press the TOGGLE button to switch between AM and PM When...

Page 13: ...oo much communications chatter you can set this to Partial To set Response Press ENTER at the Set Response display The display will then show The current selection will be capitalized default is PARTIAL The full selection will be in lower case Press the TOGGLE button to switch between PARTIAL and FULL When it is correct press ENTER The display will flash SAVED and your selection After a moment the...

Page 14: ...S and NO When it is correct press ENTER The display will flash SAVED and your selection After a moment the display will revert to You may now press the OPTIONS BACK or NEXT buttons to view more options or you may press EXIT to leave the Edit Settings mode Set PINS The VSX controller has 2 levels of optional password protection The Supervisor level can perform all program ming functions The Operato...

Page 15: ...play will revert to You may now press the OPTIONS BACK or NEXT buttons to view more options or you may press EXIT to leave the Edit Settings mode Writing a Field Controller Program Press the PROGRAM SELECT button The display will show This indicates that you are in Program 1 with 0 out of 64 total Programs in use The numbers may vary if there are already pro grams in the controller s memory There ...

Page 16: ... entire Program Name press CLEAR To type numbers press the TOGGLE button The bottom line of the display will show Num entry mode Now the buttons will type the number on the button instead of the letters To delete a number and leave a space TOGGLE back to Alpha entry more and use the 1 or 0 then TOGGLE back to Num entry mode to continue typing numbers When the name in the display is correct press E...

Page 17: ...e controller calendar as in Day 2 of a 14 Day Schedule Day 1 7 shows the number of days in the controller calendar as set in the Edit FC Settings selections If the calendar is longer than 7 days the remaining days will be shown on other pages when you finish setting up the first seven days The Y s show Yes for each of the days default setting is all days to Yes regardless of how many days are in t...

Page 18: ...Capital letter days are watered Lower case lettered days are non water days Press the TOGGLE button to change the capital T or any other letter to a lower case t Press TOGGLE again and the day will change back to a capital T Press the NEXT or BACK button to move to a different day Create capital letters for each day you want to water and lower case letters for each day you want to skip When the wh...

Page 19: ...e display will show You can actually perform two different func tions from here If you press START again the program will begin running immediately so be careful This is the Semi automatic Start feature If you press ENTER the display will show The Prg01 will indicate the Program number you selected XXXXXXXXXX will be the name of the Program if applicable Start will show the actual Start Time of da...

Page 20: ...ny order by setting its Event number Events always occur in sequence from 1 to the last event You can assign any station to any Event Each Program may have up to 30 Events To program individual stations Press the PROGRAM SELECT button repeat edly until the name or number of the Program you want appears in the display Once you have pressed PROGRAM SELECT you can also use the BACK and NEXT buttons t...

Page 21: ... selected Program are programmed Remember that you can enter any stations in any order Example Event Station Run Time hours minutes 1 3 0 10 2 5 0 08 3 7 0 12 4 8 0 04 5 6 0 20 6 4 0 11 7 2 0 08 8 10 0 10 9 1 0 12 10 9 0 05 Event 1 will begin at the assigned Start Time for the Program 9 30pm and run for 10 minutes Event 2 will follow immediately after it Station 5 for 8 minutes then Event 3 and so...

Page 22: ...y constant level of flow even for a large number of sequencing Events By permitting Blocks to sequence simultaneous groups of 4 sprinklers down a fairway for example large areas can be irrigated with fewer Programs and less complicated sequences Blocks can also irrigate more efficiently than single stations because the cloud of spray from multiple sprinklers running simulta neously cools hot surfa...

Page 23: ...R The display will show Press OPTIONS again The display will show Press OPTIONS again The display will show To edit an existing Block press the OPTIONS button until Edit a Block is shown and press ENTER The display will show t h i sl i s tw i l la l w a y ss h o wa l lo ft h e c u r r e n t l ye x i s t i n gB l o c k s In this example the controller already has more than 5 Blocks created and the ...

Page 24: ...k numbers Type the number of the Block you want to remove for example 2 and press ENTER The display will show REMOVED and the block will be permanently deleted Station Options changing Events As noted above stations or Blocks can run in any order You do this by editing Events There are several options available to edit Events Remember The Event refers to the order in which the station will run You...

Page 25: ... the same run time see what happens and adjust individual stations from there Cluster lets you assign a single run time to large numbers of sequentially numbered stations with a minimum number of keystrokes To do this the Cluster command will assign a consecutive sequence of station numbers to a consecutive sequence of Event numbers with a single run time for all To cluster Events press STATIONS t...

Page 26: ...r will then assign the run time to every station in the cluster beginning with the lowest numbered station and ending at the last one in the cluster When you have finished entering the Run Times for all the stations you want in the Program press the EXIT button The display will show If you want to save the new Run Times press ENTER with the YES capitalized The dis play will show The display will t...

Page 27: ...the display Press ENTER The display will show Press ENTER you may also type in a different Event number The display will show Type the Event you want to move the data to 10 in this example and press ENTER The display will briefly show OK and revert to the Move Event display The Event data has been moved Note that the other Events move forward to fill the slot formerly occupied by station 6 No data...

Page 28: ... an Event Event 4 in the example Press the OPTIONS button until the display shows Insert an Event Press ENTER The display will show Press ENTER The display will briefly show OK and will then revert to the Insert Event option You have now created a blank Event at Event 4 The stations and Event that were at 4 are now at Event 5 and the rest of the sequence has been pushed back to make room for the n...

Page 29: ...elected at the Program level it permits you to tailor certain plant areas for local conditions If you only want to adjust the greens irrigation for example without affecting the fairway irrigation you would Scale just those Programs with greens sprin klers in them Important The effects of Scale at the Main controller and Program levels are cumulative The controller looks first at the Program Scale...

Page 30: ...ating seed grow in etc You can also specify a Delay between each cycle at the next option setting To set the number of Cycles Press PROGRAM SELECT until the name of the Program you want to adjust appears Press OPTIONS until Set Cycles appears Press ENTER The display will show Type the number of cycles you want with the number buttons on the keypad and press ENTER The display will briefly show SAVE...

Page 31: ...ecutive days and do not take into account the scheduled days on for the particular Program Skip Days will suspend the Program for the specified number of calen dar days If the resume day was a no water day for the Program s normal schedule it will still be a no water day when the Skip Days times out Note that if you set Skip Days for a Program while it is already running after its automatic Start ...

Page 32: ...f your controller operates both rotors and spray heads connected to city water you may have a booster pump to provide additional pressure for the rotors In this case you could have the Pump option set to Yes for the Programs containing the rotors but No for the Programs containing the spray heads if they would be over pressur ized with the booster pump Keep in mind that if any controller in the sy...

Page 33: ...on on the keypad The display will show Type the number of the station you want to start and press ENTER The cursor will then move to the minutes section of the run time section 00 00 of the display Type the amount of time you want the station to run for and press ENTER The display will briefly show OK and then You may now enter more stations to start manually if you wish If you only want to start ...

Page 34: ...ftimelefttogoonthestation In the Simultaneous mode the display will sequence through all the stations currently running and show the remaining time on each station Any automatic Program can be easily started at any time from the keypad This is called semi automatic operation and is useful for irrigat ing any area that is normally handled by an automatic Program right now You can use this to irriga...

Page 35: ...e a Preset Press the PRESET button The display will show Press the OPTIONS button The display will show Edit Prg Name Press ENTER The bottom line of the display will show Alpha entry mode and the cursor will be flashing on the first space Use the buttons on the keypad to type in a name for the Preset You may mix letters and numbers to create accurate names for each Preset up to 10 total characters...

Page 36: ...which only apply to the selected Program the Field Controller options apply to the entire Field Controller or provide access to special functions Several of them have been covered in detail in other sections Field Controller level options are accessed by pressing the Options button on the keypad when no Program is selected in the display The remaining Field Controller options are covered in detail...

Page 37: ...n the field connected to a two wire path The Edit Decoder function allows you to change the assignments of decoder identifica tion numbers to station numbers in the field This can be used whenever a decoder is re placed added or exchanged with another decoder after initial setup Note The Edit Decoder function may also be used for initial setup of all the decoders in a controller but full system se...

Page 38: ... station number as described above and when you are finished press EXIT The display will show If you press ENTER the changes will be saved You may also TOGGLE to NO and press ENTER if you want to discard the changes Note Decoder edits are automatically stored in memory and must be dumped every 4 edits If you edit more than 4 consecutive decoder stations in a session the display will periodi cally ...

Page 39: ...a tion events will no longer exist Radio Xmit Test Radio controllers only The Radio Transmit Xmit Test option only appears in VSX controllers equipped with radio commu nications modules and is used to test the radio and communications board If you are not certain whether the radio communications are function ing properly this test will generate a constant tone for 5 seconds which can be heard on a...

Page 40: ...te an unlicensed system Maintenance Radio commands Most of the manual irrigation functions that can be started from the VSX keypad can also be started from Maintenance Radio The command codes follow a simple structure consisting of con troller address function stations or programs affected and timing One good two bad Maintenance Radio commands are always two way communica tions The VSX Controller ...

Page 41: ...ue to run until you stop it with another command or until it reaches the time out limit set in the MR Runtime option under Edit FC Settings see Set MR Runtime on page 14 To turn the same station off repeat the above steps but end with instead of The command would be 1 1 This tells con troller 1 station 1 to stop If you want to use store and send remember to add an extra at the beginning Generally ...

Page 42: ... a Block aaa 312 bb tttt Start block b for tttt HH MM or global MR Time This is exactly the same as starting a Station except that it starts a Block Stop all irrigation at a aaa 320 OR Stops all irrigation for the designated FC This will include Field Controller aaa D Manual Semi Auto Automatic and Preset irrigation permanent everything stops SHORTCUT KEY D Delete activity Pause all irrigation at ...

Page 43: ... is running and there is no activity listed in the status display it may have been turned on manually at the valve or there could be a malfunction in the valve or a possible malfunction in the VSX outputs If the VSX has intentionally operated a valve it will always appear in the status display If you are not sure why a sprinkler is running at any time check the controller display first Other Messa...

Page 44: ...s is to press CLEAR SCHED ULE 0 ENTER This will clear the controller memory although the Time Address and PINs passwords are retained POWER OUTAGE This indicates that power has been lost in the recent past Pressing the CLEAR key will clear this message Events at Max This indicates that the System Program station event buffer is full This area of the controller can hold up to 1000 events Pressing t...

Page 45: ...e Pause on page 7 FCP AUTO INHIBIT This indicates that the controller will not start any internal scheduled programs This mode can be started or stopped from the controller keypad see Set FCP Inhibit on page 13 or the central computer Consult software documentation for details on enabling and disabling this mode from the central computer Comm is muted This indicates that the controller will not in...

Page 46: ...put 1 Amp max Grounding Requirement 10 Ohms max Signal Output Radio 2 Watts UHF 450 470 MHz Hardwire 4 20 milliamp loop GCBL Hardwire communications cable 2 twisted pair 18AWG Shielded GCBLA Armored Hardwire communications cable for direct burial 2 twisted pair 18AWG Shielded Decoder Wiring decoder versions only GVIKCBL1 2 wire twisted 14 2 2 08mm2 up to 10 000 ft 3000m GVIKCBL2 2 wire twisted 12 ...

Page 47: ...tries Incorporated The Irrigation Innovators 1940 Diamond Street San Marcos California 92069 TEL 1 760 744 5240 FAX 1 760 744 7461 2001 Hunter Industries Incorporated www HunterIndustries com P N 562191 70 089 5 01 ...

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