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Let’s compare watering to filling the gas tank in your car. When the gauge reads close to empty,
it is time to fill the tank. When soil moisture has depleted, the Weather Reach Receiver allows
the sprinkler system to fill the soil reservoir to ensure a healthy landscape, like filling the gas
tank. A controller without Weather Reach technology may water every other day, whether the
landscape needs it or not.
By using this method of watering, your sprinkler system may water more frequently in the
summer months, and less frequently in the spring and fall months since watering is now based on
weather (which affects how much water evaporates from your soil). Weather Reach
automatically adjusts throughout the year to keep the moisture levels in your soil reservoir at the
best level for the health of your plants.
Rainfall:
You have seen that rainfall is used to determine when watering occurs. Your Weather
Reach Receiver may have been installed with an on-site rain gauge. If so, this should be kept
free of debris. If you do not have your own rain gauge then the Weather Reach Receiver will use
the rainfall information from the local weather station.
Your Weather Reach Receiver was programmed to define effective rain. A light rainstorm may
not provide enough water to the plants and soil, so the sprinklers may still come on. After a
heavy rain the watering may be suspended for several days.
ET Window Start and ET Window Length:
The Weather Reach Receiver must be
programmed to the time of day your sprinkler controller is set to water and how long it takes to
complete the watering of all the zones. For example, your controller may be set to start irrigating
at 2:00 am and will continue to water each zone until 5:00 am. This sprinkler cycle takes 3 hours
to complete. In this example the ET Window Start of your Weather Reach Receiver would be
set to 2:00 and the ET Window Length is 3 hours. The ET Start Window is not used to start a
watering cycle but is used to allow the Weather Reach Receiver to control watering during that
period.
