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Rainbird Central Controller Pro Tips - Temporary station adjust

In a previous post I outlined how I use sub irrigation classes to assign different crop coefficients (CC) to different parts of the golf course. This allows me to prioritize and micromanage the moisture depending on moisture demand. I also explained how I often have to make adjustments to these sub classes depending on the sun angle and the changing moisture demands for the time of the year.

Even though we are big users of digital moisture meters we still mainly rely on our eyes to make adjustments to water. It's still too difficult to measure the entire golf course every day but your eyes can see moisture stress from a mile away. You can also notice areas that are too wet by how the grass feels under your feet. It's good to walk the course every day if you are the one make the adjustments to the irrigation central.

When we notice that an area needs more water it is often when the soil VMC is well below where we want it. We are essentially at the wilt point and can see the moisture stress with our eyes. We can adjust the sub class of the zone to one that is slightly higher. This will only supply the area with enough water for the daily use but will not help to get the soil moisture levels back up to where we want them which is high enough to supply a day or two of moisture demand. We don't want to be wilting out each day generally and having enough water for a few days is hardly over-watering. This is, of course, an average. We never get everything 100% looked after so each day there is some wilt. The trick is to keep the amount of areas that need supplemental irrigation to a minimum.

So simply adjusting the moisture demand will not help us especially in the short run. Luckily, the Rainbird Stratus Central software has an option called "Temporary Station Adjust." This feature is found on the "Station Detail" page and I have talked with a few people who didn't know it existed even though they have used this software for decades. Not naming names Tristan.


The Temp Sta. Adjust (%) window allows you to set a percentage increase or decrease and a duration in days that you want it to last. This is a feature that we use every time that we make an adjustment to our sub irrigation classes.

If we are increasing the CC we assume that the station is currently too dry so we temporarily increase the amount of water this station gets over and above the changes we have already made to the sub class. If the station is exceptionally dry, we increase it more to say 200% and make it last for a few days. 

If it is an area that is too wet we decrease it so that it supplies less water than the new sub class to allow the area to dry out. We can set it for 50% and run it at that for 3-4 days depending on the weather.

This feature is especially useful as it allows you set it and forget it. After the duration expires, the station adjust will go back to how you want it to be for normal operation.

Cool!

You can also do the exact same for any program that you have made. If you have some wetting agent that you want to water in heavily you temporarily run 300% of normal for a day and then it will go back to normal.

Dude!


You can further use this feature to turn off a single schedule in a program. We often have to isolate a hole for an irrigation break and need to pause the irrigation on the hole for a single night only. You can go into the schedule view and turn off the schedule for as long as you need to make the repair and it will automatically turn back on without you having to do anything.

Dope!





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