Delay between zones

[StuartMI]

I have an irrigation system driven by a well. Unfortunately, the water in the well does not replenish as fast as I would like. Our old Hunter Pro*C controller allowed us to insert a delay time between the execution of each zone and this allowed the well to basically "catch up" and run the full cycle without losing pressure on the sprinkler (and the house!)

Is it possible to have a variable that can be set that would allow a time to be inserted between each zone running to accomplish this?

From Hunter's manual:

Programmable Delay Between Stations
This feature allows the user to insert a delay between when
one station turns off and the next station turns on. This is
very helpful on systems with slow closing valves or on pump
systems that are operating near maximum flow or have slow
well recovery.
1. Start with the dial in the RUN position.
2. Press and hold the k button while turning the dial to the
RUN TIMES position.
3. Release the k button. The display
will show a delay time for all
stations in seconds.
4. Press the j and k buttons
to increase or decrease the delay time between 0 and 59
seconds in 1 second increments and then in one minute
increments up to four hours. Hr will be displayed when the
delay changes from seconds to minutes and hours. Maximum
delay is 4 hours.
5. Return the dial to the RUN position.

[bluespray_admin]

Thank you for your feedback.  We will certainly submit this as a feature for future firmware releases.

[Canada_Guy]

As a possible work around, and if you have unused zones, you can use those unused zones to insert delays between other zones (this is what I do as I'm also on a well).

I wire my lawn to zones 1, 3 and 5 and don't connect anything to 2 and 4. I then program the unused zones 2 and 4 for whatever time I want to have as a "rest time" between zones. When I run the program for zones 1,2,3,4,5 the result is a rest time between zones.

[bluespray_admin]

Thanks for the input.  We will definitely put in a configurable delay in future firmware release.

[StuartMI]

Canada_guy:

Thanks for your reply.  Yeah, I'm at 18 zones right now and wouldn't be able to do this.  Hopefully this makes it into a future firmware release soon.

[bluespray_admin]

Would you prefer the delay value to be set globally or per program?
The global setting would delay x minutes after every zone has run. Per program offers the flexibility of varying the interval for each run, or is it really necessary?

[StuartMI]

On our Hunter controller it was set globally; The intent was to allow a well system to replenish itself between zone runs.  So I would think that a global setting would be fine for a delay between zones from that regard.

That said, if you make it per program then I can change it on each program.  The only program where it becomes an issue is the "Full-program" / "Long-run" type programs that really tax our well.  The shorter programs to water the flowerbeds and whatnot probably don't need the delay so it may actually be better to offer it per program, and gives you extra value-add over the Hunter controllers. 

So, maybe an option under "Time unit" on each program page called "Zone delay" or something?

[bluespray_admin]

If you have to change the delay value a lot, then it makes sense to implement it at the programs.  But if you hardly have to change then it makes more sense to make it a global value so that you don't have to enter it again every time you create a program.

[StuartMI]

Yes I understand the concept. I was just saying that doing it at the programs level gives you more flexibility.

[StuartMI]

Really sad to see this didn't make it into 1.2.1.

[bluespray_admin]

We have a lot of features that we'd like to put in, but it's impossible to implement them all.  What we do is rank the importance of the feature vs time to implement, then fit them into the schedule.  Sorry your feature cannot make it this time, but I'm sure it will be addressed.

[StuartMI]

Did this feature get pushed in the 1.2.2 release?  My controller is actually showing the current version available as 1.2.3.  Is there another forthcoming release?  Would really like to see this feature included.  For those on well-based systems it's absolutely crucial. 

[bluespray_admin]

No it's not in 1.2.2.  1.2.3 is just a bug fix version.

We're gathering requirement for this feature and have it built into the next release (1.3?).

Stuart, basically what you need is for the controller to pause between zones but keep the master valve (pump in your case) going.  Correct?

[StuartMI]

We don't have a master value on our system.

But yes, what I need is to be able to inject a specified delay between zones and then specify which zones it should be applicable to.

For example Zones 1-13 I want to run for 15 minutes each however have a 10 minute delay between each zone executing.  So, Zone 1 runs, completes, the system waits 10 minutes, Zone 2 runs, completes, the system waits 10 minutes, etc. 

However for Zones 14-15-16 I don't need a delay, so they should run in succession without a wait.  Perhaps allow a variable to be set for the delay time and then have a checkbox next to each zone something like "Apply Zone Delay after this zone runs" or something?

We are going to start watering soon and this feature would be VERY helpful.

[bluespray_admin]

We probably won't do per zone, but per program because our controller supports up to 64 zones and having to set each zone is impractical.

You can create a program that has a 600 second delay for program that runs 1-13.  Create another program for the other zones and set the delay to 0.

The zone delay option only appears if a master valve is configured.