My take on Opensprinkler using pre-programmed decisions to calculate evapotranspiration (ET) to run irrigation, sure, that’s all fine but what about actual water flow being monitored and recorded using flow sensors?
Suppose one of your irrigation valves is stuck on and is running 24-7 and you’re not there to
notice it. A master valve set to shut off for HI FLOW would do the trick and I would definitely want this feature which is what Hunter I-Core does with FlowSync sensors.
OTOH suppose you accidentally cut an irrigation wire when planting a shrub, and your irrigation doesn’t
run anymore with a LOW or NO FLOW state. Then your lawn dries up and starts to die, but your irrigation controller is still functioning, all is fine and well in the ET world and the network controller. Except for one minor thing: it’s not putting water on your lawn now. Hunter’s I-Core and FlowSync can’t react to NO FLOW because there not SMS function send out text alerts to your cell phone of a NO FLOW or HI FLOW state.
Basically, with water flow being monitored and recorded, a smart controller can react via master valve and flow sensor if your irrigation valves is stuck on and is running 24-7 and you’re not there to
notice it. However NO FLOW situations are also important.