Auto-calculating the Repeat Every Interval

[Derek]

I can’t seem to find where this has been asked before, but basically I’d like to use the soak method of watering due to our clay soil which starts to shed water rather than absorbing it. By the soak method, I mean I’d like to water for short periods of time for each zone and go around the yard multiple times back-to-back.

OpenSprinkler does this, but I have to manually calculate my repeat interval. So lets say that I have 6 zones, and each zone is running for 10 minutes. My repeat interval would be 60 minutes, right? The problem is that based on the weather calculation, the actual run times change. If it’s watering at 110%, then the repeat interval should actually be 66 minutes. If it’s watering at 90%, then the repeat interval should be 54 minutes.

I’d like to be able to default in 0s, and just have it determine the repeat interval for me. I really don’t want the system turning on/off multiple times per day, because I’m using a pump to source my water. On/Off is generally the toughest part of duty for any hardware…and I don’t want to wear it out faster than necessary. For this reason I don’t want to arbitrarily use a repeat interval that’s longer than the runtime because I’d like it continually running in a loop.

So let’s say that I want to repeat 6 times, and I try to set the repeat interval to something less than the sum of the runtime (like 40 minutes). With my current watering % of 123%, instead of repeating 6 times, the preview shows it’ll actually repeat 7 times (from the 123% weather adjustment?) but the last cycle isn’t a complete 7th cycle.

I’m guessing that this is a part feature request and part bug…

[Ray]

First, ‘repeat 6 times’ means it will water 7 times (including the first start time). Just to point this out to avoid any confusion.

Second, I would think you can set a relatively short ‘repeat every’ time to cover the cases when the watering percentage is less than 100%. Assuming you are running the latest firmware (2.1.7), it can queue the stations if the previous run isn’t completed when a new start time is encountered. Let’s say the total run time is 1 hour and you request to run every half hour, by the half hour it will queue the new run and hence they should run continuously without stopping.

There are certain restrictions here. One is that if by the time the new start time is encountered and not even the first station has finished running that station will not be queued. In other words, every station can only have one instance in the queue and cannot have more than 1 instances at the same time. But hopefully you have enough stations in the program that by the time the new start time is encountered at least the first station has finished running. Hope this makes sense.

[Derek]

Thanks Ray – your post answers all of the questions that I had.

I’m seeing the 7th, because it’s repeating 6 times – totally makes sense, I just wasn’t thinking there.

With my pump system, I just changed my plumbing of my supply lines and manifolds to 1.5″ from 1″ – this allows me to run far more heads / zone. This took me from 7 zones down to 3, so I’m encountering exactly what you mention – the last zone isn’t running because it’s landing in the queue twice, so my last cycle was 2/3 of the cycle.

So I’ll probably have to pick an interval that’s just slightly less than the total runtime so this doesn’t happen. I’d still like to see a checkbox added for a continuous loop (like a Boolean field that would change this to just repeat when the last station ends) added as a feature in the future. 🙂

[Ray]

I did think about adding a ‘program run counter’ that will allow the program to repeat continuously, without messing with the interval time. This will be very useful for cycle and soak feature. In general I agree that cycle and soak should be supported since it’s a pretty standard feature.

[mrslvd]

Hello,
I am a little bit confused with repeat function. If I set 5 zones in sequential mode, 20-20-20-10-10 minutes, repeated 1 time in 40 minutes interval and start in 19:30h I can see in Ppreview Programs all zones ordered as expected. If I change the start time to 23:00h then 1st repeat is as expected but then only zones 1 and 2 are repeated.

Can somebody tell me what is happening.

Best regards,
Miro

[Ray]

How many times did you set it to repeat? If the first start time is 23:00, it’s likely the second run will go over to the next day. Depending on which firmware you have, the earlier firmwares may not support repeating start times that go over to the next day.

[mrslvd]

Hello Ray,
I am testing with Repeat Count = 1. Firmware I am using is the latest – os_219_rev8.bin. It was the same with rev7.

Best regards,
Miro

[mrslvd]

Ray,
I’ve just set Demo on your site to recreate this situation. And it is the same as at my place.

Best regards,
Miro

[Ray]

Sorry, the change hasn’t been made yet, it requires both firmware changes and app/UI changes to go together. Also, rev 8 is mainly for adding support for OpenSprinkler Latch 3.2.

[mrslvd]

Hello Ray,
Did you add support for repeating start times that go over to the next day.

Best regards,
Miro

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