Rain Sensor Test Mode

[Tom]

Hi,

I’d like to request that you provide a way to test the rain sensor action. I have installed a rain sensor and although it’s pretty easy to confirm the system detects the proper mode by simply looking at the LCD screen (you can easily see the “rain cloud” icon turn on/off as you manually actuate the rain sensor switch), it would be really nice to be able to see the unit actually control the sprinklers. You could add “Use rain sensor” to the “Edit Stations” screen selection so that when you run a 1 minute test on a station, you could push the rain sensor button and see the station turn off. I know it “should” work, but I’m in California, and it doesn’t rain all that often, so it would be nice to confirm what I expect to happen without waiting for rain.

Thanks.

tom

[Samer]

I think a more suitable test would be to pour water on the rain sensor. Otherwise, you are not testing a normal part of the software loop (triggering a rain sensor by bypassing the hardware doesn’t test much and is similar to triggering a rain delay).

You can also change the state of rain sensor (normally open to normally closed).

[Tom]

I don’t think you understood my request. I would like to test the operation of the rain sensor feature, assuming the rain sensor works.

Right now, the only way to test my rain sensor feature is to wait until one of my regularly-scheduled programs starts, and then actuate the rain sensor.

This would be simple to do. Just make the rain sensor affect either the “test station” feature or the “run once” feature. Right now they both appear to ignore the rain sensor.

Thanks again.

Tom

[Samer]

Oh okay now I understand the problem. The best way to test this is to schedule a temporary program that starts 1 minute ahead of the current time. This should test the rain sensor in the fashion you described.

[Tom]

Yep I figured I could do that. Just thought it might be a nice feature to avoid having to create a program just to be used once.

Thanks.

Tom

[Author]

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