pb,

These are he words from Rainbird's site:

Proving that extra smart can also be extra simple.
The ease and speed with which you can program a site is remarkable. Simply
input a few key specifics, such as zip code, allowed watering days and the
plant/soil type for each zone; the ESP-SMTe does the rest.

So I am confused that you need to know these hydrological concepts to operate this controller. Have you tried contacting someone at Rainbird for help? If your house is still under warranty, you should be able to contact the builder to explain its operation. they should have explained it all to you when you bought the house.
Here is there website: http://www.rainbird.com/homeowner/index.htm

HomeOwners Guide Link with Tech support: http://www.rainbird.com/documents/turf/man_ESP-SMTe_EN.pdf

Sounds like you need an agronomy degree to set this up. Net Application rate is intensity of rainfall equivalent output minus the rainfall amount of your system.

Cycle/Soak is your controller allows a rest period for irrigation water to soak into the ground before resuming irrigation of that area.

I would set the net application rate at 1.0 inches per hour to start with and then monitor it for awhile to see if it is too much or too little. This should be setting how frequently the irrigation occurs. Trial and error is the way to really match wait you want. Any recommended rate will have to be observed for awhile for your local climate or zone.
Read pages 7 and 10 of the operator's manual.
JMHO Aloha

pbx2,

The ESP-SMTE controller should have already been programmed for you by the irrigation contractor who installed it. And should require little to no interaction all year long... So tread lightly with the changes you make. The SMTe will change its programming all year round to ensure your plants get the appropriate amount of water while encouraging root growth. if you're inclined to learn more then a full contractor's manual is available here http://www.rainbird.com/documents/turf/man_ESP-SMTe-CTR_EN.pdf

Learn to trust the controller, once adjusted your landscape will look wonderfull all year long.

Thank you both for your feedback.

My confusion is that both manuals cited above say to not rely on the default application rate in the controller & to calculate it oneself for accuracy.

How?

The builder is too caught up in the bricks & mortar to know anything more that the shutoff valve on the RB controller.

I've checked with the Irrigation contractor & are awaiting their feedback re: Net Application Rate in Inches/hour.

I will report back with what I find out for common knowledge.

@ SaveH2O & lehua13 - UPDATE FOR YOU:
Well I spoke to my irrigation contractor & he suggested the RB method from the RB Contractor's manual below.

Caught some sprinkler water in each of my 9 zones for 15 minutes each.
Took measurements of catch & multiply by 4 to calculate Application Rate per Hour.

So now I am more comfortable putting my own measured app rate into the RB vs. the contractor's settings of 0.25 in/hr - which was inputted across the board during the 1.5 month long grow-in of the sod & overlapping our move-in (gasp!).

That - out of everything - was the cause of my orig. question above. Since I noticed that the sprinklers were running constantly in the month that we had moved in & wasn't sure how to cut things back to save our water bill & yet still have a healthy lawn - all promises of the RB controllers.

So now, I'll then let the RB do its thing - it had better, I paid big $ for it!! LOL!!
Will monitor to see water usage & lawn health under this method for future tweaking.

Here is a link that might be useful: RB Contractor's manual goto Page 82

This post was edited by pbx2 on Wed, May 15, 13 at 11:03

So based on these statement from a well respected poster on the lawn care thread - is there a conflict between the Rain Bird methodology & the deep but infrequent watering methodology?

from dchall_san_antonio's Basics of Lawn Care:
Watering
Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an inch in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. Do not spread this out and water for 10 minutes every day.
Also from dchall_san_antonio's Basics of Lawn Care:
Watering Measure the output of your sprinkler(s) with cat food or tuna cans. Time how long it takes to fill the cans. This can range from a low of 20 minutes to a high of 8 hours, so you have to find that number for your sprinklers.

Conflict:
Based on dchall_san_antonio's Basics of Lawn Care on watering - Water deeply and infrequently promotes healthy grass roots & crowds out the weeds.

vs.

My RainBird controller - which Cycle & Soak Watering system is based on their own algorithm that also has weather factoring into the equation.

Questions

I've collected the sprinkler output measurements based on 15 minute scollection per zone multiplying it by 4 to get an estimate of each sprinkler zone per 60 mins.

Fed the assumptions to Rain Bird controller & it variably waters each zone upto 15 mins per zone for 2-3 times per week & less if there is rain.

RB's algorithm is based on run-off & how much water is soaked into the ground & their output establishes what is the 'correct' rate for healthy lawn & reduced watering cost.

Rain Bird is well known supplier in the golf course industry but their Watering in increments seem contradicting to us homeowners & our deep watering philosophy no?

Would appreciate any feedback!

I know this thread is old, but here is the answer to cycle-and-soak vs deep watering.

cycle-and-soak is not in conflict with deep watering. It is actually an implementation of deep watering. Based on the zone configuration, the controller estimates how quickly the soil can absorb water. To irrigate a zone, the controller stops just before run off occurs and waits for the water to be absorbed. These two steps are repeated until the total water time is met. Deep watering is achieved because water is allowed to move deeper into the soil instead of running off.

I'm revisiting this thread I started on the old GW site because regularly I see my Rainbird ESP-SMT4 Outdoor Smart Control System use what appears to be a frequent but moderate watering protocol. Which is counter intuitive to the deep & infrequent that every1 recommends here. But I reread what

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@macbruins wrote above:

"To irrigate a zone, the controller stops just before run off occurs and waits for the water to be absorbed. These two steps are repeated until the total water time is met. Deep watering is achieved because water is allowed to move deeper into the soil instead of running off."

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& what SaveH2O wrote in this thread:

"the Rain Bird smart controller actually waters deeply and less frequently, the "cycle & soak" feature you mention only splits the irrigation cycle into chunks to ensure that on the day the controller is supposed to water all of the water actually reaches the roots and doesn't run off. "

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Thank you both for your wonderful insights. Makes me sleep better at night.

@potbelly_gardener - would love to hear your experiences with this controller

I recently installed the ESP-SMTe controller and was glad to find this forum. I called RainBird over two issues and they were not helpful (other than to tell me their product is very complex).

I agree with the posts above in that "cycle and soak" is very different from not watering every day. Cycle and soak is designed to let the water soak in during a single day's watering. If the controller calculates 50 minutes watering time, it might split this into 2 25 minute windows. The maximum length of any watering is automatically set by zone and depends on the slope and the soil type. You can see this on step 9 for each zone.

Issue #1: I don't want to water my grass zones every day because the agronomists tell me this encourages poor root growth and fungus. The only way I could get the controller to avoid daily watering was to tell it that my watering is restricted (1st and 2nd watering schedule) to every other day. This isn't technically true in that I can water on any day. Ideally, I could set the zones so that some were watered on Day 1 and the rest on Day 2 to split the watering time. Does anyone know how to restrict a zone to NOT water every day?

Issue #2: What is the meaning of the "Daily Watering Window" (Step 6) ... right now, I've put my annual beds into this Window so they'll water every day ... but the language is very confusing between the "1st Watering Time" (Step 4) "2nd Watering Time" (Step 5) and "Daily Watering Window".

Any help or thoughts is appreciated.

Jon,

issue #1: What is the "plant maturity" setting of your grass zone? If it is "newly planted", the controller is behaving correctly and it will stop watering everyday after the "grow-in" period. (New lawn needs extra water.) If not, try decrease the refill threshold.

issue #2: The "Daily water window" is used during the "grow-in" period. After the "grow-in" period, the controller switches a zone to the other windows.

Macbruins, thank you for your response.

Sounds like I can continue to use the "Daily Water Window" for my annual beds as it seems like I can assign any zone to the DWW in Step 6 of zone configuration.

And if I decrease the refill threshold, I think that might work too ... I can set it lower and see if that causes the forecast schedule to adjust. It just seems like the product would "know" not to water grass every day.

But I think you maybe just have to let the controller do its own thing -- as someone said on another post, it's pretty rare to overwater fescue in the summer here in NC. Just too hard to do.

@macbruins - what is the "refill threshold"?

I don't see that in my ESP-SMT controller manual. Is that only for the SMTe controller?

I am not sure ... as I only have the SMTe, but I thought the "e" only meant that the unit was expandable up to 22 zones.

Refill point is the last setting in the zone and basically represents when the ground has become too dry for that particular zone/plant type. Lowering it will elongate the time between waterings.

@pbx2: I am not sure either. On my SMTe refill threshold is set on this screen.