What Is Irrigation Central Control?

From www.rainbird.com.

Athletic fields like this baseball stadium are large-format irrigation sites that rely on modern central control software that lets supervisors monitor and control big sites from a single location.

Irrigation central control enables the programming, monitoring, and operation of irrigation systems from a central location. Central control systems are designed to allow a user to control a single site or a set of sites from a single computer.

Central control software allows the water manager to set up programming to automatically control satellite controllers or two-wire decoders which operate the irrigation valves. A central control system can monitor and adapt system operation and irrigation run times in response to conditions in the system or surrounding area. (weather conditions, pipe breaks, etc.). The system may also provide historical data to allow analysis and reporting of what ran when, how much water was used, and field problems.

Water Savings

Modern central control software allows more efficient irrigation that is automatically tailored to weather conditions. Evapotranspiration (ET) based system management can ultimately result in water savings of 25-45% per year, depending on current management practices. As an additional source of savings, pipeline breaks are automatically detected and isolated, preventing excessive water loss.

A central control system helps ensure your landscape receives the right amount of water. Good irrigation management can reduce leaching and run-off, and healthy plants will reduce pest infestation and disease.

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Reduced Labor Costs

By managing all irrigation programming from a PC, the user no longer needs to travel to each site to make adjustments at each controller. System shut-downs for maintenance occur quickly, allowing more effective use of time.???????(R)?EUR??,,????'?EUR??,,?EUR

The system monitors current hydraulic conditions and takes action to prevent washout in the event of pipeline breaks. Detection and isolation of breaks occurs in minutes instead of hours.???????(R)?EUR??,,????'?EUR??,,?EUR

And, of course, managers no longer has to drive around to all the controllers to make programming changes.

System Communications

A central control system allows all actions to be carried out easily and efficiently from a central location. Control actions such as adjusting watering or stopping irrigation in the event of rain or high wind can be automatically accomplished without requiring a technician to visit individual sites or controllers. A weather station can be connected to the system to precisely calculate the amount of water required based on climatic conditions. Rainfall intensity is monitored and compared to the soil infiltration rate to determine how much rain actually makes it to the plant root zone, thus optimizing irrigation.

A central control system consists of a central computer, satellite controllers or decoders, sensors, weather stations, and a communication system to connect them all. Communication methods will depend on whether a computer is located on-site or remotely located, and can include direct-connect, hardwire, phone, cellular, radio, fiber-optics, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi.