The Watering Hole
How do you program your irrigation controller or timer?

What do station, valve and zone mean?

To enter a program, use the basic instructions printed inside the controller door to input your information. You may need to make sure your timer is in the ‘set programs’ mode before you begin. To get started, there are four important pieces of information that need to be entered and maintained: 

1. Current day and time – Generally you need to tell the controller what day of the week it is (Mon, Tue, etc.), and set the time of day. Set the time much like you do a digital clock, making sure you get the a.m. or p.m. correct. Otherwise you may have a 5:30 a.m. start time surprise your 5:30 p.m. barbecue.  
   
2. Watering days or frequency – You can set your controller to water on a certain day or days of the week such as every Wednesday, or every Monday and Thursday. Or, if your controller has a ‘skip day’ option, you can set a certain frequency by inputting ‘days between watering’ or ‘skip days’. For example, if you input ‘10’ under the skip day option, your controller would turn on 10 days after the last watering.  
   
   Note: Not sure how often to water? The Landscape Watering Guidelines can help you determine the number of days needed between waterings.
   
3. Start times – Once the controller knows what day to water, it needs to know what time to start the watering. On most controllers, one start time will run all of the stations assigned to that program in sequence. Think of it as a program start, not a station or valve start. Timers are designed that way so that you don’t have to do the math to figure out when you need to start each valve on the program.  
   
4. Length of time to water – Once the controller knows what days to run and what time to turn on, it needs to know how long to run before turning off. Run times can vary from 10 minutes for something like bubblers, to 6 hours for a drip irrigation system.

After inputting the program, double-check your entries to make sure they are correct. You can run a program test by pressing the semi-automatic button if your controller has this option. This will run the program immediately, then not water again until the programmed days and times. Some controllers may also have a ‘review’ option that shows all your programmed input.  
 

Another option you should have on your timer is multiple program capability. If you have this option you’ll see a switch that allows you to set the timer on program A, B, C or 1, 2, 3, etc. Multiple programs on a controller allow you run different stations on different schedules. If you have a shrub zone that needs to be watered once every 14 days, a tree zone on that needs to be watered once every 21 days, and a lawn zone that needs to be watered every 3 days, you’ll need a controller with at least three programs. It’s the different frequency needs that determine how many programs you need. See the sample timer program below. 

You may have noticed the following points on the program example:

• We grouped the stations or valves that required the same watering frequencies.
• We’ve entered only one start time for each program, even when there are multiple valves on the program. In fact, if we entered a 2^nd start time for valve 2, the timer would actually run both valves twice.
• We’ve entered different start times on different programs to avoid overlap. For example, Program B will run valve 3 for 3 hours and valve 4 for 25 minutes for a total of 3 hours and 25 minutes. Since the program starts at 7 a.m., watering will be finished by 10:25 a.m. By starting Program C at 11 a.m., we’ll insure that there is no overlap.

Here are a couple of other tips with your timer. If it rains at least ½”, you can use the ‘off’ or ‘rain’ setting to stop the watering cycle without disturbing your programs. Once the soil dries up, simply turn it back to ‘on’ to go back to the scheduled programs. Also, if your program has backup battery capability, replace the battery once each year to make sure you will maintain your programs during power outages.

If you are a serious hands-on gardener, you may want to use your timer manually and only use the programming features when you are away from home. That way you are only watering when you see that the soil is starting to dry out. Most controllers have a ‘manual’ option available where you can turn on a valve for a programmed amount of time you enter in. Leave the timer in the ‘off’ mode and just turn on valves manually through the timer when you see it’s necessary.

If you don’t have instructions for your timer, write down the make and model and call your home and garden center or irrigation supply store to see if they can assist you with getting a toll-free phone number for technical support from the manufacturer. You might also be able to find instructions or more information on the Internet.