Programming Your Timer

You must know how to properly set your timer to ensure that your landscape is watered correctly. Most sprinkler controllers operate in the same way, and most are easy to setup and adjust if you follow the following basic rules. These are general guidelines for your assistance. You may need to follow your manual to pickup details that may have been left out.

1. Set the Time and Date: follow the instructions in the manual for your timer. It is important to make sure that the am/pm setting is correct.

2. Programs: All timers usually have 3 or 4 different programs. Programs allow you to water certain areas (zones) of your landscape at different times and days. Programs are usually represented by the letters A, B, C or the numbers 1, 2, and 3.
We recommend using Program A (or 1) for your primary watering schedule, and using Program B (or 2) for adding extra watering days to flower zones, or other areas that require more water. For the purpose of this guide, we will use letters A, B, C to reference programs.

3. Setting Program A (Primary watering schedule): Be sure you are modifying program A. Depending on what type of controller you have, you may have to turn the program dial to A or push the program button until A is displayed.

4. Set Start Time: Enter the time that you want to begin your watering cycle. Ex: 5 am.

5. Set Schedule: Schedule refers to the days of the week program A will run. There are usually several schedule options such as Even/Odd Days, Interval, and Exact Day. Set the days you would like to be watered. We suggest watering 3 times per week. Ex: Monday, Wednesday, Friday. See - How to use your sprinkler system

6. Set Zone or Station Time: Each zone that you want to run should have a time duration set. Pay attention to the type of heads on each zone. A zone that has spray heads will apply water much faster in a given area, so should only run for 10-15 minutes. Zones that have rotors, or impact heads cover much larger areas , and takes longer to cover those areas, so you would set those zones to 20 - 30 minutes. Program A is finished. See - How to use your sprinkler system
Let's move on to Program B.

7. Setting Program B (optional watering): We have set your primary watering schedule on program A, but there may be circumstances where you may want to set certain zones on an optional watering schedule. For example, you may have flower beds that you wish to have watered everyday, but program A only waters them on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You can set program B to water just the flower bed zones on the days program A doesn't come on.

Lets get started: Turn dial or push program button to B.

8. Set Start Time: Repeat as above for program B. Note that if you are setting program B to run zones different than program A, on the same day, do not set program A and program B times to overlap. Doing so will cause the timer to try and run both programs at once, and water pressure may not be sufficient to properly water all zones.
For our example, program B will be running on days program A isn't, so the start time can remain at 5am.

9. Set Schedule: Set the days of the week you want Program B to run. You can set the programs to run on the same days, but not the same times, as this will cause an overlap as mentioned above.
For our example, lets set program B to run on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

10. Set Zone Time: You will need to set running times for all of your zones. Ex: If your system has zones 1 and 2 as your flowerbeds that use spray heads, you will want to run each zone for 10 minutes. Set the times in the same manner as step 6. In this example, Program B will run for 20 minutes.

11. Running the System: Turn your dial to Auto Run. Make sure your rain sensor is on (if you have one).
Using the examples shown in the preceding steps, your system would run as follows:

Program A starts at 5 am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The timer runs through all zones, one after the other.

Program B starts at 5am on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Zones 1 and 2 will run for 10 minutes each.

Programming your controllers can be very easy as long as you understand the programs, start times, schedules and zone running times. You may find that you need more than 2 programs for your property. Every property is different and these are just basic guidelines to help you.

Reading your manual to learn more about the functions of your controller is always recommended.