How to program a rain dial sprinkler system

Hi Christina, Often that means there is an overlapping schedule. Go ahead and read the programming tutorial we have here and see if that helps. Hi Christina, Some other thoughts — It could be that the start times for each program are too close together, or that you have more start times set than expected.

How do I turn. I want to run 4 of my six zones and the box sets all zones for the same number of minutes. How do I allow the first and last areas to run but turn off the middle zones? Currently it runs in three groups and I need to turn the middle group off.

Our system somehow started cycling through the system twice. It comes on around am and goes through the whole cycle then does it again. It repeats this cycling when it comes on for the evening watering.

How do I change this so it cycles through once in the morning and once in the evening? Hi Deanna, It sounds like you may have too many start times set. Be sure to check all schedules A, B, C. I have a quick question could I program start times for different zones and dates. If I want zones 1- 3 to start on Wed, Thu and Sat. Set second start times to have zones everyday. You would use schedule A to setup a program for zones with start times, days, etc.

I have7 zones. Ive scheduled 3 of them to run on auto, but now my bank is full. I have to manually run the other 4 zones. What am i doing wrong? You typically should not have two valves running at the same time, and usually the timer will prevent it.

Can someone help me please. Help please. We connected by a separate email conversation; you last mentioned that you have it working so it sounds like all is well with your timer.

Hi, my RD98 is not working. I had called them, and they said that it would likely be circuit problem. I when I try to manually run a sprinkler, the screen flashes kept flashing off. Can you fix this problem for me? If so, how much? Hi Norman, That sounds like a problem we typically repair.

I will send you an email with repair instructions. Hi Erin, Yes, you can turn off just one station. Just make sure you have 0 minutes programmed for that station on all programs A, B, and C.

My display is completely blank. Could you please advise on what I should troubleshoot next? Is my thinking correct? Thank you, Paige. Your email address will not be published. Schedules define the days , run times for each valve and up to three times you want that schedule to start running on a given day. We will define a cycle as what the valves do when a schedule starts; e.

The cycle always turns on the valves in order starting with 1. That will remove the start time. Many times people mistake the AM for PM; the difference is very subtle on the display. This is my only real complaint about the Irritrol RD controllers.

Double-check that the current time and the programmed times are correct. The length of a cycle is the sum of all the programmed run times. The 2nd start time must be set after the first one finishes, which would be at PM or later. If you break this rule, the timer may repeat the cycle again, after the first cycle finishes. Avoid allowing times to cross midnight into the next day. When using multiple schedules, make sure they will never overlap their schedules at all.

Thus, make sure schedule B can run and complete before schedule A runs. Convention note: The terms station, valve and zone are considered the same. Each valve has a number associated with it e. Important things to understand about the RD and other Rain Dial series timers: Understand the basics of Irritrol RainDial Programming and Schedules : The timer is specifically designed to avoid having more than one valve on at a time. When the schedule starts, it goes to the first valve with time-to-run and turns it on and waits.

When that run-time duration has finished, it goes to the next valve and runs it for the time assigned. Thus, only one valve runs at a time. Help with skip days: This page gives you a good description of the skip days feature…. Let me know if that helps, thanks, brian. The power shut off to the rd and now it is dead. How do I turn the whole thing back on? Thanks for posting, Brian. Thanks, Brian.

Hope this helps, Ben. RD R Thanks! Brian — RainDial Doctor. Hi Larry, Sorry for the delay in response — if you are still having problems, it sounds like you probably have a bad valve. Meghan — RainDial Doctor in Training. Hi Shauna, for the given schedule, say schedule A, just set the run time for the middle zones to 0, off Brian. Check to make sure the current date and time are correct. If not, rotate the dial to the "Set Current Date" position and use the up and down arrow keys to change it.

Turn the dial to "Set Current Time" and use the same process to set the correct time, if needed. Turn the dial to any of the numbered valves to program the watering run time. Press the arrow keys up or down to select the length of time you want the valve to run. Alternatively, press the down arrow until the display reads "0" to prevent the valve from coming on.

Move the dial to the other numbered valves and program them, as well. Turn the dial to "Set Watering Start Times" and press the up and down keys to set the desired time. The system will turn on all the valves for that program in sequence at the time selected.

If only one start time is needed, check to make sure the other start times read "Off. Turn the dial to the "Advanced Cycles" setting to change the frequency of irrigation. Press the up and down keys to choose among the options. The "Cyclic" setting gives the option of choosing how many days to skip between each watering cycle. Leave the chosen water cycle setting on the screen and turn the dial to "Auto" to save the settings and begin watering according to the new program. Slide the "Program" switch to another program and repeat the process if more than one watering program is used.