Cycle & Soak - Auto

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Robert Schwiebert

August 13, 2018 14:07

Hi,

I've just finished installing my lawn, irrigation system, and new RainMachine Mini-8. I'm in the seeded phase so I can't really use it to it's full potential currently. Regardless, I did a trial run (supply valve off) of my program that will be used once the grass is fully in.

In certain zones I'm using rotors with big nozzles since I have plenty of GPM from my 1" main @ 75psi. These zones have calculated precipitation rates between 0.45-0.56in/hr. All three zones are flat and have either silty clay or clay loam.

With the Cycle & Soak set to Auto I expected zones 1-3 to not run for their full amount of time and instead transition to zones 4 and 5 while the ground soaked up the water. That didn't happen on my trial run.

I know if zones 1-3 run for their full amount of time I'll end up with a lot of standing water and runoff. From what I could find, my soil types in these zones will absorb 0.2-0.3" in/hr. With my precipitation rates nearly double that, why didn't Cycle & Soak work in Auto?

Thanks,

Rob

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  RainMachine Support Agent August 13, 2018 17:46

  Rob,

  Cycle & Soak Auto will work if it feels your conditions need cycle/soak based on a number of factors.

  You can just change this to manual and put in your own  cycle/soak times. 

   

  Brandon 

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  Robert Schwiebert August 13, 2018 19:27

  Thanks for the reply Brandon.

  I guess I'm questioning the Auto calculation/formula? Based on my numbers, I'd really liked to see it break those zones into separate events. I know I can do it manually but it'd be nice to see Auto work.

   

  Thanks,

  Rob

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  GHammer August 14, 2018 13:01

  FWIW This season is one of the hottest and driest, followed by wettest I can recall.

  I have never seen my Mini-8 perform a cycle and soak. It is set, just has never happened.
  Don't know what condition it is looking for.

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  Steven Carmichael August 15, 2018 10:33 (Edited August 16, 2018 13:15)

  Presumably based on soil type (silty clay) and slope settings, our Mini-8 automatically performed cycle and soak on its first program run:

  

  2 second intervals in the final cycle are too brief for sprinklers to pressurize and broadcast.

  I suppose that increasing slope settings will increase cycle count and soak time while decreasing watering times..

  Yesterday, I conducted a bottle test (see https://support.rainmachine.com/hc/en-us/articles/228001248-Soil-Types ) which yielded sandy loam.  Changing to that from silty clay in Zones eliminated auto soak cycles in today's Watering History.

  Practically, soil here is a thin layer of silt over mostly sand, so should probably input a custom soil type with silty clay intake and sandy loam field capacity...

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  Rolando Soto August 16, 2018 07:30

  Hi Robert

  Checked the intake rate for your soil types:
  silty clay - ir: 3.81mm/h(0.15 inch)
  clay loam - ir: 5.08mm/h(0.2 inch)

  Application rate 0.56 inch/hr with 70% means real irrigation ~0.4inch/hour
  With the permitted accumulation a zone like that can run ~30 mins without soak time needed.

  As far as I see from the logs Your recommended times are all below 30 mins. If You are sure You still need cycles we recommend to use the manual cycling.

  Never the less this feature is new so we will investigate deeper - any further input is welcome.

  regards,

  Brown

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