Welcome to your central source for Central Control education, news,resources and even exclusive offers. Here, you'll find all the tools and information you need to take on your toughest water management challenges. You'll also discover how Rain Bird Central Control Systems combine the latest technology and Rain Bird reliability for the ultimate in flexibility and control.
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 will also provide historical data to allow analysis and reporting of what ran when, how much water was used, and field problems.
Rain Bird Central Control
Rain Bird developed the original computer-based central control system in the 1970’s and today has thousands of systems installed worldwide.
Satellite Controllers and Decoders
Rain Bird offers a variety of systems to match the needs of the customer, budget, site, or application. Select from systems that are designed specifically for single sites, multiple sites, small, or large sites. Rain Bird central control systems can utilize satellite controllers, two-wire decoders, or a combination.
What are the Benefits?
Water Savings
Effective 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 Healthier Landscape
A central control system helps ensure your landscape receives the right amount of water. Good irrigation management can reduce leaching and runoff, and healthy plants will reduce pest infestation and disease.
Key Features
System Monitoring
System monitoring can incorporate many different sensors such as weather stations, flow meters, rain gauges, and wind sensors. These sensors monitor site conditions and report to the central computer. The central system automatically responds if any field conditions are outside the pre-defined limits set by the system operator.
System Control
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.
