Here’s how it works:

An efficient watering schedule is based on two main elements:

1. The Runtime

The number of minutes the sprinklers run to apply the water needed by the homeowner’s landscape.

2. The Watering Days

The actual calendar days on which the sprinkler system operates.

Scheduling Advisor uses input from you, as well as its own calculations, to determine the correct combinations of runtimes, watering days, and suggested start times for your yard.

The “intelligent” Scheduling Advisor software begins by synchronizing with your computer’s internal clock. You are then asked for your zip code. This allows the Scheduling Advisor to calculate the latitude, longitude and altitude of your home, which the software uses to determine water use values, called the Evapotranspiration (ET) rate, for your area. You will also be asked to supply some other information about your yard including sun exposure, air temperature, humidity, and wind speed which are all factored into the Scheduling Advisor software.

The Scheduling Advisor uses same technology used by golf course professionals, commercial growers and contractors. These calculations go on behind the scenes and are invisible to you. Among them:

• The Plant-Soil-Water relationship – Scheduling Advisor considers the relationship between the average root depths for the plant types you indicate, for example grass, and the water holding capacity of different soil types – known as the water reservoir. The software is preset to use loam soil as the default soil type. Taken together, these two factors are used to recommend how much water can be applied to an area to give to meet its needs, with little or no waste.
  
• Scheduling Advisor also factors in the estimated precipitation rate – the amount of water applied to the ground - produced by the sprinklers in every zone. This is important because the precipitation rate of sprinklers can vary and directly impacts the run times needed to water your plants correctly. Scheduling Adviser calculates the estimated precipitation rate from your selection. If you wish, you can determine the actual precipitation rate for each zone and adjust the schedule for further accuracy.
  
• Finally, Scheduling Advisor considers the plants themselves. Each plant species has an ET rate unique to it. This is called the Landscape coefficient – also known as the Crop coefficient - for that plant. The Scheduling Advisor software uses these values to convert the ET information it calculated to apply to each plant type you identify in your yard.

Once the Scheduling Advisor creates your schedule, it can be transferred directly to your ECXTRA timer, using the Time Pod module. It’s that simple. The Scheduling Advisor is like having an ‘intelligent’ advisor right there to help you get the most of your irrigation system.