Step-by-Step Guide
Understanding WeatherTRAK Alerts
A WeatherTRAK alert is the system's way of notifying users that it has detected something requiring a manager's attention. WeatherTRAK continuously runs automatic system diagnostics and analyzes individual components of your irrigation system, raising alerts when management intervention may be needed.
WeatherTRAK monitors and generates alerts for several categories of events:
- Controller status changes (such as when someone turns the controller off or the rain sensor activates)
- Electrical hardware issues affecting your irrigation system components
- Flow hardware problems
- Controller hardware malfunctions
- Communication failures between the controller and the system
- Program conflicts or scheduling issues
Think of WeatherTRAK alerts as having an irrigation technician on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, acting as your eyes and ears and raising an alert anytime the system detects that management might be required. This information allows managers to react much faster and minimize the damage and cost of irrigation issues.
While not every WeatherTRAK alert is critical, managing alerts is one of the most critical responsibilities for a site manager. Understanding and using alert information is the most efficient way to stay on top of system and site issues.
Alert Management Tools in WeatherTRAK Mobile
1. Log into WeatherTRAK Mobile and you'll land on the sites page. Scroll through and select the site you wish to manage.
2. Tap the small button on the right to advance from the sites page to the controllers page. This is where alert activity begins to appear.
3. Review the controller status and alert indicators. The green box indicates the controller is online (this icon changes if the controller is off, offline, or in any other status). Next to the controller status icon, you'll see two numbers:
- The red number indicates the number of major or critical alerts on this controller
- The gray number below shows the number of non-critical alerts
4. Tap the large button on the left labeled Settings Page to drill down on those alerts and access controller-level commands.
Viewing Alert Details in the Mobile App
1. On the settings page, view the controller alert information showing all active alerts for this controller. Alerts highlighted in red with a red exclamation point are major or critical alerts that can immediately impact landscape health. Alerts appearing in gray are minor alerts.
2. Tap on any alert (such as No Flow Alert) to view the alert details page.
3. Review the alert information provided:
- Description: Shows the exact information the controller measured that generated the alert, including specific stations affected
- Alert Severity: Classification as minor, major, or critical
- Definition and Possible Causes: Explains what caused this alert on your controller
- Controller Action: Describes the controller's unique response to minimize site damage or water loss while attempting to continue irrigating unaffected areas
- Possible Remedies: Suggests places to start looking for a solution
- How to Clear: Instructions for clearing the alert from the controller to test repairs and resume normal irrigation
4. For additional information, scroll to the top of the alert details page and tap the link that says Click here to see how to resolve this alert. This takes you to the knowledge base article for this alert, which includes an embedded video with technical details and troubleshooting information from an irrigation technician's perspective.
Clearing Alerts in the Mobile App
It's important to understand that a station with an alert on it will not be able to run manually. On the stations page, stations affected by alerts will not display the button that allows manual irrigation.
1. Navigate to the alerts page after you've found and resolved the hardware problem causing the alert.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page where you'll find three buttons: Clear Flow, Clear Electrical, or Clear Both.
3. Tap the appropriate button (such as Clear Flow Alerts) to clear the alerts.
4. Read the prompt message explaining that alerts will remain on the page until they're cleared from the controller, which can take a few minutes. Note that clearing alerts doesn't happen at the same speed as manual irrigation—this process may take a minute or two.
5. Once the system has cleared the alert, it will disappear from the alerts page and you'll be able to run those stations manually to test your repairs.
Alert Management Tools at the Controller
Alert management tools are visible as soon as you open the controller door. On the run screen (the first screen you see), look in the bottom right corner of the display where you'll see the word Alert flashing if there is an alert affecting the controller.
1. Press the Alerts button to access the alerts menu.
2. Review the alerts overview screen, which displays alerts by category. Just below the header, you'll see a series of two-letter codes indicating different alert categories:
- FL: Flow alerts
- VL: Valve alerts
- CM: Communication alerts
- WD: Water window alerts
- DY: Water day alerts
- HD: Station high depletion alerts
- HWR: Hardware alerts
- SB: Subscription alerts
3. If your controller has an alert in one of these categories, an error message will display underneath the proper alert category.
Viewing Alert Details at the Controller
1. From the alerts overview screen, press the forward arrow once to advance to the alert detail screen for the category you want to investigate (such as View Flow Status for flow alerts).
2. Use the forward arrow to navigate through additional alert detail screens. Each alert category has its own alert detail screen.
3. For station-based alerts (like flow alerts or valve alerts), press Select to view a station-by-station breakdown of all stations on your controller.
4. Review which alert is affecting which station. For example, you might see "NF" underneath station 3, with "NF = No Flow" displayed at the bottom of the screen.
5. Use the forward arrow to scroll through all stations on your controller if you have more than eight stations (the first screen only shows the first eight stations).
Clearing Alerts at the Controller
Remember that a station with an alert on it won't run manually. If you try to run an affected station manually and add minutes, the timer will automatically go to zero.
1. Press the Alerts button to access the alerts menu.
2. Press the forward arrow to navigate to the specific alert detail screen you're looking for.
3. Select that detail screen to confirm you see the alert you want to clear.
4. Press the star button to automatically clear that alert. The star button is the key to clearing alerts when standing at the controller.
5. Once the alert is cleared, navigate back to that station and run it manually to test your repair and verify the alert condition has been fixed.
Note that these steps work on a WeatherTRAK LC Plus or a WeatherTRAK ET Pro 3. With the WeatherTRAK OptiFlow XR, the panel is locked and you would need to unlock the panel from your app before following these steps.
Alert Management Tools at WeatherTRAK.net
When you log into WeatherTRAK.net (WeatherTRAK Central), you'll land on the home page where the first thing you see is the alerts and operations dashboard.
The dashboard contains:
- Account Summary: Shows how many controllers you manage and how many alerts you have
- Controller Status Summary: Displays what each controller is doing right now (such as whether controllers are turned off or paused)
- Alert Category Summary: Provides the highest level of alert information, showing what types of issues exist on your systems and pointing to the manager responsible for response
- Major Alerts: Displays information about each major alert to call attention to the most important issues across all WeatherTRAK sites you manage
1. To drill down on controller status, click on any icon in the controller status summary (such as Paused) to see exactly which controllers are affected.
2. Navigate from the home page to the alerts page by scrolling to the top and selecting Alerts List (you'll see two options: Alert Setup and Alerts List).
Using the Alerts List Page
The alerts list page contains all information for all alerts on every WeatherTRAK controller you have access to.
For each individual alert, you can view:
- Time and date the alert was generated
- Specific alert category and alert type
- Account name, site name, serial number, and controller name
- Controller type and firmware version
- Description (with a dashed underline indicating additional information is available)
1. Hover over the description field (indicated by a dashed underline) and click to bring up a callout box showing exactly what the controller knows about this alert, including specific measured values or specific stations affected.
2. Click on the alert type (also with a dashed underline) to view a callout box with all alert details for that alert type, including definition and possible causes, controller action, and possible remedies.
Clearing Alerts from WeatherTRAK.net
1. On the alerts list page, locate the line where the alert you want to clear is displayed.
2. Check the box next to the alert you want to clear.
3. Click the Clear Flow and Electrical Alerts button at the top of the page.
4. Confirm that you want to clear all flow and electrical alerts for this controller by clicking Yes in the confirmation message. This sends the signal to the controller to clear the alert and allows you to continue troubleshooting.
Setting Up Remote Alert Notifications
The alert setup page is where you configure remote alert notification preferences. WeatherTRAK can provide text and email messages about each individual alert your controller creates. Since not all alerts are equally important, WeatherTRAK provides a structure to select which alerts push notifications to you and customize how that notification takes place.
1. Navigate to the Alert Setup page from the alerts menu.
2. Fill out your contact information at the top of the page.
3. For each alert type, customize your notification preferences by selecting whether you want to receive email notifications, text message notifications, or both.
4. Define the hours in the day and days of the week when you want to receive notifications. For example:
- For critical alerts like mainline breaks, you might select both email and text notification, 24 hours a day (6 AM to 6 AM), seven days a week
- For less urgent alerts like station high flow (broken heads), you might select only email notification during work hours (9 AM to 5 PM) on weekdays only
5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select which controllers you want to be notified about.
6. Click Save and Send at the bottom of the page to activate your notification preferences.
A pro tip: avoid over-subscribing. Only subscribe to the most important alerts that require immediate attention. Complete information is always available at the controller, online, or on the app, so you don't need notifications for every alert type.
Creating a Multi-Controller Alert Report
1. Navigate to the Reports page on WeatherTRAK.net.
2. Select Multi-Controller Alert Report from the drop-down menu.
3. Customize the report specifics:
- Select which controllers you want to appear in the report, or select All Controllers
- Select the reporting period (for a weekly report, select the last seven days)
- Filter alert information as desired (some users prefer to deselect irrigation status to create a shorter report, though including it provides a more complete picture)
- Select Show Closed to display any alerts that were raised and/or resolved during the reporting period
4. Choose how to receive the report: immediately render it as a PDF or Excel spreadsheet, or subscribe to receive it on a recurring schedule.
Setting Up a Report Subscription
1. After customizing your report, select the option to Subscribe to this Report.
2. Add a description for the subscription (such as "Weekly Alert Report").
3. Set the start date and time for your first report delivery. For example, if you want a weekly alert report delivered every Friday afternoon at 3 PM, select next Friday at 3 PM.
4. Select the delivery schedule:
- For a Days of the Week schedule, select which days you want the report delivered (such as only Friday for a weekly report)
- For a Days of the Month schedule, select specific dates (such as the 1st and 15th)
5. Configure email settings to identify who should receive the report. By default, it sends to the account owner, but you can add recipients using carbon copy (CC) or blind carbon copy (BCC). For a weekly alert report, you might copy your customer or irrigation technician.
6. Click Save Subscription. WeatherTRAK will deliver this report according to your schedule until you delete the subscription.
Managing Report Subscriptions
1. Navigate to the reports page and click Manage Report Subscriptions in the upper right corner.
2. Review all your active report subscriptions on this page.
3. Delete any report subscription you no longer need.
Understanding the Multi-Controller Alert Report
When you receive the multi-controller alert report, it contains specific and helpful information about your alert conditions:
- Time and date alerts were raised and resolved
- Duration of each alert
- Alert severity classification
- Specific alert type
- Controller name and serial number
- Alert descriptions showing anything the controller knows about each specific alert
Additional Alert Resources
For detailed technical information about specific alert types, WeatherTRAK provides a YouTube playlist where each individual WeatherTRAK alert has its own video describing what the alert means and technical information about it.
1. Log into your weathertrack.net account and navigate to the alerts list page.
2. At the top of the alerts list page, click the link labeled Alert Help Videos.
3. This link takes you directly to the YouTube playlist with videos for each alert type.
For additional support, contact the customer support team at 1-800-362-8774 or email support@hydropoint.com.
Video Walkthrough
Video originally published May 2021.
If you have questions, here are 3 ways to get answers:
1. Search within this HydroPoint knowledgebase
2. Visit the HydroPoint support page
3. Call 800-362-8774 or email support@hydropoint.com, hours are Mon-Fri 3:00 AM – 6:00 PM PT and Sat 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM PT.