Step-by-Step Guide
Understanding the Depletion Model and Auto Mode
When adjusting stations in auto mode, WeatherTRAK uses a depletion model to generate irrigation schedules. This model conceptualizes the soil moisture beneath every station as a glass of water. The growing conditions for your plants remain adequate as long as that glass of water stays between completely full and half full. The maximum allowable depletion is 50 percent—when WeatherTRAK calculates that the soil moisture has crossed that 50 percent mark, it prompts irrigation to fill the glass of water back up.
The program settings for auto mode revolve around this science: calculating how fast water is depleting from the soil and determining how best to return that water. WeatherTRAK optimizes three key factors—how often, how much, and how best to irrigate your site—to maintain the proper moisture balance in the soil while keeping your plants healthy and eliminating water waste from the irrigation schedule.
This guide focuses on the "how best" component, covering all the settings WeatherTRAK considers when generating a runtime. The settings are presented in the order they appear on the auto mode program setup.
Setting the Station Name
The station name is an underutilized tool that many users overlook by leaving stations labeled as the default "Station 1." This setting serves as your controller chart—a critical water management practice taught in certified water manager training. The first principle of efficient irrigation is to create a map and controller chart so you don't waste water searching for where the water is running.
Document where each station comes up in the field using either cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) or landmarks. Landmarks work well if you're not comfortable with directional references. The key is that the name must be meaningful to you—something that allows you to walk directly to that station and turn the water on, saving water that would otherwise run down the gutter while you're checking the system.
Assigning Stations to Programs
Every station must be assigned to a program. The number of available programs depends on your controller model: the LC 612 and 18 controllers come with two programs, the larger LC controllers with 24, 30, or 36 stations come with four programs, and all Pro 3 and LC controllers have eight programs.
A controller program dictates only when a station is allowed to irrigate. In the days and times settings for each program, you specify the start time, water window duration, and allowed watering days. For example, Program A might start at 10 PM with an eight-hour water window and only water on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. When you assign a station to that program, the controller knows that station must operate within those program restrictions.
Using Stack vs. Overlap Mode
On Pro 3 and LC controllers, you have the ability to run multiple programs simultaneously using either stack or overlap mode.
When the controller is set to stack, all programs tie to a single start time and water window, and the controller runs only one station at a time inside that designated window.
When you change the controller setting to overlap, two things happen:
- Each program can have its own start time and water window
- If there's time shared between programs, the controller has the capacity to run both programs at the same time.
Overlapping programs is an excellent time-saving method and a great way to find more hours in the night to irrigate if you're battling water window alerts. However, use caution with this feature. Make sure you're not overtaxing the system by running too many stations simultaneously, as this will affect water pressure. Program carefully to avoid overlapping too many stations. If you're looking for a quick and easy way to get more water down and manage water windows effectively, overlapping programs is a valuable tool. With OptiFlow, this type of optimization is already built in, as it runs multiple stations to optimize the program automatically.
Selecting Station Mode
Station mode determines how a station generates its runtime. There are four different modes available:
- Automated by WeatherTRAK
- User No ET
- User With ET
- Off
For detailed information on these modes and how to use them, refer to Episode 16, which covers this topic in depth with examples of when to use each mode.
Configuring Use Water Window
The Use Water Window setting is a legacy feature that dates back to the ET Plus controller. In the past, when program capacity was limited, this feature allowed you to exclude specific stations from the water window on a station-by-station basis. For example, if water restrictions required overhead irrigation to run only during nighttime hours but you wanted to water drip irrigation during the day, you could elect to kick those stations out of the water window.
With today's controllers offering eight programs, the better solution is to place stations on different programs and control each program with more detail. The recommended setting for Use Water Window is Yes in almost all cases—just make sure you've configured a water window for your program that works for that type of irrigation.
Setting Usable Rainfall
The Usable Rainfall setting determines whether the controller should listen to the rain sensor for a particular station. Think of this as a yes-or-no question: should this station pause when the controller receives a rain pause?
If the controller should listen to the rain sensor and use the pause initiated by either the rain sensor, the WeatherTRAK Climate Center rain pause, or a user rain pause, set Usable Rainfall to 100 percent. This is the default setting and indicates that the station should definitely pause when the controller is paused.
However, there are situations where you want to ignore rain pauses. If a station won't receive water from the sky—such as irrigation in a greenhouse or under an underpass—that station will stay dry even if it rains, and you'll want it to irrigate anyway. In these cases, switch from Usable Rainfall 100% to Usable Rainfall None. This tells the controller to irrigate that station even if the controller receives a pause from the rain sensor or any other rain pause source.
This setting is most commonly used for new plantings, where contractors want irrigation to occur come rain or shine. By changing the usable rainfall setting to None, the station will water new sod or seed even if it rains.
The intermediate settings (25%, 50%, and 75%) carry over from the days of the ET Plus controller. These settings created confusion, and when the system transitioned to Pro 2 controllers, all of these intermediate values were made to function the same as None. There are no longer actual levels of usable rainfall available—any setting other than 100 percent is treated as None.
In summary: set Usable Rainfall to 100% if the station should respond to rain sensor pauses, or None (or any other value) if it should not.
Choosing Sprinkler Type
The Sprinkler Type setting is one of the primary factors contractors adjust when managing stations and needing a little more or less runtime. This setting was covered in detail in Episode 5, "Adjusting Your Run Times in Auto Mode."
Sprinkler type sets the advanced settings of precipitation rate and efficiency, which are the key factors in calculating how long a station needs to run.
Understanding Precipitation Rate
Precipitation Rate (also called precip rate) reflects the speed at which water is being applied—specifically, how many inches of water are delivered into the target area in one hour's time. For example, if you have a 1.7 precipitation rate, that means 1.7 inches of water are delivered into the target area in one hour.
This measurement makes it possible to calculate runtimes. When WeatherTRAK knows how fast water is being delivered, it can determine how long the sprinklers need to run to deliver the right amount of water.
Adjusting Sprinkler Efficiency
Sprinkler Efficiency measures how well designed, built, and maintained the irrigation system is. This includes factors like whether the system has head-to-head coverage, which is an industry standard.
A key principle when adjusting both precipitation rate and efficiency is that there's an inverse relationship between efficiency and runtime. When you turn down the efficiency, you turn up the runtime. A less efficient irrigation system needs to water longer to deliver the right amount of water to the plants.
Selecting Soil Type
Soil Type is a paramount factor in determining how often WeatherTRAK needs to irrigate your site to keep your plants healthy. This setting was covered in detail in Episode 14, "Adjusting Your Irrigation Frequency," which discusses absorption coefficients and the technical details of how soil type affects irrigation scheduling.
Soil type is key to your irrigation frequency. It also plays a central role in the principle of cycle and soak: you never want to deliver more water in an irrigation program than your soil can absorb at one time, or water will run down the gutter. This is the very heart of the smart cycle conversation—when discussing how best to apply water, cycle and soak is a key component. The goal is to apply all the water your plants need and never more than your soil can absorb.
Choosing Plant Type
Plant Type uses crop coefficients to determine water usage. WeatherTRAK has designed plant type categories so that sprinkler technicians can select the appropriate category without needing to be horticulturists.
Plant type is the key factor in how often a station will irrigate. Different types of plants use different amounts of water and pull different amounts of water out of the soil. The plant type setting controls how much water is left in the soil and therefore how often irrigation is needed.
Setting Root Depth
Returning to the concept of the glass of water underneath every station, Root Depth represents the size of that glass. This setting was discussed in detail in Episode 14, "Adjusting Your Irrigation Frequency."
An important principle: in the long term, changing the root depth doesn't change the total amount of water delivered to a station—only the frequency and duration of each individual irrigation event. A deeper root depth means a larger "glass" that takes longer to deplete but also takes longer to refill when irrigation occurs.
Configuring Microclimate
Microclimate captures how much sun exposure a station receives. A station in full sun burns through water much faster than a station in full shade—in fact, a full-sun station uses approximately 35 percent more water than a shaded station.
Capturing this detail is important not only for water bill savings but also to encourage the deep and infrequent watering that WeatherTRAK is designed to provide. Proper microclimate settings help get water down to the desired root depth and prevent overwatering shaded plants, which would encourage shallow rooting and fail to deliver on the promise of better water management.
When programming a station, you must look at the entire station and identify the piece that is in greatest demand—the thirstiest part of your station. Even if three-quarters of a station is covered in full shade, if one corner is in full sun, you must set the microclimate to Full Sun. The primary job is to keep the turf looking good, and if you set a station with any full-sun areas to shady all day, it would receive 35 percent less water than it needs. This is why you'll see stations set to Sunny All Day about 80 percent of the time. However, if you want to dial in water savings more precisely, adjusting microclimate for truly shaded stations is an excellent way to save more water.
Adjusting for Slope
Slope is a favorite setting because it highlights the smart cycle feature. The slope setting affects only the cycle and soak of a station—it never adjusts the total runtime. The goal is to identify the steepest slope on your station so you don't send water where you don't want it to go. You want to deliver only as much water as that station can absorb at one time.
Here's how slope affects irrigation cycles:
A station that is flat and needs 15 minutes of irrigation presents no danger of water running off. The controller will deliver all 15 minutes in one cycle.
If you change the slope setting to Mild Slope or Medium Slope, you'll still see that same 15 minutes total for that station—slope doesn't change the runtime. However, instead of 15 minutes all at once, the irrigation might break up into three cycles of five minutes each, with breaks in between to allow the water to absorb before the next round. This prevents water from running off and going down the gutter.
If you set the slope to Steep Slope, you'll still see the same 15 minutes total, but now it might be delivered as five cycles of three minutes, or even 15 cycles of one minute, depending on how all the other settings interact. The focus is on getting that water down into the soil to the right root depth without letting any water run down the gutter.
Specifying Location on Slope
Location on Slope identifies where on a hill the sprinklers are irrigating. A sprinkler head at the top of a hill waters downhill, and any runoff goes outside the target area. A sprinkler head at the bottom of the hill waters uphill, and any water runs right back into the target area.
Because of this difference, a sprinkler head at the top of a hill needs to water a little bit longer than a sprinkler head at the bottom of the hill. WeatherTRAK asks for this detail and makes the necessary adjustment to account for the location on the slope.
Using Percent Adjust
Percent Adjust is the recommended method for making runtime adjustments on the controller. This setting has its own unique menu on the controller and was covered in the "Adjusting Your Run Times in Auto Mode" episode.
Percent adjust is the easiest way to get a little bit more or a little bit less out of every program—adding a few more minutes or reducing a few minutes from a watering cycle. This method works intuitively: if you want more water, you add a positive value like +5 or +10; if you want less, you subtract with -5 or -10. There's no need to remember inverse relationships or complex calculations.
Additionally, a five percent adjustment adjusts the runtime by approximately five percent, making it very easy to track and dial in the exact amount of water each station should receive. This is the standard method for adjusting all stations to fine-tune water delivery.
Adjusting Target MAD
Target MAD (Management Allowed Depletion) allows you to change the maximum allowable depletion from the default of 50 percent. This setting also has its own unique menu on the controller.
When adjusting target MAD, remember this principle: the higher you set the target MAD, the lower you let the water level drop before irrigating. If you change this from 50 to 60 percent, you're saying you don't want to irrigate when the glass of water is 50 percent empty—you're willing to let it get to 60 percent empty before irrigating. This results in less frequent irrigation as you increase the target MAD percentage.
Conversely, if you decrease the target MAD from 50 to 40 percent, you're saying don't wait until it gets to 50 percent—irrigate when it reaches 40 percent depletion. This will increase the frequency of irrigation.
A caution about this setting: it's strongly recommended that you stick to the default of 50 percent. If you do adjust your target MAD, keep it close to 50 percent. The system can behave unpredictably when target MAD is set to extreme values on either end of the range. Stick to the middle ground and you will achieve the best results.
Accessing Additional Training Resources
Many of the settings covered in this guide are discussed in greater detail in previous training episodes. To access these resources, start at weathertrack.net and click on the WeatherTRAK symbol, which provides a quick link to the company home page at hydropoint.com.
The HydroPoint website contains valuable information including tech sheets, frequently asked questions, and guides. To find training webinars, click on the Resources tab and select Webinar Series at the bottom of the menu. This page displays various types of webinars offered by the company.
Under Smart Water Wednesdays or WeatherTRAK Wednesdays, you can view upcoming seminars. Scroll down to find Watch Previous Webinars, which takes you to a webpage where you can select any of the previous episodes recorded over recent weeks and months. Relevant episodes include "Adjusting Your Auto Mode Run Times," "Adjusting Your Auto Mode Frequency," and the summary episode covering all the settings discussed in this guide.
Getting Support
If you have questions or need support, a team of customer service agents is available to help. You can call from the field to receive six-day-a-week bilingual customer support, or email with any questions. This is an excellent resource for getting answers to your HydroPoint questions in real time.
Additional online resources include the knowledge base with task-based articles, the WeatherTRAK training site at hydropoint.learnupon.com for certified training courses and additional training materials, and the YouTube channel where short videos are posted for quick reference when you need information in the field.
Video Walkthrough
Video originally published April 2021.
If you have questions, here are 3 ways to get answers:
1. Search within this WeatherTRAK knowledgebase
2. Visit the WeatherTRAK 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.