With Special Guest: Jonathan Caceres, Owner of Everthrive Landscape, Inc.

Programming Flow for Pro3 and LC Controllers

What is Flow

You must add a flow sensor to your mainline prior to this tutorial. There are three types of common flow sensors, Tee Types, Hydrometer types, and Ultrasonic Types. It is a common error for people to install a flow sensor based on the size of the pipe, however you should choose a sensor based on the range of flow on your site. For example, it’s okay to put a 1 inch sensor on a 2 inch pipe if your flow is within the range of the 1 inch sensor. For calculating the flow range of HydroPoint Brand flow sensors, refer to the Flow Sensor Compatible Flow Range document. Keep in mind that most of the flow sensors on the market are all marketed to be within 3% of the actual flow.

Adding a Flow Sensor

After installing a flow sensor and connecting it to your WeatherTrak Controller, navigate to the Flow Connections section on the controller. This can be done by pressing the flow menu button and navigating to the right. Once at the flow connection, page, you can use the right arrow to select different settings and the + and - symbols to change their values. In this example, we will be managing Point of Connection 1 (or POC 1), so we won’t change the first option. Next, move on to the master valve option using the right arrow

From here, we can select whether the master valve is normally open (NO), normally closed (NC), or off.

The next setting is the flow sensor, in this case FS1. This needs to be turned on for flow to be read.

The next setting, Pump Start (PS1), can be toggled on or off depending on if you have a pump start installed. 

Finally, ensure that the sensor is assigned to the correct mainline, in this case we will be selecting mainline 1.

Next, scroll on to the selection screen using the right arrow. Here you can select the type of flow sensor that you are using with the + and - symbols This is one of the few menus in the controller that must be saved before moving on, which you can do using the * button. 

Testing the Flow Sensor

To test the flow sensor, turn on a station by pressing the manual test button and setting a duration for the test, then verify if the flow is accurately represented on the screen.

However, you will want to ensure that the sensor is calibrated before moving on. It is easiest to find a close by station and count the sprinklers on the station, which can be used in tandem with the sprinkler manufacturer’s brochure to approximate how much water should be flowing. If the GPM listed on the flow sensor does not more or less match the anticipated flow, there may be a leak or an inaccuracy somewhere. To troubleshoot these "Ghost Leaks" see our article on troubleshooting Incorrect Flow Data.

Learned Flow Test

Next, the flow sensor will need to learn what the average flow is for a station. This baseline helps identify leaks. It is important to ensure that there are no leaks in your system prior to learning a site’s expected flow. This can be done by opening the master valve and pressurizing the system, and checking the water meter or flow sensor for flow. It is also useful to do a manual inspection for leaks, broken heads, buried heads, or more.

Navigate to page 3 of the flow section using the arrows, and select the mainlines option with the + sign before moving forward.

From here, navigate forward to the mainline break section using the right arrow, and for the purposes of this test, set it to alert only. If it is set to alert and action, the master valve may interrupt the learned flow process. It is also wise to select alert only for the no-flow option for now. We will change these alerts later in the tutorial.

Return to the select flow options page and use the + symbol to navigate to the stations tab. Next, use the arrows to navigate to the “select stations to learn” page.

By hitting select you can identify and learn one station at a time. This is useful if you want to relearn flow for specific stations (like changing a head or a changed hydraulic condition). If you are running a learned flow test for the first time, you can press the star symbol for it to select every station.

Next, navigate to the right to select the delay before learning. Delay before learning is the duration that we run a station to learn the flow, because flow needs to balance out before it is accurate. You may want to increase the delay if you have slow valves or high line fill time, but generally 3 minutes is enough time for most systems.

Once the delay is set, navigate to the right and turn the learning program on using the + symbol.

While the learned flow program is running, it is recommended to walk the site to see if everything is running as well as it should be. 

Next you will need to program the alerts for flow. While this can be programmed at the controller using the alerts menu, we recommend using WeatherTrak.net’s program tab for quicker data entry.

Alert Notifications

After learning the flow for the site, navigate to the program tab on WeatherTrak.net, 

Notice how the learned flow data has populated the Station Flow tab:

Next we have to decide which stations to exclude from the High Flow, Low Flow, or No Flow alerts tab. 

If a station has multiple low flow outputs, like drips, it may not register at all on the flow sensor. In cases like these, excluding the station from no flow alerts will insure it does not create unnecessary alerts. For instance, if the GPM of a station is less than the flow sensor’s capable range, it is wise to exclude it. Additionally, we recommend setting the No Flow Alert threshold and the Leak Alert threshold (located above the red circle) to the low bound of your flow sensor’s range. For more information on No Flow Alerts, check out our article that details No Flow Alerts and and their causes.

For low flow alerts, we also recommend that any stations that have an expected flow rate that is less than a sensor’s range be excluded. For more information, check out our article on Low Flow Alerts.

For High Flow Alerts, we recommend setting the threshold that is the highest anticipated flow rate for your site.

For calculating the mainline break threshold, make sure that it is set to the highest anticipated flow. If you want to run two stations at the same time, make sure to set the mainline break threshold high enough, for both station’s GPM readings to be read at once.

You may want to calibrate the station high offset and station low offset values according to the expected flow for a station. For stations that have very low flow like drips, a station low flow offset of 20% could be a gallon or less, and may create alerts for things like pressure changes. Vice versa, for a station with very high flow, a lower percentage may be needed to detect smaller leaks.

Congratulations! You have successfully connected a flow sensor with your site. Make sure to always relearn flow when reinstalling or repairing components, and ensure that no alert thresholds are stopping alerts from being noticed. For more information on flow sensors, check out our other tutorials in our Knowledge Base or contact customer support. Have a great day!