Learn how to troubleshoot a No Flow Alert on your WeatherTRAK Controller using WeatherTRAK Central.
Troubleshooting No Flow
When a no flow alert occurs, the controller is not measuring any flow during manual or scheduled irrigation. A no flow alert is created when the controller is expecting to measure flow but isn’t measuring any
Before beginning to troubleshoot, check first to make sure that the water on-site is on and that the appropriate valves are open.
When troubleshooting you will need to check the following:
- If no flow sensor is installed, flow is turned off
- Flow is configured properly for the controller
- Appropriate valves on-site are opened and water is on
- Hardware functioning properly
Turn off flow sensor if there is no flow sensor installed on the system.
If there is not a flow sensor installed, it could be that someone has turned on flow features from the controller or while in WeatherTRAK Central. If you don’t have a flow sensor, you need to turn the flow sensor mode to Off.
1. From the Smart Irrigation tab, select Program.
2. In the Flow section, underneath the heading Flow Sensor make sure that all flow sensors are in Off mode. Use the drop-down tab to change the mode if necessary.
3. Click Save & Send to save any changes and to send the change to the controller.
Turning off the flow sensor from the controller:
1. Press FLOW.
2. Press à until Flow 02-01 displays.
3. Press à to underline FS1 (Flow Sensor 1).
4. Press + or – to select OFF.
If there is a flow sensor, configure flow.
If there is a flow sensor installed, you will need to make sure that it has been configured properly. You will need to set values for No Flow Mode, No Flow Threshold, and No Flow Delay. These values are set in the No Flow Alerts section on WeatherTRAK.net.
You will also need to learn flow and then exclude appropriate stations from low flow monitoring.
Setting the No Flow Alerts Mode
The No Flow Alerts Mode allows you to choose how you want the controller to respond when a No Flow alert is raised. You can choose among Alarm/Action, Alarm Only or Off.
Alarm/Action: This mode stops irrigating stations and raises a No Flow station alert and will continue irrigation with the next scheduled stations. If 3 consecutive stations have a No Flow alert, then a No Flow alert is raised and irrigation will stop and a notification will be sent.
Alarm Only: This mode raises a No Flow alert. Irrigation will continue, and a notification is sent.
Off: This mode turns the No Flow alert feature off. No alert is raised.
To set the no flow mode:
1. From the Smart Irrigation tab, select Program.
2. In the Flow section, under the No Flow Alerts heading, select the desired mode.
3. Click Save & Send to save any changes made and to send the change to the controller.
Setting the No Flow Threshold
The No Flow Threshold should be set to the minimum GPM that your sensor is capable of handling. These values are usually found in the literature that came with your flow sensor.
1. From the Smart Irrigation tab, select Program.
2. In the Flow section, under the No Flow Threshold heading, select the minimum GPM.
3. Click Save & Send to save any changes made and to send the change to the controller.
Setting the No Flow Delay
The No Flow Delay is the number of minutes that you want to program to allow the system to balance and pressure up before you test for alerts. Setting the No Flow Delay will help to avoid false alarms in the future.
1. From the Smart Irrigation tab, select Program.
2. In the Flow section, under the No Flow Delay heading, select the number of minutes you want to delay the No Flow Alert testing for.
3. Click Save & Send to save any changes made and to send the change to the controller.
Learning Flow and Excluding Stations from Low Flow Stations from Monitoring:
You may have some stations on your site that you want to exclude from No Flow monitoring because these stations normally have low flow. To find out which stations have low flow, you will need to learn flow first.
1. From the Smart Irrigation tab, click Learn Flow.
2. Click on the stations you want to learn flow on. Click Enter.
3. Click Start Learning. A verification window pops up. Verify then click Start Learning. Each station will run from 3-10 minutes to get an accurate number of how many GPM to use.
4. If at any time you want to stop learning flow, click Stop Learning.
5. Look over the results for Learned Flow. Any station measuring less than the low flow threshold should be excluded from monitoring.
6. Go back to the Program page. In the Excluded Stations box, click Edit. A pop up displays, with station numbers and check boxes. Click the station numbers you want to exclude from No Flow.
7. Click Set.
Checking Flow Hardware
If you have properly configured flow on the controller and are still getting low flow alerts, then you will need to check for hardware issues. The first step when determining a hardware issue is to isolate the problem to figure out where the signal is getting lost. There are 3 areas to test:
- At the controller
- On the wire path between the controller and the flow sensor
- At the flow sensor
Isolate the controller and perform a tap test
A tap test uses testing wire to simulate a pulse to see if the controller can hear it.
1. Locate flow sensor valve wires and unplug.
2. Replace flow sensor wires with testing wire.
3. Begin the test. Press the Flow button.
4. Tap testing wires together to simulate a pulse.
5. If you see measured flow on the controller, then you know that the controller seeing the pulse being generated and that the controller is not the problem. Unplug the testing wires and plug the flow sensor wires back in. You will need to then test the wire path between the controller and the flow sensor.
Isolate the wire path between the controller and the wire path and perform a tap test
1. Disconnect the flow sensor in the valve box.
2. Disconnect the wires that go back to the controller and tap them together.
3. Have someone back at the controller push the Flow button. If flow is being read, then the communication path between the controller and the wire path can be excluded. If flow is not being read, it is likely that there is an issue with the flow sensor. At this point, contact customer support for further assistance.