Associating zones with a program, Setting up soil moisture sensor based watering, O setting up soil – Baseline Systems BaseStation 3200 User Manual

Page 59: Moisture sensor based watering on

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BaseStation 3200 Advanced Irrigation Controller Manual

Associating Zones with a Program

In your landscape, you probably have zones that need to be watered every day (such as those that water turf

areas) and other zones that need to be watered less frequently (such as shrub borders). In order to manage these

different watering schedules, it is best to create separate programs for the turf and the shrubs and then associate

the appropriate program with the zones that water the specific landscape area.

Prerequisites

• The zones have been correctly assigned in the controller.
• You know the numbers of the zones that water the specific landscape areas.

1. Turn the dial to the Zone Water Times position.
2. Press the + or button to select the zone that you want to associate with a program.
3. Press the NEXT button to move to the Program/ML1 field.
4. Press the + or button to select the program that you want the zone to be associated with.
5. Repeat steps 2 – 4 to associate all zones with a specific program.
6. When you have finished making changes, turn the dial to the Auto Run position.

Setting Up Soil Moisture Sensor Based Watering

You can take the guesswork out of your watering decisions by setting up soil moisture sensor based watering. The

biSensor measures soil moisture where the plants need it – at the root level.

When you have a biSensor installed, the BaseStation 3200 enables you to set up one of the following water

strategies:

Timed – Waters without biSensor control, but provides a log of daily moisture levels.

Note: Be sure to use the Timed water strategy with new grass. After the root zone is established, you can

change to one of the other strategies.

Lower Limit Prevents watering until the moisture level drops below the limit, and then a full water cycle will

run. The user sets and manages the limit.

Lower Limit Auto – Waters the same as Lower Limit, but the controller sets and manages the limit. The user

can set an adjustment factor if desired.

Upper Limit – Allows watering at each start time, but the run time is adjusted to replenish the moisture to

field capacity. The user sets and manages the limit.

Make sure that you have soak cycles properly set up for the zones that will be using soil moisture based

watering. In addition to allowing the applied water to soak into the soil, soak cycles allow time for the

water to reach the biSensor depth so the soil moisture readings are accurate. Refer to Using Soak Cycles

on page 46.

Upper Limit Auto – Waters the same as Upper Limit, but the controller sets and manages the limit. The user

can set an adjustment factor if desired.

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