Baseline Systems BaseStation 6000 - Manual (Page 67)

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6 – FLOW
The BaseStation 6000 Site Controller has powerful flow features, which enable you to:
• Detect and manage flow faults – With a flow device, the system can monitor the readings to protect your irrigation system
from excessive flow. In an “overflow event” the controller closes all master valves associated with the flow meter and halts
all irrigation to protect the landscape from flooding, within five minutes of overflow detection.
• Control water usage – The BaseStation 6000 Site Controller gives you very precise control over the flow in your system,
which enables you to carefully monitor and use water while staying within allowed limits. The controller will monitor the
system flows in order to shorten water windows and maximize the number of valves running without exceeding system
flow capacity.
• Manage and optimize flow – You can configure a model of your irrigation system in the BaseStation 6000 software. The
system will use that information to distribute and control watering based on flow settings.
Before you attempt to use the flow features in the BaseStation 6000 software, make sure you understand the following terms
and concepts:
• Flow – The amount of water that moves through your irrigation system at any given time.
• Flow zone – The group of zones in your irrigation system that is monitored by a flow device. If you install multiple flow
devices on your system, you will have multiple corresponding flow zones.
• Flow node – A section of your irrigation system that is differentiated from other sections by its piping structure. An
irrigation system for a residential property might have only one flow node, but a system for a sports complex or a business
park might have multiple nested flow nodes based on how the pipe sizes in the water delivery system change as the system
branches out to the various irrigation sites. In the BaseStation 6000 software, you can configure flow nodes in parent-child
relationships to match complex integrated piping structures.
Detecting and Managing Flow Faults
When you set up your system to monitor for flow-based faults, you can prevent water loss due to a broken pipe.
You can configure the BaseStation 6000 system to detect and manage flow faults across your entire irrigation system (you must
have a flow device on the point of connection for the site) or on individual flow zones. For either option, you must have a Flow
biCoder configured in the system.
If you know the flow for all the zones in your irrigation system, you can configure the base flows manually (refer to Manually
Entering the Flow on page 62). You can also use the Learn Flow option to have the system operate all the valves and
automatically update the base flow fields (refer to Enabling the BaseStation 6000 to Learn the Flow for Each Valve on page 62).
Viewing and Understanding Flow Device Readings
1. Make sure that you have already added a Flow biCoder to the BaseStation 6000 system. Refer to Adding a Flow biCoder on
page 21.
2. On the Main Page of the BaseStation 6000 software, click the Information tab to activate the Main Menu.
3. Click the Flow menu, and then click the Configure Flow Sensors option. The Flow BiCoder and Pause Device Management
and Configuration window opens.
4. Click the Flow Bicoder – All Bases tab.