Baseline Systems BaseStation 1000 - Manual (Page 53)

BaseStation 1000 Irrigation Controller Manual
Setting Up Soak Cycles for a Program
Because each type of soil has a different rate at which it can absorb water, you should set up the
runtime and soak time (“soak cycles”) for your zones to ensure that water soaks into the soil
instead of being wasted. For example, if you are applying water at 0.4 inch per hour to an area of
clay soil that can only absorb water at 0.2 inch per hour, the water that does not soak into the soil
will either run off or evaporate. You can prevent water waste by breaking a program runtime into
several soak cycles.
Soak Cycle Example: If your zone runtime is 60 minutes and you set up 3 soak cycles with a 40
minute soak time, the zone waters for 20 minutes, and then allows that water to soak in for 40
minutes. While this zone is soaking, other zones can run. After the 40 minute soak time, the zone
will be allowed to run another 20 minutes after any zone that is currently running finishes.
With these settings, the zone completes its 60-minute runtime in three, 20-minute segments, with
at least a 40 minute soak time between them.
1. Press the Program Setup button. The Program Setup menu displays.
2. If the program that you want to modify displays in the upper-left corner of the screen,
continue to step 3. Otherwise, press the PRG button until the program that you want to
modify displays in the upper-left corner of the screen.
Note: To move backwards in the list of programs, press and hold the PRG button, and then
press the – button repeatedly.
3. Press the  or  button to highlight the Soak
Cycles option, and then press the OK button.
The Soak Cycles screen displays.
4. Notice that the Soak Cycles field is
highlighted. Press the + or – button to change
the number to indicate how many soak cycles
will occur.
5. Press the  button to highlight the Soak
Time field. Press the + or – button to change the time in this field to indicate how long you
want the applied water to soak in.
6. Press the  button to highlight the Intelligent Soak field. If you want to enable Intelligent
Soak for this program, press the OK button to display a checkmark in the field.
When you enable the Intelligent Soak™ feature, the BaseStation 1000 uses intelligent
watering algorithms that apply cycles in the optimal order to maximize water penetration and
minimize evaporation loss. If there are many zones in a program, zones will be cycled and
soaked until all have been completed. Zones that have completed their soak cycles are
prioritized higher that zones that are still waiting to water so the first zones to start watering
will be the first to complete.
Note: For more information about configuring soak cycles, refer to Using Soak Cycles with Soil
Moisture Sensors on page 11.
7. Press the RUN button to exit Program Setup.
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