The Zone Spot Plan is the heart of Graphical Irrigation Design.
The Zone/Spot plan is similar to a Radar PPI (Plan Position Indicator) Display. The Outer Black Ring indicates the Maximum range of the sprinkler. The inner dotted rings indicate ½ and ¼ of full range.
The “nozzle” of the Sprinkler icon points is aligned with the Zero Axis Angle calculated in the Calibration.
Creating Zones and Spots requires you to get close enough to the water jet to determine exactly where it its landing. Depending on your situation, you may want to view this activity from behind the sprinkler or facing it.
The Turn Sprinkler button enables you to turn the graphical representation of the Sprinkler Nozzle Angle with respect to the mobile device in increments of 90 degrees.
The Directional Control buttons (Out, In, Clockwise and Counter-Clockwise) are fine adjustments for the WaterPointer (described below).
The Squirt button produces a 6 second jet along the previously calibrated Zero Axis.
The Close/Schedule button brings up the scheduling menu for a properly defined Zone or Spot (grayed out, otherwise).
The Control Panel button enters the Control Panel menu, where all operational parameters of your RS-1 may be edited.
The Water All Now button produces an instantaneous watering of all defined Zones and Spots to their scheduled volumes or depths.
WaterOffNow stops instantly turns off the water and abandons any watering operation currently in process. WaterOffNow does not prevent any future scheduled Zone or Spots from operating when their scheduled times arrive.
Creating Irrigation Zones and Spots using the Zone/Spot plan is a method of irrigation planning unique to RainStreamer. The method is highly intuitive. There are some advanced features and operational limitations that you should be aware of to make the most efficient use of your RS-1.
But first, some definitions:
A Spot is a user defined point to be watered (i. e. a tree or bush). Spots are watered to a specified volume, measured in gallons or liters.
Spots are created by directing a jet of water to the desired location (by moving the WaterPointer to that location), saving that location, and scheduling the volume, days and times that water will be delivered to that location.
A Vertex (aka Corner) is a point used to describe the edge of Zone.
The edges of a square or rectangular lawn can be described by 4 vertices (more complicated shapes require more Vertices).
The internal logic of an RS-1 determines the required radial scan pattern for any Zone based on its description by Vertices.
A Zone is a user defined area to be watered (e. g. a lawn or flower bed). It can be any shape (within certain limitations as defined in the Zone Rules).
Zones are watered to a specified depth, measured in tenths of an inch or mm ( i. e. as if 0.X inches of rain fell upon the defined area).
A Zone is created by directing a jet of water to each Vertex of a shape to be watered in sequence (by sequentially moving the WaterPointer to each Vertex location).
Each Vertex of a Zone under construction is preserved graphically for a visual representation of the Zone’s progress.
A zone is a polygon whose sides are defined by the interconnection of points aka Vertices. Zones may consist of up to 22 Vertices. The RS-1 itself may be inside a Zone or outside of it.
A Zone may have one concavity (i. e. a dry dent). “BowTie” Zones are not allowed. A Spot may be placed inside a Zone. A Zone may overlap another Zone.
A Zone may be placed entirely inside another Zone (this is the recommended method for watering a lawn with “hot spots” in the Sun).
One point defines a Spot. Three or more Vertices define a Zone. Two points are ambiguous, and may not be “Closed”.
This is the graphical representation of the currently positioned jet of water as it appears in the Zone/Spot plan. The WaterPointer appears as special color and shape (to distinguish it from the accumulating Vertices of a Zone).
The WaterPointer is enabled by tapping anywhere within the Zone/Spot Plan. The WaterPointer appears and a jet of water is directed to the corresponding point.
Enabling the WaterPointer causes previously entered Spots and Zones to become temporarily invisible. Grab the WaterPointer by touching, holding and dragging it. It will follow your finger and the water jet will make a corresponding move.
The WaterPointer stays enabled at the most recently directed location if you lift your finger.
With your finger lifted, you can re-direct the WaterPointer with the Out, In and Rotational directional controls (these controls are useful in finely directing the WaterPointer to an accurate location).
Or you can touch in a new location. The WaterPointer will jump to the new location. Its previous location will be preserved as a Vertex.
You can disable the WaterPointer at any time by pushing the WaterOffNow button. The Spot or Zone creation in progress will be instantly abandoned. The WaterPointer is also disabled by the completion of a Spot or Zone using the Close/Schedule button.
If only the WaterPointer is visible, the Close/Schedule Buttons causes the Spot Schedule screen to appear.
Most of the items in the Spot Schedule screen are self-explanatory. The following describes limits and operating details.
The Spot (actually Spot/Zone) number is assigned by the RS-1 in order of Spot/Zone creation. Daily, Bi-Daily or Days of the Week may be selected as Watering Days. Up to 3 watering sessions per day may be scheduled.
The Back button returns to the Zone/Spot Plan without Saving the Schedule.
The Scan button causes a quick 6 second jet of water to be directed to the Spot (as a verification of the Spot’s accuracy).
The Save button saves the scheduled Spot and immediately returns to the Zone/Spot Plan.
The Delete button deletes a previously saved Spot.
Grabbing an existing Spot in the Zone/Spot Plan and using the Delete button is the only way to delete a previously entered Spot.
Several Spots may be scheduled to start at the same time. If 2 or more Spots are scheduled to start at the same time, the lowest Spot number will be completely watered.
The second Spot will be watered immediately following the first Spot’s completion. If a third or subsequent Spot is scheduled to start before the first or second Spot is completed, that Spot will be immediately watered following the completion of the first and second Spots, and so on.
If the WaterPointer and 2 or more Vertices are visible, the Close/Schedule Buttons causes the Zone Schedule screen to appear.
Most of the items in the Zone Schedule screen are self-explanatory. The following describes limits and operating details. The Zone (actually Spot/Zone) number is assigned by the RS-1 in order of Spot/Zone creation.
Daily, Bi-Daily or Days of the Week may be selected as Watering Days. Up to 3 watering sessions per day may be scheduled.
The Back button returns to the Zone/Spot Plan without Saving the Schedule.
The Scan button causes a jet of water to move to each Vertex of the Zone in turn, resting for 3 seconds and the proceeding to the next Vertex (as a verification of the Zone’s accuracy).
The Save button saves the scheduled Zone and immediately returns to the Zone/Spot Plan.
The Delete button deletes a previously saved Zone.
Selecting an existing Zone in the Zone/Spot Plan and using the Delete button is the only way to delete a previously entered Zone.
Several Zones may be scheduled to start at the same time. If 2 or more Zones are scheduled to start at the same time, the lowest Zone number will be completely watered.
The second Zone will be watered immediately following the first Zone’s completion. If a third or subsequent Zone is scheduled to start before the first or second Zone is completed, that Zone will be immediately watered following the completion of the first and second Zone, and so on.
When you are finished with your Zone and Spot creation and editing, you can exit in one of two ways. Every incremental change that you make is saved at the instant that you press the “Save” button.
There is no need for a “Session Save” and you can simply close your browser or connect to a different WiFi AP (or just leave and do nothing at all) as soon as you have saved your most recent edit.
Within the AP timeout period (default 1 hour; schedulable in the Control Panel), you can easily log back on to the sprinkler by typing www.rainstreamer.com in your browser address bar.
The current Zone/Spot Plan will be instantly visible. In 1 hour of no activity, the RS-1 will disable its AP. You can re-enable it by gently but firmly tapping the RS-1.
In some mobile devices, the RS-1 will continue to appear as an available network for several minutes even after the AP is disabled. If you can’t connect to your RS-1, try tapping it.
You can also exit through the Control Panel. A Control Panel exit gives you the option to disable the RS-1’s AP immediately.
This action is useful if you are programming several RS-1’s in sequence.