The Hydrawise Controller operates the same way 20th century controllers go, but the major difference is that it automatically connects to the internet and allows the controller to adjust watering schedules based on forecasted temperatures and rainfall based on the weather in your area.

Some features for the professional contractor include:

• Avoiding costly onsite visits: Change your customer’s schedules remotely and avoid the time and expense of going onsite to make simple changes for check the operation of the system.
• Empower your clients: Traditional controllers are a pain to operate – and you know that your customers never touch them. With the evolution of technology and your customers’ desire to be able to control their home features from their phone, you can stand out from your competition by offering this controller as a point of difference.
• Protect the investment time, money and effort: Your clients have invested a significant amount of money in the landscape creation and you have your reputation riding on the final results – don’t lose it all through a simple irrigation fault. With Hydrawise’s flow meters, you can get app or SMS notifications if your customer’s irrigation system has a fault such as a broken pipe, spray head, or wiring.
• Add value to your projects and a point of difference: In reality, the cost of an irrigation controller is small in comparison to the overall cost of landscaping, installing an irrigation system, and planting out. Make your proposal or product stand out and provide your client with tangible benefits that you can easily demonstrate.

For more information, visit Hydrawise’s website here.

Hunter’s Irrigation Management & Monitoring Software (IMMS) is a PC-based software package that makes central control of large-scale irrigation systems affordable, usable, and comprehensible. IMMS software and hardware have been intensively developed and refined into a graphically based irrigation command and control program. It is optimized for use with the Hunter ACC controller and accessories (including decoder controllers), and has a full range of communications options, including Ethernet, GPRS mobile, dial-up telephone, UHF radio, and hardwired cable. IMMS is a PC-based application that is compatible with Windows XP through Windows 8.

Advanced features include:

Maps: Use any background image to show the system, site, or controller area, and create control zones and station symbols that link to their command functions. You supply the pictures, and IMMS includes all the tools you need to create an interactive map-based system.

Flow Monitoring: Track your water usage, and spot plumbing problems a mile away (or several hundred miles away). IMMS is built around the powerful ACC controller platform, which includes real-time flow monitoring.

Alarm Management: IMMS reports all alarms, including over-currents, flow violations, communication issues, and water window violations, with individual date- and time-stamped messages.

Programming: Each controller has its own complete setup and operations screens with tools to quickly and easily get the results you want. Access every function of controllers from simple spreadsheets or choosing from a menu of common functions and commands.

IMMS-ET (Evapotranspiration): Take the guesswork out of irrigation amounts and daily adjustments for weather conditions. The optional IMMS-ET software add-on uses cost-effective local sensors, combined with your station database (for plant types, soil, precipitation rate, and more) to create water-saving irrigation programs for your whole system, every day.

Rain Bird’s IQ Central Control Software is the product of decades of leadership in the irrigation industry. IQ brings a powerful, easy-to-learn software to your computer. Designed to work with numerous Rain Bird ESP-LX Series Controllers (with NCC Cartidges), IQ Software allows you to take total control of an irrigation system. The software now comes preloaded with all of the following feature packs:

• IQ Global Weather: The NEW IQ Global Weather Feature Pack enables you to get local weather data for all of your satellites. When combined with the Advanced ET Feature Pack, users can have automatic schedule adjustments based on local weather data.
• Advanced ET: This feature works with an onsite weather station or IQ Global Weather to use real-time weather data to manage more efficient run times. This helps users to water only when the ground requires it, based on precipitation and evapotranspiration (ET) data.
• Advanced Programming: Add this feature pack to an IQ system to provide additional security functions, including reviews of programming changes and personnel access to controllers.
• Advanced Communication: Set up email alerts and log reports for up to 250 addresses, and ensure up-to-date programming communication between the central computer and satellite controllers.
• Advanced Flow Sensing: Flow sensing technology protects IQ customers from costly water loss and the various troubles that come with it. This feature pack, when used with Flow Smart Modules, allows users to log and analyze flow rates in real time, as well as help diagnose problems with main lines or auxiliary lines in the field. Flow sensing also allows the system to shut off the main line or specific zones as soon as it senses a problem.

For more about Rain Bird IQ Central Control, visit www.rainbird.com

To view Rain Bird’s IQ videos, visit YouTube

ETwater offers three different options that all link your system to their robust, intuitive, web-based controls. Their stand-alone controller, the SmartBox, is your option for new construction of a system. ETwater has also made its name in the industry by offering add-on solutions such as the Hermit Crab and the SmartWorks Replacement Panel, which are designed to either add on to (Crab) or retrofit (Panel) an existing controller. Essentially, these products convert a conventional controller into a SmartBox, and all three solutions are capable of offering users an incredibly efficient online irrigation management experience through their ETwater Manager platform.

Accessible from any web browser, the ETwater Manager platform is an award-winning tool that allows users to manage water as it relates to their budget. Features include:

• “Quickdraw” smartphone app
• Generating of reports and graphs to easily analyze water use
• On-the-fly management to account for unique circumstances such as local watering restrictions
• Email alerts for quick response to system problems
• Weather forecasting and automatic schedule modification to account for weather
• Optional flow-sensor capabilities
• Robust management customization

For more about ETwater’s Advanced Water Management solutions, visit www.etwater.com

To view ETwater video tutorials and news, visit YouTube