I had my rain delay device on for two days and mcsSprinklers handled that fine. I just turned it off so the system would return to its normal schedule. Well, as soon as I turned it off, area 2 started. Area two is set to run on even days (it is an even day today) but it's supposed to start at 2 hours before sunrise. So, area 1 should actually run tomorrow morning (19th) and area 2 shouldn't run until the morning of the 20th. Why did it start now -- right day, wrong time?
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Same type of situation as if you had a restriction to not run when the wind was above 10 mph. If the wind was high at the scheduled time you would not want to skip the entire day, but just wait until the wind settled down.
The primary logic cycle is the 24 hours day. If the day is a valid day for irrigation, then it will keep trying to run the day's cycle until it is able. If you happen to have muliple start times it will skip over cycles for which the time has passed, but it will not skip over the entire day. Since the first start time for the day has been reached the start time is no longer a restriction for this day. If there is another time later in the current day it will wait for it, but if all the day's start times have passed then it will water as soon as all other restrictions are removed.
The logic that you used is totally rationale, but just not quite as I designed it. Just like in Cinderella, midnight is a magical time. If the prior day's irrigation did not finish then it will not be slid past midnight. At midnight the new day starts. -
Hmmm, I see your logic but I really don't want the system to be able to start just any time. I will soon have the inhibit tied to a rain sensor so it's more automated. I don't want the sprinkler system to come on while I'm mowing the grass, or on the lawn having a cookout, just because the rain sensor suddenly clicks off. I really don't want it to start at 10:00 at night either (watering at night can cause fungus).
What about having a window during which the cycle is allowed to start? In other words start at -2:00 hrs before sunrise or within x hours. You might put that in the Areas Setup and call it "start time window" or you could put it in the Restrictions Setup and call it "Skip cycle if not started within x hours of planned start time".Comment
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The use of start times came into the picture because that was their normal way of thinking for many users. It added considerable complexity to the software. The basic design works from the other prespective where you indicate when you do not want it to be ON and let it figure out when it is best to turn it ON. If you go to the restrictions page you will see entries that can be made to block area periods of the day for which the sprinklers will not be activated.
The time ranges use the same entry format as the start times with a 24 hour clock. This is the one area that is an exception to the reset at midnight logic. If you want to block out 10 PM to 4 AM then you can enter 22 and 4 for the start and end times and it will recognize that you mean to span the time between two days.Comment
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