Yard irrigation system mystery
 

Greetings villagers, I have a problem that, hopefully, someone can clue me in about. Our yard sprinkler system seems to have a mind of its own. It is set to go on at 4, 4:30 and 4:45 am, and does so. The problem is, once it has cycled through areas 1,2 and 3, it starts over again! Only program A is shown to be working (not B or C). We have tried all we can think to do, other than a complete reset, to no avail. Also, because the system insists on cycling twice, we decreased the run time to 5 min. The problem is, the system automagically changed the running time (to 14 min) in each area. Could this have been a lack of rain thing, and the system automatically compensates by increasing run time? Anyway, the double cycling is the irritating (and costly) problem, and any help in correcting this would be appreciated.

Thanks

I had a similar problem, somehow, I managed to get my normal watering program to run 4 times on each day it was supposed to run once. I never figured out what i did wrong, called the landscaping company, they showed me the problem, but not the solution.
IMHO, pull the battery, and unplug the controller, this 'should' delete the memory, then reprogram, I am assuming you have a HUNTER system.

Hope others chime in with more specific info.

Dump the Hunter. Problem solved.

I had same problem several years ago. Problem was that I had two schedules set for the same times i.e. a B1 and a B2. At 7 AM system start of B1 which would run each zone. When cycle was complete it would run B2 even though scheduled for 7 AM start.

When dealing with the programing once per every couple of years, it takes a while to relearn the process . My mind was calibrated to think schedule A, B, C, not A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, B2, B3, B4, C1, C2, C3, C4

If you have a Hunter Controller I believe you should only set ONE start time as it will
start each zone will then start consecutively.
If you set 3 your getting 3 consecutive starts.
At least I think that is how it works.

Here is the official answer from the troubleshooting section of the Hunter manual:

Q: The controller repeats itself or continuously waters, even when it should not be on (cycling repeatedly).
A: Too many start times (Programming Error). Only one start time per active program is required.

Slowly i stepped, step by step
 

sounds like water issue solved

There is a simple solution to this problem, go to Lowes and buy an Orbit b-hyve wireless wifi system! $70 for 4 zones or $90 for 8 zones. Very easy to install in about 1/2 hour, then program the system with your cell phone. You then can control the system on you phone anywhere you have a wifi connection. It will delay watering if it rains and save you water. There are many videos on installation and programming on YouTube.

The problem is the 4 start times. The first start time will cycle thru all the zones then the second start time will do all the zones and so on until all the start times have cycled. Reset your controller to factory settings and reset the program to just 1 start time.

Yep , no need for multiple start times and most folks would not have a need to set up more than one program to run the WHOLE system.

So do as suggested , delete ALL of your programming and set up ONE new program with only ONE start time .

The issues you describe are as a result of improper setup. And that 14 minute time may be due to the “seasonal adjustment “ setting in the system.

There are professionally done videos by Hunter which thoroughly explain all of the above . Suggest you take a look .

Also , very important, a properly set up system depends on an accurate date and time setting to begin with ….. so , make doubly sure you set that up AS YOUR FIRST STEP !!!!

That’s exactly what we did and love it.

As a new owner I did the exact same thing and went into the controller to reprogram the system and screwed it up. Different controller up north and naturally they work completely different. I watched the utube videos and did a factory reset. Then only programmed zone A with one start time and all is good.

Yep, Yep, and Yep. I have been in irrigation for 40+ years. You have "stacked" multiple start times. You only need one, yep. You could factory reset the controller and/or reprogram it, yep. Or take this opportunity to buy a B-Hyve, set and forget.

Hunter controllers and multiple start times bug
 

I also have a hunter controller and I can confirm the multiple start times bug. Follow this gentleman’s advice and you should be OK.

Terrible advice. Hunter controllers are some of the best on the market for both home and commercial use.