Technology pioneer in smart, affordable web-based irrigation control adds flow management
PRLog - Sep 03, 2013 - DALLAS -- Weathermatic, the pioneer and leader in Smart irrigation control has released SmartLink Flow. SmartLink Flow is the first system to provide fully cloud-based flow management capabilities in a standard irrigation controller, eliminating the need for expensive and hard-to-install central control systems. SmartLink Flow allows landscape professionals to install a flow sensor along with the SmartLine Controller and SmartLink Aircard to get actual flow data, high flow shut-down and flow alerts – all from any web-connected device.
Affordable flow monitoring and management have been a challenge in the landscape industry for decades. Irrigation line breaks and leaking sprinkler valves are difficult to detect since irrigation typically occurs at night. Property owners often don’t know about such issues until they receive an excessive water bill. According to some estimates, 15-20% of annual overwatering occurs due to lack of visibility to such repair issues in the landscape. Detecting excessive flow in a lateral or main line is essential to saving water on a property.
The conventional technology to resolve this issue was originally developed in the early 1980s, and consisted of expensive customized irrigation control systems, flow sensors and dedicated PCs with hard-wired communication or radio communication to the controllers. Attempts at “web connectivity” have typically consisted of VPN-based access to the controlling PC desktop. These traditional “Central Control” systems are difficult to install and complex to program, often requiring the manufacturer to support. Moreover, repair parts are extremely expensive and difficult to acquire. As a result, these Central Control systems have been only deployed to high-end commercial and municipal properties with large capital budgets.
Weathermatic leveraged its market-leading SmartLine Controller, SmartLink cloud-based software, and SmartLink Aircard with reliable M2M cellular networks to develop an affordable solution for flow management that makes it accessible to commercial, municipal and residential customers. There is no software to download, no limitation to the number of users who can access and it is available with standard irrigation control systems from Weathermatic. The incremental cost of adding a flow sensor and associated software features to an existing SmartLink-connected controller is less than $1000, in many cases. Early detection of a single lateral line break or a single leaking valve could save this amount in water costs alone.
SmartLink Flow detects leaks and sends an email alert to the user while automatically shutting down the problematic zone or entire system, based on criteria set by the user. Using the reporting feature, SmartLink Flow allows the user to compare to historical water usage to verify improved water management and savings, then take corrective measures like irrigation repairs or programming adjustments to ensure further water savings.
According to Bill Savelle, EVP of Products for Weathermatic, “We placed the data communication port in the original SmartLine controllers in 2004 without full visibility to the architecture we would leverage to communicate to a computer or mobile device. The advent of cloud-based software and reliable cellular M2M communication has allowed us to make profound progress in delivering economical web-based flow management using our standard controllers. There is excellent prospect for additional features immediately available to our customers with cloud-based software and cellular M2M communication using this platform.”
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Weathermatic is a leading provider of water-conserving technology and services. Based in Dallas, TX, Weathermatic has been serving landscape professionals for more than sixty-five years and has a full line of controllers, weather stations, valves, rotors, sprays and nozzles. Weathermatic donates $1 per month for every SmartLink connection and 5% of its Sustainability Services revenue to global clean water projects. The goal is to help take the water savings from landscape overwatering and use it to provide clean drinking water for people in the most impoverished countries. Find out more about the Save Water | Give Life campaign at http://weathermatic.com/our-cause.
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Weathermatic Releases Affordable Flow Management
September 03, 2013 at 15:38 PM EDT
