September
2006
Don’t Water When it’s Raining0
A Rain Sensor is a device that hooks into your automatic timer/controller to regulate your watering when it’s raining out.
If you have automatic sprinklers on a timer, they are set to run on a schedule no matter what the weather, and if the weather or season changes, it is usually up to you to adjust the timer accordingly. Living in the northwest, often times I will be driving to work in the morning during the early or late summer when it is raining, and see the sprinklers going for homes and businesses. While it is raining watering your lawn the same amount, and often at all is a waste of money and resources.
A rain sensor can help you avoiding wasting water and money when it is not necessary. Most controllers for your automatic sprinklers will have a connection available for a rain sensor, and although different rain sensors use different methods for sensing rain, the hook up is generally the same. The idea is that it will just flip a switch electronically to tell your timer to stop watering, and the switch will flip back to tell the timer to water again when it dries out. This means that you can usually hook up any rain sensor to any controller.
You need to mount your rain sensor outside where it is going to be exposed to the same rain your lawn is. Some common places to mount a rain sensor is on the eave or rain gutter of your house, or on a wall or fence where it is exposed to rain from directly above.
Rain sensors are a small extra cost when installing your system, but they will pay for themselves quickly in the water that they save, and it is a good idea to conserve water resources in your community.
Rain-Click [Hunter Industries]