Irrigation controller

• US 6,694,223 B1
• Filed: 06/06/2002
• Issued: 02/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toro Company (Toro)
• Original Assignee: Toro Company (Toro)
• Inventors: Hopkins, Larry Kent, Goldberg, Allan Morris
• Primary Examiner(s): Picard, Leo
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Douglas S.
• Application Number:
  US10/164,472
• Time in Patent Office: 621 Days
• Field of Search: 700/14, 700/16, 700/19, 700/284, 239/69, 137/624-1-6
• US Class Current: 700/284
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/165 Cyclic operations, timing systems, timing valves, impulse operations
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2625 Sprinkler, irrigation, watering
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/86389 Programmer or timer

Abstract

A simple single- or multi-station sprinkler controller is set to various run times and watering intervals by the repetitive operation of pushbuttons or combinations of pushbuttons. The chosen settings are communicated to the operator by illumination patterns of LEDs. The patterns may include groups of flashes, sequential scrolling of LEDs, multicolored illumination of an LED, and steady illumination or non-illumination of selected LEDs. If a short occurs in a station, the controller shuts itself off and flashes a pattern that signals a shorted condition and identifies the shorted station. On power-up, run times and intervals are automatically set to generally-usefll default values.

Claims

1. An irrigation controller for residential sprinkler systems, comprising:

a) a set of actuators;

b) a set of individually illuminable indicators;

c) a set of watering station terminals; and

d) a microprocessor actuated by said actuators to selectively energize said watering station terminals, said microprocessor operating said indicators to convey information regarding the status of said controller;

e) said microprocessor operating said indicators so as to convey information concerning the status of said watering station terminals by a combination of flashing illumination patterns and sequence of illumination of selected ones of said indicators.

2. The irrigation controller of claim 1, in which said microprocessor, on power-up, automatically sets said controller to energize said watering station terminals in sequence each for a predetermined time at predetermined intervals beginning at a predetermined start time.

3. The irrigation controller of claim 1, in which said watering station terminals are energizeable by the operation of only one of said actuators in accordance with a selected one of a set of predetermined combinations of “

on”

times and repetition rates.

4. The controller of claim 3, in which the same set of indicators indicates both the selected one of said set of combinations and the identity of the terminal energized at a given time.

5. The irrigation controller of claim 1, in which said microprocessor checks for short circuits in said watering station terminals before initiating any watering station terminal energization, and performs an energization sequence only if no short circuit is detected.

6. The controller of claim 5, in which said microprocessor operates said indicators in an illumination identifying both the presence of a short circuit and the terminal at which it has occurred.

12. The controller of claim 5, in which the program of said microprocessor has a continuously iterating main loop, and checks for short circuits upon each iteration of said main loop.

13. The controller of claim 1, in which said microprocessor is programmed to operate a station in separate time segments separated by at least a minimum time interval if the total selected time of operation of that station during a given cycle exceeds a predetermined maximum time of continuous operation.

7. An irrigation controller for residential sprinkler systems, comprising:

a) a set of pushbuttons;

b) a set of light emitting diodes;

c) a set of watering stations; and

d) a microprocessor actuated by said pushbuttons to selectively energize said watering stations at selected intervals and for selected run times, said microprocessor operating said light emitting diodes to convey information regarding the selected intervals and run times;

e) said selection of intervals and run times being accomplished by a repetitive actuation of at least one of said set of pushbuttons; and

f) said microprocessor operating said light emitting diodes to convey said information by patterned groups of illumination flashes.

8. The controller of claim 7, in which said light-emitting diodes include multi-color light-emitting diodes, and said patterned groups include illumination flashes in a plurality of colors on the same diode.

9. The controller of claim 7, in which said pushbuttons include one station pushbutton associated with each station, a start time pushbutton, and a manual mode, the interval being set by repetitively actuating a combination of said start time pushbutton and said manual mode pushbutton, and the run time of a station being set by the repetitive actuation of the station pushbutton associated with that station.

10. The controller of claim 9, in which said combination is a combination of said start time pushbutton and one of said station pushbuttons.

11. The controller of claim 7, in which one pushbutton and one indicator are associated with each of said stations, and in which predetermined combinations of intervals and run times are separately selectable for each station by repetitive actuation of the station pushbutton associated with that station.

14. An irrigation controller, comprising:

a) means for selecting an operating parameter for a watering station controlled by said controller, the value of said parameter being the sum of a selected plurality of increments of different sizes; and

b) an LED arranged to display the value of the selected parameter by flashing, in a different color for each increment size, the number of increments selected.