Our flagship product is a multi-threaded, PC compatible program that enables you to irrigate like a pro! Our solution offers new innovative features plus amenities that may only be found in costly professional systems. In lieu of sophisticated and perhaps expensive on site hardware that monitors weather conditions, our solution can utilize vast resources of the Internet to pinpoint weather conditions at your location. ISC analyzes this data and engineers a custom irrigation solution unique to your geodesic location, environmental conditions, and on site irrigation resources each and every time demand is detected. It makes decisions based on a one-time user defined configuration setup that is dialog and wizard driven.

Below is a list of key ISC attributes. If you would like to explore ISC function and capability in more detail, see ISC Help Files

Our flagship product is a program called the Intelligent Sprinkler Control or ISC, a multi-threaded, PC compatible program that enables you to irrigate like a pro! A brief summary of functionality follows:

Topic	Notes
Evapotranspiration (ET)	Demand at your site is calculated daily based on the Evapotranspiration, or ET, model. This model accounts for losses due to evaporation and transpiration. Evaporation is the loss of water from the soil to the atmosphere due to solar radiation. Transpiration, is the consumption of water due to plant demands which vary throughout the plants life cycle. ISC will track these losses, on a zone by zone basis, and compensate with a schedule compatible with your sites unique characteristics.
Crop Profile	Knowing ET is a major step forward, but it is only part of the solution! ISC supports reference and customizable Crop Profiles. Manage the unique water demand of a plant type throughout its life cycle on a zone by zone basis.
Weather Acquisition	ISC acquires weather from the most recognized and authoritative source. It uses the collected data to calculate an ET tailored to your locale. In addition, the program presents acquired observation data to you. You may view decoded historical reports in plain English.
Weather Monitoring	Should weather conditions exceed preset thresholds that you define, any job in progress is suspended until weather parameters are in check. Includes Temperature (hi/lo), Wind, and Precipitation
Time Synchronization to NIST atomic clocks	When ISC starts, the Network Time Protocol, NTP, is utilized to access various stratum time servers around the country. In addition, ISC will resynchronize once every 24 hours. This ensures your computer time is always set correctly!
Growing Season / Frost Dates	Wondering when you should turn the sprinklers on or off? ISC now provides local Spring and Autumn frost dates specific to your geodesic position. ISC will automatically throttle back zone watering demands when calendar dates fall outside the active growing season.
Exclusions	Tired of trying to set your timer given water authority restrictions? ISC introduces a new way for you to think about scheduling. Instead of you trying to assimilate all the restrictive times into a schedule that might work on your timer, ISC allows you to indicate those times that irrigation is prohibited, based on authority regulation, or personal preference. Results of our advanced scheduling algorithm will exclude the times you list. ISC can handle any perceived exclusion scenario. You can enter as many exclusions as you desire. Exclusion dialogs allow you to define a one-time exclusion or any repetitive pattern.
Automated Scheduling	Every irrigation job is scheduled based on a large array of input data. Our advanced scheduler algorithm is designed to choose the best time to irrigate in order to avoid evaporation. Additionally, scheduling will prohibit irrigation during exclusion times you indicate. Every irrigation job is an engineered solution based on current conditions.
User Defined Scheduling	As an optional alternative to the ISC "Automated Scheduler" or in conjunction with it, the user can also define any number of predefined schedules. ISC can be configured to run these only, or to run these and allow ISC to compensate for any shortage detected based on ISC ET analysis utilizing the automated scheduler. User defined schedules can be enabled or disabled as desired
Control Override	Use ISC to manually control watering at any given time. The manual override can be used to water the entire site or any specific zone. The amount of irrigation desired can be specified using a depth amount, a specific runtime, based on historical statistics, or a user defined schedule.
Budget	Take back economic control and management of your irrigation water costs! ISC facilitates a budget analysis that allows you to determine how much you are willing to spend for water after consideration of other landscape management costs. ISC will limit watering to the ET balance or budget constraint you define, whichever is less.
Irrigation System Configuration	ISC is designed to support a variety of hardware configurations. Label each resource with a meaningful descriptor of your choice! Hierarchical setup dialogs support any number of system irrigation components, limited only by the resources available on your PC.
Setup Dialogs / Wizards	ISC dialogs help you setup the characteristics of each element in your irrigation system. In some cases wizard functionality automatically calculates details you would otherwise have to determine and enter. An embedded area calculator enables you to determine a zones area regardless of unique geometry or feature shapes you may want to exclude in an area.
Configuration Diagnostics	Once you have your resources setup, you can utilize an embedded diagnostic tool to verify that all settings are working as expected. In the event of a failure, ISC lists suggestions on how to resolve the issue.
ISC Updater	Your version of ISC is always up to date. Whenever you start ISC or every 48 hours thereafter, ISC checks with an LVE server to see if updates are available. If they are, ISC downloads them into a holding queue and gives you the option to install them now, or at a later time. The notification does not block normal ISC operation, so if you are away from your computer when the notice is posted, ISC continues running normally. This method is a quick and easy way to make sure you are always running the latest version of ISC and support files
Units of Choice	Details are entered or viewed throughout ISC. You have the option to work in almost any unit of measure you choose.
Geodesic Position	The program requires knowledge about your irrigation sites latitude, longitude, and altitude. It will automatically determine these values when you register the program. In the unlikely event automated determination fails, or for some reason is incorrect, the user can enter a specific locale. If you have access to a GPS system, utilize its readout to enter your location in the ISC setup. ISC also offers an embedded wizard that utilizes the latest USGS database to help you pinpoint your geodesic position utilizing nearby landmarks. Alternatively, trip mapping software such as DeLorme "Street Atlas" can be used. Many Internet resources offer a lookup solution typically based on your address. E.g.: Lake Valley Engineering - Geocoder http://www.geocode.com/ http://earth.google.com/
Customized Almanac / Astronomy	Knowing your geodesic location, customized details of various astronomy are presented View Sun Rise / Sun Set times (Actual / Civil / Nautical / Astronomical views) Moon transitions and phases Planet positions and factoids are available in real time (Graphical / tabulated detail) Solstice / Equinox events Geoid factoid Select Calendar events marquee
Notifications using Audio annunciator, Email or SMS	ISC will catalog all available wav files on the host. Users can then choose any one to be associated with any event notification. Configure notifications to send an Email or SMS message to one or more recipients whenever a selected event occurs. Users can queue messages or have them sent in real time. Perfect while travelling, for remote monitoring, or anytime the user is away from the system. Notification gives our clients the piece of mind knowing everything is running normally. Choose from numerous event options including, but not limited to, ET postings, rain credits, job status, almanac events, and many other options Audio and Email or SMS options are independent and can easily be enabled and disabled on demand.
Payment	Lake Valley Engineering is committed to delivering a quality product. We recognize that not everyone will find our solution meets his or her expectation. We could have followed a more traditional model in which you pay a relatively high acquisition fee, but then you would make full payment for a product before you had a chance to evaluate it! We just don't believe that's the right way to do business. ISC incorporates our version of something called MeterWare. As the term implies, you pay for the program based on your use of it. If you don't like it and decide not to use it, discontinue use and pay nothing more! It also means, users pay an amount proportional to use. Our MeterWare normalizes expense based on utilization. We think that's way software costs should be structured & allocated! LVE MeterWare is very simple. You acquire Irrigation Management Rights, or IMR, in any quantity you desire. Price discounts apply as your accumulated IMR reaches certain thresholds. Each IMR equates to one gallon of water delivered by ISC. ISC will deliver as long as IMR are available. When IMR are depleted, ISC stops until the local IMR credit bank is refreshed. IMR pricing is subject to change over time. Financial transactions are handled through embedded functionality utilizing Credit Card, eCheck, or in some circumstances an LVE Corporate Account. You may elect to retain payment information on your local machine in encrypted form and configure ISC to reacquire IMR automatically if you so desire. Otherwise, each transaction is under your direct control and supervision. All Internet financial transaction communications are protected using advanced cryptographic techniques. Your payment method details are never retained on any LVE server or database. Regardless of the payment method you elect, the bottom line is you are in control, and only pay for what you plan to consume. The program doesn't cost anything to acquire, and LVE is currently offering an introductory credit of 25,000 IMR to any new client that tries our product. You have nothing to lose, so why not give it a try!

At this time, ISC supports two primary irrigation control configurations.

The first is based on the X10 protocol. For those new to X10, it is a signal protocol that allows communication over your homes power system. An X10 adapter plugs into an existing wall outlet and interfaces with your personal computer. ISC sends commands as needed from the computer to this device. In turn, it sends the command out over the power line in an analog format based on the X10 protocol. At the other end is an X10 receiver, also plugged into a wall outlet near your irrigation controller. It detects the analog signal and transforms it back into a digital format that can be processed by the irrigation controller. The irrigation controller responds to address commands received by it, turning the desired zone on or off.

The second supported interface is a "direct connect" arrangement. This mode requires your PC to be located within 10' of the irrigation controller. It is the lower cost arrangement, as the X10 communication costs are eliminated.

For a pictorial overview of these options, see the System Overview.

If you already have one of the configurations listed in the table below, great - you are ready to go! Just download ISC, it's ready to support your system. If you don't have one of these configurations, you can order a complete system from us. First, use the configurator to evaluate your needs and we will recommend a solution tailored for you, or if you already know what you need, skip that step and visit the store directly to place you order. If you have questions or need help please don't hesitate to contact us to determine the right setup and support you are looking for.

Interface	Irrigation Controller	Comments
SmartHome X10 - PowerLincII 1132B	WGL Designs Rain8 WGL Designs Rain8II SimpleHomeNet EZRain	System interface is tethered to your PC. Six foot proximity to local outlet required. X10 supports 16 unique addresses, and each address supports up to 16 zones w/ISC. The WGL Rain8 configurations can be expanded to control up to 256 individual zones The WGL Rain8 supports 1-way communication The WGL Rain8II supports bi-directional communication (commands can be confirmed!) If installing a new X10 system, we recommend this configuration The SimpleHomeNet EZRain can support up to 128 individual zones - supports 1-way communication
Firecracker CM17A & Transceiver Module TM751	WGL Designs Rain8 WGL Designs Rain8II SimpleHomeNet EZRain	Wireless link from PC to outlet. Interface limits communication to 1-way only regardless of controller communication capability Proximity within direct line of site from PC X10 supports 16 unique addresses. The WGL Rain8 configurations can be expanded to control up to 256 individual zones The SimpleHomeNet EZRain can support up to 128 individual zones
Direct Connect	WGL Designs Rain8Net	Least expensive, yet very reliable solution. PC to be located within 1000' of tethered controller. WGL Rain8Net system can be extended by 253 Rain8Net expansion boxes, providing individual control for up to 2032 zones
Notes: Currently all options require one dedicated RS-232 port on your computer (USB to Serial port adapter or replicators are available) All WGL Rain8 / Rain8Net product support 8 individual zone controls. Configuration for Pump control is available (One of eight zones must be dedicated to that task if the Pump option is enabled). WGL Product also includes an option to limit run time based on an embedded hardware timer. ISC expects a 30 minute limit by default, but can be adjusted to accommodate any limit configured in hardware SimpleHomeNet EZRain also supports a hardware limited run-time of 30 minutes. It cannot be adjusted in the X10 mode. The EZRain ships with the Insteon Interface as its default configuration. It must be switched to an X10 mode for ISC compatibility (a simple and well documented process).

New technology options are anticipated in the near future. If you utilize other hardware configurations that you think ISC should support, please let us know via e-mail.