Whats The Deal With The Weathermatic Smartline Sl4800 Controller?

By Author: Richard Gilliland
Total Articles: 30
Comment this article

Weathermatic Smartline produces a variety of products, but few as powerful as the Weathermatic Smartline SL4800 Controller. This series features a twelve zone base model that is expandable to 48 zones using an SLM12 twelve-zone module. This controller has been rated for indoor and outdoor use. The system comes with an internal 120VAC/230VAC transformer with a terminal block and also an on-off switch with an LED indicator. The large backlit LCD displays makes it a cinch to read even in the dark and the system uses nonvolatile memory so that it can retains information even if no electricity is available.

The Weathermatic Smartline SL4800 Controller has two run modes so diverse, it could be said that it has two in one. First, there's the standard mode which runs user input zone run times. Second, there's the auto adjust mode (which does require the otherwise optional SLW Series On-Site Weather Station Monitor) that can calculate weather based run times. There are also sensors that can detect rain or freeze and react with water distribution accordingly. There's also a button on the Weathermatic Smartline SL4800 Controller ...
... that lets you bypass or activate this feature. You can tell what is happening by color: red tells you that the sensor is stopping irrigation; orange tells you that there's a two day extended ray delay; and green indicates normal operation.

You can choose between four different programs for the Weathermatic Smartline SL4800 Controller, all of which can have eight start times. Each individual zone runtime can also be customized, anywhere from one minute to nine hours and 55 minutes. You can also watch as the countdown displays. You can also customize watering day selections for certain days of the week, or for interval periods, or even odd/even numbered days of the week. With the capacity to set all of these dates, should surely come the option to omit them as well. The Weathermatic Smartline SL4800 Controller does allows you to omit certain days, or individual dates for ordinary watering. The Weathermatic Smartline SL4800 also has a seasonal percentage adjust by program feature, which lets you distribute water according to budget.

The SmartLine SL4800 is an expansive and powerful system and so while it is suitable for consumers and homeowners, it is ideal for parks, sports fields and large commercial areas. Otherwise, the control panel itself is actually identical to the panel on the SL1600 series. When it comes to troubleshooting, the Weathermatic Smartline SL4800 Controller offers something no other company product does: an on-board valve locator and multi-meter; these can be of assistance in system troubleshooting.

The advantages of smart irrigation are hard to ignore. Since the schedule automatically adjusts every day and adapts to the weather and the water needs of the landscape, you no longer have to worry about setting up or programming complex schedules. This product really does take the guesswork out of irrigation scheduling and could wind up saving you literally thousands of gallons of water every year. The Weathermatic Smartline SL4800 Controller is not only convenient, but it's also highly affordable.

About the Author:
Richard Gilliland is VP of GreenMarkIrrigation.com one of the largest online wholesale dealers and distributors of Weathermatic SL4800 controllers and sprinklers. For more visit http://www.greenmarkirrigation.com/ and http://www.greenmarkirrigation.com/Weathermatic-Controllers-s/114.htm