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Each program on the Rain Bird ESP series timer can run in one of four watering cycles:
- CUSTOM waters on the day of the week you select.
- ODD waters only on odd-numbered day of the month.
- EVEN waters only on even-numbered days of the month.
- CYCLIC water on a selected daily interval. For example: every other day, every second day, or every third day.
The cycle I use most is the custom cycle. I like being able to select the days of the week I want to water. If lawn care people come on a certain day every week, it is easy to program around the lawn mowing using the custom cycle. Cyclic is a nice feature to use with drip irrigation because it often doesn’t require the frequency that lawn watering does. What’s nice about the Rain Bird ESP timer is that you can use custom watering on one program and cyclic watering on a different program.
how do you just cut the cyclic days off. i just want to turn the dabburn thing off. period.
The easiest way to keep that program from watering is to clear all the start times. You can also clear all station run times.
My question is about the Cyclic days option. It only appears from 1 to 31. It does not appear off, nor option 0. I need to know, if I enter 31, what will happen.
And how to cancel this option.
Pretty sure if you enter 31 the timer will water every 31 days. It’s easier to use Custom cycle. To cancel Cyclic:
1. Select the program you want.
2. Turn dial to Advanced Cycles.
3. “Custom” should appear in the display. If not, press Up or Down arrow until Custom appears.
From there turn the dial to days of the week you want to water and turn the days on or off.
How do I ask a question
Just leave a comment.
Our controller does not have the Advanced Cycles option on the dial, so how can the cycle program be turned off without this feature? Is there a way to clear the run days and set them up again?
Advanced Cycles is just below Test All Valves on the timer. Turn the dial to Advanced Cycles and Custom should display. If not use the Up or Down arrow until it does. Turn dial to Monday and use On/Off arrows to turn the day on or off for watering. Repeat these steps for the remaining days of the week.
Question
If i dont want cyclic days what should i do
I select all day to water then when i hit next it goes to cyclic days (1-31) i dont want to select this option should i go to auto to set it or what i m confused me plz need help
If you’re using an ESP series timer:
1. Select the program you want.
2. Turn the dial to Advanced Cycles.
3. CUSTOM should appear in the display. If it does not, press the Up or Down arrow until CUSTOM appears.
4. Turn dial to days of the week and use On or Off button to either turn days on or off.
5. Turn dial to Auto.
If you’re using an ESP-Me3 Timer:
1. Turn dial to Water Days.
2. Press Program Select to choose desired program.
3. Press Minus or Plus button to set blinking day as either on or off.
4. Press Back or Forward button to move the cursor to the previous or next day.
NOTE:
With Sunday selected, press the Forward button to enter and activate Cyclic Watering (see the Advanced Programming section). If this is not desired, press the Back button to return to watering by Custom Days.
I too am having problems with my Rainbird ESP-TM2 with the Cyclic days. I want 6 days of watering M-Saturday, with Sundays off. But it only waters when it feels like it. I’ve checked everything and can’t figure out how to stop the cycle program and just do a simple M- Saturday format. From reading the others comments I’m going to assume that because I’ve chosen Sundays as my day off, that my problem will be solved by selecting another day for rest. If this is correct, why in the manual is this not stated? Thank you for your help.
The manual is confusing. This is from the manual:
1. Turn the dial to RUN DAYS.
2. Press Program Select to choose the desired Program (if necessary).
3. Press Minus or Plus button to set the selected (blinking) day as either ON or OFF, and to automatically move to the next day. You can press Back or Forward button at any time to move the cursor to the previous or next day.
CAUTION: If Sunday is selected, Forward button will enter and activate Cyclic Watering (see the Advanced Programming section). If this is not desired, press the Back button to return to watering by Custom Days.
So you can use the Plus button to turn Sunday on but don’t use the Forward button after that or it will take you into Cyclic watering.
I have my rainbird me set for odd days. It did not go off this morning as scheduled but it’s may 31st? Does it only work on a 30 day month? Will it resume on the 1st ?
Not sure but probably. Let me know if it comes on June 1st.
Had the same issue today with our new system. Programmed to come on on odd days and it didn’t come on for us this morning either – 6 am cdt, May 31, 2023.
I have a Rain Bird SST 600in. I am not able to cancel the odd or even day setting. It toggles between odd and even but not off. Right now I want the sprinklers running every day for a few days.
From reading the manual it looks like at some point you have pressed the Odd/Even button. From the manual: Press the RUN DAYS buttons to select which days to water.
Active watering days will show lights illuminated. By default ALL days are lit. Press the button(s) to turn off the days you don’t want to water. Here’s a link to the manual if that helps: Rain Bird SST Indoor Manual
I am using rainbird and want to turn only on Wednesday and staursday in a week, I have selected custom days 7 day cycle and 0 day on Wednesday , it is turning only on Wednesday but Saturday it is not turning, please help to setup only on Wednesday and Saturday to be on in a week , what setting I need to put .
I have already selected wednsady and Saturday is on, confusion is on watering days and remaining days
If you’re using Program A:
1. Make sure Wednesday and Saturday are turned on.
2. One start time for Program A.
3. Stations have Run Times.
I have a Rain Bird ESP-TM2. I followed the basic instructions to program. I have one program with 3 stations. I set to water everyday at 6:00pm. It does not come on at 6pm. When I set the date and time I noticed it not say am or pm. Please help
AM or PM should show in the display unless you are in 24 hour format. Also make sure your Watering Start Time is set at 6pm. Here’s the instructions from the manual:
Turn the dial to DATE/TIME.
1. Press Back or Next arrow to select the setting to change.
2. Press + or – to change the setting value.
3. Press and hold – or + to accelerate adjustments.
To change the time format (12 hour or 24 hour):
1. With MINUTES blinking, press Next arrow.
2. Press – or + to select the desired time format,then press Next arrow to return to the time setting.
I have somehow put my system on a cycle system. I want that turned off so my lawn will be watered on the days that I have programmed. How do I turn the cycle system off?
1. Select the program you want.
2. Turn the dial to ADVANCED CYCLES.
3. “CUSTOM” should appear in the display. If it does not, press Up or Down arrow until “CUSTOM” appears.
4. Turn the dial to “MON.”
5. The display shows the day of the week and “ON” or “OFF.”
6. Press “ON” or “OFF” to change the setting for this day of the week.
7. Turn the dial to the next day of the week. Repeat steps 5 through 7 until you have set each day of the week either ON or OFF.
8. Turn the dial to AUTO.
Hi. I have Rainbird ESP-TM2 Timer. I know programming. I want to water custom days and times, i selected PROG A and Mon and Thursday and my desired start time. I don’t want Cyclic Programming. I want to turn OFF the cyclic watering. How do I turn OFF or Deactivate Cyclic Watering. For the days it goes from 1-31, and for days remaining it goes from 0-31. No matter what I select for days and days remaining it overrides my CUSTOM days selection and waters on the cyclic days. HOW DO I TURN OFF, DEACTIVATE, CANCEL the cyclic watering feature. Also I don’t see a CUSTOM DAYS feature or screen. I have read the whole manual and it doesn’t say how to turn the cyclic watering OFF. Please answer to my email. Tx
Make sure not to press Forward button on Sunday, it activates Cyclic watering. This is from the manual:
Turn the dial to RUN DAYS.
* Press Program Select to choose the desired Program (if necessary).
* Press Plus or Minus button to set the selected (blinking) day as either ON or OFF, and to automatically move to the next day.
* You can press the Forward or Back button at any time to move the cursor to the previous or next day.
* CAUTION: If Sunday is selected, Forward button will enter and activate Cyclic Watering (see the Advanced Programming section). If this is not desired, press the Back button to
return to watering by Custom Days.
My city has just gone to watering lawn grass on a specific day (my day is Wednesday) every other week. Drip irrigation is not restricted. I’ve got drip irrigation set for every other day watering on B schedule, but I’m unsure how to change the A schedule from once weekly on Wednesday to every other week on Wednesday.
You could use Cyclic watering and set the interval at 14 days. In Cyclic the display will first show the days remaining until watering. Adjust this until it will water on your Wednesday watering day.
If I want to water every day would I set my water cycle to 1?
It’s easier to use custom cycle and turn on all the days of the week.
1. Select the program you want.
2. Turn the dial to ADVANCED CYCLES.
3. “CUSTOM” should appear in the display. If it does not, press Up or Down arrow until “CUSTOM” appears.
4. Turn the dial to “MON.”
5. The display shows the day of the week and “ON” or “OFF.”
6. Press “ON” or “OFF” to change the setting for this day of the week.
7. Turn the dial to the next day of the week. Repeat steps 5 through 7 until you have set each day of the week either ON or OFF.
8. Turn the dial to AUTO.
I am terrible at understanding these things.I need to set myRAIN bird ESP TM2 TO WATER all 6 stations beeeeeeginning at 5am om Mondays and Thursdays
1. Turn dial to Start Times. If not on Program A press program select to choose program A.
2. Press Back or Forward arrow to select available Start Time. Make sure you only have the one start time.
3. Press Plus or Minus button to set selected Start Time. Be sure AM/PM setting is correct. Set Start Time at 5am.
5. Turn dial to Run Times. Press Forward or Back arrow to select station 1.
6. Press Plus or Minus button to set the Run Time for station 1.
7. Press Forward arrow to set Run Times for stations 2-6 using step 6.
8. Turn dial to Run Days. Press Plus or Minus button to turn on Monday & Thursday and to turn off other days. You can use Forward or Back arrow to move cursor.
9. Turn dial to Auto. Program A should water the schedule you want.
My rain Bird ESP last watered on 29 May and says next water in on 1 June. It did not water on 31 May. Is that because 31 May and 1 June, both odd days are consecutive. I have my controller set to water od ODD DAYS, twice a day – first time for at 4:00AM for 20 minutes and second time at 6:00PM for 20 minutes. Guess my question is Rain Bird ODD/EVEN days based on a 30 day month??
Good question. My guess is you’re right if the timer waters June 1st.
Thanks for your very informative blog. I just purchased a ESP-ME3 model. I live in las Vegas and we are allowed to water 6 days a week. I picked up the water days section and pointed knob to it. I was able to pick up 6 watering days with Sunday being off. Now it takes me to the next screen to pick cyclic days. I am not interested in cyclic days pattern but it is asking me to choose cyclic day and days remaining for it to start. How can we reconcile custom days with cyclic day setting. Can we just ignore the cyclic day settings. Please advise and thanks again for your expertise.
Yes, just ignore cyclic settings if you have custom settings setup. Check the display to make sure Even, Odd, & Cyclic aren’t displayed.
I have the same problem as Nitaai. I have the ESP-ME3. I have done what you said and ignored the cyclic settings, but it’s watering according to the cyclic settings, instead of the custom settings. The display is not displaying “cyclic”. What’s going on? Which display screen should I be looking at to see if Even, Odd, or Cyclic are displayed?
Can I program my rain bird controller to have different program running in a week? For example, program A runs all stations on Tuesday and Saturday, program B runs station 1&6 everyday.
Yes. On program A make sure to turn off all days but Tuesday and Saturday. On program B make sure to turn off station run times for stations 2-5.
Another question: Can you tell me how to add zones, and what do you mean by zones in the controller.
Zones/Stations are the same thing. You connect the timer wires from the sprinkler valves to the station terminals on the timer.
I didn’t understand the cyclic watering very well, so can you please explain more in detail?
This is from the manual:
CYCLIC waters on a selected daily interval (for example, every other day, or every third day).
1. Select the program you want.
2. Turn the dial to “ADVANCED CYCLES.”
3. The display shows the cycle currently selected for the program.
4. To change the setting, press Up or Down arrow until “CYCLIC” appears in the display.
5. Press “MANUAL START / ADVANCE.”
6. The display shows the number of days remaining until the next watering day, and the number of days in the cycle. The DAY CYCLE flashes.
7. Press Up or Down arrow to set the number of days in the cycle (from 1 to 31). For example, if you want to water every other day, set the day cycle to “2.” If you want to water every third day, set the day cycle to “3.”
8. Press MANUAL START / ADVANCE.
9. The DAYS REMAINING digit flashes.
10. Press Up or Down arrow to set the number of days remaining before the next watering day. “0” means that today is a watering day. If you want watering to begin tomorrow, set the days remaining to “1.”
11. Turn the dial to AUTO.
Can you explain exactly how the number of days in the cycle will work if I chose any number between 1 to 31?
You don’t choose any number, you choose the number of days between watering. For example, if you want to water every 3rd day on program A (January 1st, 4th, 7th, 10th, 13th, etc.) you would pick 3 in the day cycle. Days remaining simply means how many days until the cycle starts watering every 3rd day. I hope this helps.
Thanks a lot for replying. I’ve understood the cyclic watering.
Can I ask you any questions about the product “ESP-9V Battery-Operated Controller” if I had any questions?
Sure.
The problem I’m having with the ESP-ME3 model is that your #3, above, doesn’t happen. There’s nowhere that I’m given the chance to select from among “Custm”, “Odd”, “Even”, or “Cyclic”. Can you help me find the screen that gives me that choice on the ESP-ME3? Thanks.
It is a bit confusing how Rain Bird has the Water Days setup on this timer. Sunday is the crucial day when doing this. Here’s the steps from the manual:
Turn the dial to Water Days
1. Press Program Select to choose the desired Program (if necessary).
2. Press the Plus or Minus button to set the selected (blinking) day as either ON or OFF, and to automatically move to the next day.
3. Press Forward or Back button at any time to move the cursor to the previous or next day.
NOTE: With Sunday selected, press the Forward button to enter and activate Cyclic Watering (see the Advanced Programming section). If this is not desired, press the Back button to return to watering by Custom Days.
As you can see from the manual if you want to enter Cyclic watering press the Forward button on Sunday, if you don’t press the Back arrow or turn the dial to Auto to stay in Custom watering.
Thanks for that good answer. That info is written out in the online manual, but unfortunately, those two critical sentences are not included on the printed manual that purchasers are given. THANKS for your help!
Re: Watering cycles
When I turn controller dial to advanced cycles it reads “test” in the display.
When a push in on the controller dial it changes to “clclic”.
This happens repeatedly even after turning to off.
Why does the word test keep coming up After resetting the advanced cycles program?
Thanks
Cyclic is part of the advanced cycles menu. I wonder if your dial has a bit of slop in it. Try wiggling the dial a little closer to the aux slot and see if the advanced cycles menu will come up.