Conventional irrigation controllers are truly a “clock”… just a simple timer with a few unique capabilities and many sacrifices in performance.
So while capabilities have been added over the years, and accessories enabling a shutdown of the “clock” under certain conditions are able to marginally reduce water waste, the fundamental shortcomings with the irrigation “clock” remain. You have to determine the baseline schedule and then physically change the “clock” as the seasons evolved. People adjusting the “clock” have to anticipate and model the horticultural science of evapotranspiration to properly set up a baseline schedule and then change that schedule as often as the weather changes. It’s a very difficult if not impossible task, which logically gave rise to people over the years tinkering to make the “clock” smarter. The people at ETwater in recognizing the limitations of the “clock” and the importance of conservation endeavored to build a more accurately precise, powerful irrigation “supercomputer” that would replace the “clock” for any home or business. Subsequently, ETwater developed and patented an internet cloud-based water scheduling system that enables an automated, scientifically calculated baseline schedule which through wireless mobile connectivity can adjust the irrigation schedule as often as the weather changes – every day. In the decision to move away from merely modifying the “clock,” ETwater is working on perfecting the smartest irrigation over what others tout as smart controller functionality.