Talgil The Dream 2 User Manual

TALGIL COMPUTING & CONTROL LTD.

NAAMAN CENTER, HAIFA - ACCO ROAD

ISRAEL

P.O. BOX 775 KIRYAT MOTZKIN 26119

TEL: [phone]

FAX: [phone]

E_mail: [e-mail]

2016

THE DREAM 2

controller

USER GUIDE

- 2 -

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................. - 2 -

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... - 4 -

1.1

The Key-board description .................................................................................................. - 5 -

1.2

How to Switch-Up and Shut-Down the system .................................................................... - 5 -

1.3

The Power Supply Board ..................................................................................................... - 7 -

1.4

The CPU board .................................................................................................................... - 8 -

1.5

The concept of the internet communication ......................................................................... - 9 -

1.6

Finding your way inside the DREAM ................................................................................ - 11 -

1.7

The “ABOUT” screen........................................................................................................ - 13 -

2. Defining Irrigation Programs ............................................................................................. - 14 -

2.1

The Irrigation Sequence definition .................................................................................... - 14 -

2.2

The Water Dosage definition ............................................................................................. - 16 -

2.3

Special Dosage Modes ....................................................................................................... - 18 -

2.3.1

Dosage by Evaporation ............................................................................................................ - 18 -

2.3.2

Dosage by Volume Per Area ..................................................................................................... - 19 -

2.4

Local and Central fertilizer dosage ................................................................................... - 20 -

2.4.1

Global Accumulative fertilizers limit ........................................................................................ - 21 -

2.4.2

Sequential fertilization .............................................................................................................. - 21 -

2.5

Irrigation Timing ............................................................................................................... - 22 -

2.5.1

Cyclic irrigation ....................................................................................................................... - 22 -

2.5.2

Triggering irrigation cycles by accumulated light .................................................................... - 23 -

3. Relating Conditions with Programs ................................................................................... - 24 -

4. Manual Start/Stop and Freeze/Release .............................................................................. - 25 -

5. Checking the System Status ................................................................................................ - 25 -

6. Irrigation/Fertigation Parameters...................................................................................... - 28 -

6.1

Conditions Library ............................................................................................................ - 28 -

Contact ....................................................................................................................................................... - 28 -

Satellite ...................................................................................................................................................... - 28 -

Program ..................................................................................................................................................... - 28 -

Combined ................................................................................................................................................... - 28 -

Flow ........................................................................................................................................................... - 28 -

Analog ........................................................................................................................................................ - 28 -

6.2

Groups Definition .............................................................................................................. - 29 -

6.3

Evaporation ....................................................................................................................... - 30 -

6.4

Fertilizer Sets Library........................................................................................................ - 31 -

7. RESULTS of the irrigation activity ................................................................................... - 32 -

7.1

Events Report ..................................................................................................................... - 32 -

7.2

Accumulations ................................................................................................................... - 33 -

- 3 -

7.3

Sensors Logging results ................................................................ ..................................... - 33 -

8. Constants .............................................................................................................................. - 34 -

8.1

System Constants ............................................................................................................... - 34 -

System Reset Time ...................................................................................................................................... - 34 -

Pressure delay ............................................................................................................................................ - 34 -

Fertilizer leakage limit ............................................................................................................................... - 34 -

Water pulses before fert ............................................................................................................................. - 34 -

Common Scheduling params ...................................................................................................................... - 34 -

Common dosage coefficient ....................................................................................................................... - 34 -

8.2

Main Valves’ Constants ................................................................ ..................................... - 35 -

8.3

Irrigation lines constants ................................................................................................... - 35 -

High/ Low flow delay ................................................................................................................................. - 35 -

Water Leakage limit ................................................................................................................................... - 35 -

Line name ................................................................................................................................................... - 35 -

8.4

Valves’ Constants .............................................................................................................. - 36 -

The default dosage mode ............................................................................................................................ - 36 -

The Nominal, Minimal and Maximal flows ................................................................................................ - 36 -

The filling time ........................................................................................................................................... - 36 -

8.5

Water Meter Constants ...................................................................................................... - 37 -

The water meters' ratio .............................................................................................................................. - 37 -

8.6

Fertilizer Sites Constants ................................................................................................... - 37 -

When pulses fail to arrive........................................................................................................................... - 37 -

The Fert. meter's ratio ................................................................................................................................ - 37 -

The pulse length ......................................................................................................................................... - 37 -

Special case ................................................................................................................................................ - 38 -

8.7

Filter Sites Constants ......................................................................................................... - 38 -

DP Delay .................................................................................................................................................... - 38 -

Looping limit .............................................................................................................................................. - 38 -

8.7.1

What happens with the irrigation during backflushing? ........................................................... - 38 -

9. Utilities .................................................................................................................................. - 39 -

9.1

Water Sources .................................................................................................................... - 39 -

9.2

Satellites ............................................................................................................................ - 40 -

9.2.1

Associating Satellites with other outputs .................................................................................. - 40 -

9.2.2

Conditioned Satellites ............................................................................................................... - 40 -

9.2.3

Conditions depending on satellites ........................................................................................... - 41 -

9.3

Virtual Water Meters ......................................................................................................... - 41 -

9.3.1

Virtual water meter for irrigation ............................................................................................. - 42 -

9.3.2

Virtual water meter for network protection .............................................................................. - 42 -

9.3.3

Virtual water meter for water sources ...................................................................................... - 43 -

9.4

Analog Sensors .................................................................................................................. - 43 -

9.5

Rain Shutdown ................................................................................................................... - 44 -

9.6

Frost protection ................................................................................................................. - 44 -

9.7

Sensors Logger setting ....................................................................................................... - 46 -

9.8

Alarms definition ............................................................................................................... - 46 -

9.9

Radiation sets definition .................................................................................................... - 46 -

10. Filtration ............................................................................................................................... - 47 -

11. System SETUP ..................................................................................................................... - 49 -

11.1

DEALERS DEFINITIONS ............................................................................................. - 49 -

- 4 -

1. Introduction

The DREAM 2 irrigation control system is the second generation of the well-known
DREAM family.

Additionally to the outstanding features of the DREAM system, the new generation
now offers internet communication so that users of the DREAM 2 system can access
their controllers from everywhere, anytime.

Users are offered two options for accessing the system: one known as the
CONSOLE which is a software package that has to be installed on a PC, the other is
just an internet site called the SPOT which does not need any loading and is meant
to be used on CELLULAR PHONES and TABLETS.

Both options enable the users to login to the SERVICE which is a sophisticated
software package located somewhere in the cloud acting like a mediator between
users and their controllers.

On the other end there are the controllers that also login to the SERVICE and stay
online. The SERVICE will repeatedly interrogate all the online controllers in order to
keep its DATA BASE up to date, so that users interested in some information about
their controllers, can find it in the DATA BASE.

The aim of the following manual is to describe the features of the DREAM 2
controllers and teach the users how to program it using the local MMI of the
controller.

Prior to start using the controller in any specific facility, a configuration procedure
must be executed in which the image of the controller is defined. In this manual we
assume that the configuration procedure has been fully completed either by using

the “Image Maker” of the CONSOLE or by the local MMI as explained at the

"DREAM installation guide".

For learning how to use the CONSOLE software, see the “DREAM 2 CONSOLE

guide".

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1.1 The Key-board description

1.2 How to Switch-Up and Shut-Down the system

Switching up and shutting down the DREAM 2 controller are activities that deserve
some explanations:

Switching up the DREAM 2 from a switched off state is done in 2 steps:

1. Turning ON the Power Switch

2. Pushing the Start button

About the Power Switch and Start Button see the paragraph of the Power

Supply Board below.

Each time the software is restarted there will be some introductory screens
displayed, then the System manager screen (described below) will appear for a
few seconds and eventually the Main menu of the DREAM application will be
displayed. The user should wait patiently until this stage is reached.

Function keys- F1, F2,

F3, F4 (from left to right)

handle position

dependent functions.

The functions are

specified above the keys

at the Function bar of

each screen.

Arrows for

inside screen

movement–

moving from one

field to another

UP, DOWN, LEFT

and RIGHT

PAGE UP key-

for moving to

screens located

above the current

screen

PAGE DOWN

key-

for moving to

screens located

below the current

screen

MENU key- Used

for getting back to

the Main Menu

from any other

screens

Numeric keys + Short

cut keys- While being

inside the MAIN

MENU, each numeric

key serves for direct

jumping into the subject

whose name is printed

above the key

- 6 -

The internal structure of the DREAM 2 is very much like the structure of a desktop
personal computer that has an operating system which handles multiple applications
simultaneously. This kind of activity is naturally involved with opening of multiple
files as required by the active applications. As in PCs, cutting the power before
closing the open files may be a harmful action and therefore should be avoided. For
this reason we are not supposed to turn off the power switch of the controller before
the software was commanded to shut down.

The software Shutdown button is located at the Function Bar of the System
Manager screens, which can be reached from any of the DREAM 2 application
screens, by pushing simultaneously the PgDn (˅) and PgUp (˄) buttons.

Pushing the F3=Shutdown button is the only safe way for shutting down the
DREAM 2 controller. Shutting down takes time, it is necessary to wait until the lights
on the CPU board turn off. Only after the lights on the CPU went off, it is safe to
switch off the Power Switch (see below).

 The Shutdown software key turns the DREAM 2 system OFF.
 The Reboot software key turns the DREAM 2 system OFF and then ON

again.

The Reboot and Shutdown functions are activated by pushing the red function
keys located underneath the Function Bar of the screen. Both functions preserve all
the data included in the controller except the statuses and left quantities of
programs.

Function Bar

F2

F3

F1

F4

Reboot

button

Shutdown
button

Function keys

- 7 -

1.3 The Power Supply Board

In the following paragraphs we are going to have a look inside the box of the
DREAM-2 controller, although the information may seem to be a little technical, we
think it can be useful if the user gets familiar with the functions of the switches, the
LEDs, the fuses and some main components of his system.

When the Power Switch is off, only the yellow LED should keep on lighting,
indicating that the charging of the backup battery continues.

When the Power Switch is turned on, some more LEDs of the power supply board
will start lighting.

The red LED  indicates that 24v AC arrives to the system from the transformer (in
AC systems only). If this does not happen, the power from the mains and the Main
Power Fuse have to be checked.

As mentioned above, the yellow LED  indicates that the charging voltage (13.9v
DC) for the backup battery is generated. If this LED does not light, check the
Charging Fuse. The backup battery should never left to be deeply discharged, it
may harm the battery, therefore if the charging source is expected to be
disconnected for a long period, the backup battery has to be disconnected as well,
otherwise when the charging is restarted, the deeply discharged battery may draw a
high charging current that may blow the Charging Fuse (F3).

The green LED  indicates that the 12v DC arrives into the system. The 12v DC is
used for feeding all the electronic boards of the system; it may be generated either

Power Supply Board

Main power fuse

Charging fuse

12v DC fuse

Power switch

Start button

LED - 24 v AC

LED - Charging

LED - 12 v DC

LED - USB

Local I/O interface

RF interface

Local I/O module

- 8 -

from the charging device or from the backup battery, when the charging device is
off. In case of AC systems the charging device is the transformer, while in DC
systems it is the solar panel. The system is protected from excess current
consumption from the 12v DC source, by the 12v DC Fuse (F2).

Important remark: The charging current passes through both the Charging

Fuse and the 12v DC Fuse, so if for some reason the 12v DC fuse is blown there

will be no battery charging, although the charging voltage exists (yellow LED  ON).

The red LED  of the USB will start lighting only after the Start Button is pushed,
indicating that the system is now up and running. Together with the USB LED of the
power supply board, the red LED  on the Mother Board and the three red power

LEDs on the CPU Board █ █ █ will start lighting as well.

1.4 The CPU board

Looking underneath the front panel, at the back of the LCD display we are going to
find the CPU Board which is the brain behind all the activities of the controller. Let’s
get familiar with some of the components on the CPU board:

CPU board

Cellular modem

The CPU chip

Lithium battery

Ethernet card

Buzzer

Reset button

LCD contrast

adjustment

The power ON

indication LEDs

Remote I/O

communication

- 9 -

When the DREAM 2 application starts running, a few activities start in parallel:

The LCD display connected to the CPU board will start showing some

introductory screens until arriving to the Main Menu.

The CPU starts scanning all the Interfaces second by second, sending them

the required status of the outputs receiving back the status of the inputs.
This activity is indicated by blinking of the REMOTE I/O communication
LEDs on the CPU Board and on each of the Interfaces.

Right after starting up the DREAM 2 application, the controller starts looking

for its host server on the Internet, in order to login to the service.

1.5 The concept of the internet communication

The DREAM 2 has 3 options for accessing the internet:

Using a Cellular Modem supplied by Talgil and plugged into the CPU board.
Using an Ethernet card for connecting to a Local Area Network.
Using a USB Netstick plugged into the motherboard.

The controllers after power up use their internet link to login to the service and stay
online.

As mentioned above, users have two options for accessing the system: one option is
the software package called CONSOLE and the other is the internet site called
SPOT.

Both options enable the users to login to the SERVICE which will coordinate
between users and their controllers. Additionally the SERVICE contains a large

DATA BASE that stores all the information about all the controllers and the
ADMINISTRATION software that decides about who is permitted to access which

controller.

The Server will interrogate all the online controllers repeatedly in order to keep the
DATA BASE up to date, so that users interested in some information about some
controllers, can find it in the DATA BASE.

- 10 -

The drawing below demonstrates the physical layout of the communication between
users and targets (controllers) in the DREAM 2 system.

For setting up the internet communication there are some parameters to be defined.
The setting of these parameters is the job of the technical person in charge of the
system installation. Those who are interested can find information in the chapter
dealing with the SYSTEM MANAGER screens in the Installation Manual of the

DREAM 2.

- 11 -

1.6 Finding your way inside the DREAM

The MAIN MENU of the DREAM includes 8 subjects represented by 8 icons as
shown below. Underneath each icon there is a SUBMENU through which we can
reach any of the screens included in that subject. Selecting any of the subjects is
done by placing the cursor (black background) on the desired icon and hitting the
ENTER key. For getting back to the MAIN MENU from any screen use the key at
the bottom rightmost corner of the numeric keypad.

Having a closer look at the numeric keypad we shall see that above each key there is
some additional printing, this is to indicate that each key while being in the MAIN
MENU can act as a shortcut to the screen associated with it.

MAIN MENU

F2=About

key

- 12 -

Behind any of subjects of the MAIN MENU there is a submenu that contains a list of
screens. The horizontal movements between the screens is accomplished by the

function keys F1 = and F4 = . Generally, the horizontal layout of
the screens resembles the order of the subjects included in the submenu, so the user
can use the and to pass through the screens of a selected subject.

STATUS – showing current statuses of the

system and its components.

IRRIGATION – supplying tools for defining

irrigation programs, including tools for
monitoring the irrigation process and tools for
intervention when necessary.

PARAMETERS – dealing with defining

supplementary parameters related with the
irrigation and fertigation processes.

RESULTS – showing reports and

accumulations resulting from the system's
activity. The reports can be sorted and
viewed in various contexts.

CONSTANTS – setting the constant

parameters of all the system components.

SUB MENU

F1

F4

- 13 -

UTILITIES – dealing with special functions

that support various system activities.

FILTRATION – handling the filters flushing

programs.

SETUP – contains all the necessary activities

involved with the system configuration and
setup.

The contents of the MAIN MENU and the
SUBMENUs may vary according to the
relevance. For example, if no filters are
defined, the subject “FILTRATION” will not
appear in the Main Menu.

1.7 The “ABOUT” screen

Being at the MAIN MENU we can use the F2=About key to reach the following
screen:

The About screen contains some valuable information and enables executing some
useful commands:

This is the place where we can select the language we want to use. By hitting

F2=Change key we shall get a window with a list of languages to select
from.

To change the

language push

F3=Change

Current software

version

Current date and

current time

Unique ID of the

Status of

communication

with the Server

Refresh connection

to Server

- 14 -

This is the place where we can try and refresh the communication with the

Server in case it is lost. Use F4=Serv.

This is where we can see the ID number of the controller.
This is the place where we can check the status of communication with the

server.

This is where we can see the version of the software loaded into the

controller.

Additionally we can see the current date and current time and the date of last

configuration.

2. Defining Irrigation Programs

Irrigation programs are defined in 3 steps:

1. Defining the IRRIGATION SEQUENCE which specifies the sequence of

valves to be irrigated by the program.

2. Defining the WATER DOSAGE and FERTILIZER DOSAGE per each

member of the sequence.

3. Defining the IRRIGATION TIMING of the program, when the program will

be activated. Sometimes instead of irrigation timing programs will be
activated by conditions.

When only the first step is defined the program is considered NOT READY, it cannot
be activated, but after completing the second step, the program is considered
INCOMPLETE, it will not start automatically, but it can be manually started. For a
program to be ready for automatic start, step 3 must be completed as well.

2.1 The Irrigation Sequence definition

Any irrigation program’s definition starts with defining the sequence of valves to be
irrigated by the program. For a new program definition, the cursor must be located
at the program number field and then, pushing the function key F3 = “Progs”
enables execution of commands related with programs editing. Select the option
“New”, the system will respond by suggesting the next free number for the new
program, the suggested number can be accepted or changed.

The sequence of valves can now be inserted. To indicate the end of the sequence
definition, use the ENT key.

The cursor located

at the program

number field

- 15 -

When the system contains more than a single irrigation line, valves will be referred
to by specifying both the line number and the valve number separated by a dot, as
shown in the example below, otherwise, valves are referred to by their ordinal
number only.

The sequence may include not only individual valves, but also predefined Groups of
valves (G1, G2 etc…).
The Groups definition can be found under the subject

When the system contains several water sources (A,B,C,…F), the user may select the
desired water source for each valve/Group by pushing F4 = "Src", otherwise the
system will select the default water source of the specified line.

The order by which the valves will be operated is defined by use of the following 3
symbols:

 - SEQUENTIAL OPERATION - one valve after the other.

 - TEMPORARY GROUPS - valves of the same line to be irrigated together

and CONSTANT GROUPS with a common dosage.
(must be enabled at DEALERS DEFINITIONS)

 - STARTING TOGETHER - coordinated start of valves with individual

dosages. The valves may belong to different
irrigation lines. This feature is especially useful
when central fertilization is required. (must be
enabled at DEALERS DEFINITIONS)

The following picture shows an example sequence.

3.2B> 3.3B& 3.4B> G1A> G2A> 2.5A+2.6A+4.1B

The sequence above should be interpreted as follows:
First, line 3 valve 2 (3.2B) will irrigate from source “B” and when finished, line 3
valves 3 and 4 (3.3B&3.4B) will irrigate from source “B”, then Group 1 (G1A) from

source “A” followed by Group 2 (G2A) from source A. Eventually line 2 valve 5, line 2
valve 6 from source “A” together with line 4 valve 1 (2.5A+2.6A+4.1B) will irrigate
from source “B”.

Program status

Group 2

Line 2

Valve 5

Source A

- 16 -

Notice that :

Combining valves into temporary groups by “&” symbol can be done only

when the valves belong to the same irrigation line. The valves of the
temporary group will share the same water and fertilizer dosage.

Constant Groups (G1, G2…) cannot be combined by “&” or “+”.
Valves combined by “+” will start together at the same time but each

valve will have its own water dosage. As for fertilization, if the valves are
of the same line, they will share the same local fertilizer dosage and if
there is central fertilization, then the fertilizer dosage will be common to
all the valves combined by “+”.

The sequence defined at the local MMI of the DREAM 2 may contain 28

members at the most. However longer sequences can be defined through
the CONSOLE or the SPOT, but then they will not be editable through
the local MMI. Using long sequences must be enabled at the DEALERS

DEFINITIONS.

2.2 The Water Dosage definition

Each member of the sequence must have a water dosage defined in order to be able
to irrigate. In the dosage definition screen the sequence members are arranged in a
vertical order, the movement to the next or former member is done by the PAGE UP
() and PAGE DOWN () keys.

The dosage definition process starts with the selection of the dosage mode. For
selection of the water dosage mode place the cursor at the dosage units field. The
following dosage modes are supported:

hh:mm:ss – by time
m3 – by volume
m3/area – by volume of water per each unit of area
evaporation – by volume calculated from the accumulated evaporation

since last irrigation

evaporation time – The volume calculated from the accumulated evaporation

is divided by the nominal flow to obtain the needed
irrigation time.

by volume by time by evaporation

The dosage units field

- 17 -

Notice that :

Dosage by volume will be available only if the irrigation line or the water

source in use have got real or virtual water meters.

When irrigating by evaporation there is no planned value to be inserted, and

when working by m3/area the planned value actually contains the planned
amount per area and not the total amount to be irrigated. However, in both
cases, the total amount to be irrigated will appear as a calculated value. For
detailed explanation of dosage by evaporation and dosage by volume per
area, see the paragraph of Special dosage modes below.

The function of the various fields is as follows:

There is an option to define a special dosage of “water before” for the first Local
fertilizer, to make it different from the others. This option must be enabled through
the DEALERS DEFINITIONS.

Coordinated start of members of a sequence using the “+” sign, is meant mainly for
coordinating the fertigation of various valves in order to eliminate contradicting
demands of water and fertilizers. In that case, the system does not permit individual
central fertigation jobs but is dealing instead with a common fertilizing job shared by
all the coordinated members. Therefore when the option of "starting together" of
valves with the “+” sign is enabled, the definition of the water before will be made at
the common fertilizer dosage screen instead of in the water dosage screen and
hence the appearance of those screens will be slightly different.

Planned water

dosage

Status of the job

Water left to be

irrigated

Calculated

dosage in case of

evaporation or

dosage per area

Showing

current flow

or last flow

Water after

fertilization

Water before

fertilizationlocal

Water before

l centra

fertilization

Dosage units