How compatable are Toro Sprinker heads with other brands.

[Adrian_Stiff]

How easy is it to mix and match sprinkler heads? Currently we are rainbird valve in head for our greens and fairways we use smaller hunter sprinklers in groups or pairs for the tees.

I have wondered about the possibility of adding additional sprinklers to the greens, as a rough idea most have four greenside sprinklers and in very hot weather some of the sides need more or less water so a sprinkler on 360 is not really doing the job, I was thinking of nozzling down the main four sprinklers to irrigate 'just the greens' and adding a number of sprinklers in between a pair to get to the surrounds (obviously each situation is a little bit different. I assume I could do this with the same valve in head Rainbird 700s, but could I add another valve in head say a Toro 760?

Any help and suggestions would be great. We are a UK course and our systems are fairly primitive, but with the recent hot weather, I can see substantial waste in water having sprinklers on 360, so see this as a way of reducing water.

[Eoin Riddell]

Hi Adrian,
Not 100% sure what you are looking for? but any sprinkler will run as long as the decoder can work with the computer, have you thought about back nozzles on the existing ones? then you could change them to 180 and you would still be watering the approaches, (just not as much). Not sure the set up of the rainbird sprinkler, can they take a back nozzle? if they can it would be the cheaper option, if you dont want to water some areas dont put in a back nozzle, just make sure you tell the computer what you have done

[Adrian_Stiff]

Eoin, thanks for your reply. The greens sprinklers are in the right place to water the greens, but not always in the right place to water the sides. My idea is to reduce the green sprinklers essentially to a normal 180 degree, therefore saving half the water/run time. I still need to water the sides, banks etc but probably it only requires 25-50% of the water. The current sprinklers are usually not in the right place for that, so my idea was to intercept the ring around the green at the best place for a new sprinkler, find the wire and install a valve in head sprinkler that can work independtly at a different 180 degree to the others.

cheers Adrian

[Don_Mahaffey]

Adrian,
How are your sprinklers controlled?
Satellite with individual head control, or multiple heads wired together?
Decoder with individual decoder at each head, or multi-station decoder at com wire trunk line and station wire pairs out to each head?

[Jeff_Brauer]

I know lots of courses with a mixed bag of sprinklers, but as mentioned, the control system may be key.  

One thing most courses do is put all new sprinklers at the critical areas, like greens, and save the older ones for use in less critical irrigation expansion areas (such as newly watered range landing area or outer roughs) or maybe just for parts for the other old sprinklers that will wear down eventually.

[Grant Saunders]

Eoin, thanks for your reply. The greens sprinklers are in the right place to water the greens, but not always in the right place to water the sides. My idea is to reduce the green sprinklers essentially to a normal 180 degree, therefore saving half the water/run time. I still need to water the sides, banks etc but probably it only requires 25-50% of the water. The current sprinklers are usually not in the right place for that, so my idea was to intercept the ring around the green at the best place for a new sprinkler, find the wire and install a valve in head sprinkler that can work independtly at a different 180 degree to the others.

cheers Adrian

Adrian

What you want to do will be dependent on the location of the current power source and decoders at each green.

If the decoders for the existing sprinkler are grouped together in one valve box somewhere near the green, then the cables running around your green perimeter will not be “live”. They are there to send a current from the decoder to the individual sprinkler and only have power through them when they have been activated by the controller and the sprinkler is turned on. The “live” power is the feed going to the decoder and will have power all the time. The feed from the decoder to the sprinkler is only live when that sprinkler has been signaled to turn on. In this situation, to add new heads you would need to trench new cables to each new sprinkler from the box where the decoders are.

If each sprinkler has the corresponding decoder located directly at the sprinkler, then the cable around the green should be the power feed. If this is the case then you should be able to add new sprinklers and decoders at the locations you want without the need for extra cable.

In regards to mix and match brands, it shouldn’t be a problem as long as the decoders match the brand of the control system. From there, a rainbird decoder will run a toro sprinkler as the signal from the decoder is simply current to activate the solenoid coil.

Also, if it is rainbird 700’s you have around the greens now, they are a 360 degree non adjustable arc. The 750’s are adjustable.

Hope this helps

Grant

[Greg Cameron]

Suggest calling in irrig.contractor. Convert old 'decoder to head' wire to "live"wire ,add new single decoders as required. Also trenchless technology is amazing(less mess,cleanup), beware greens drainage outs with wire pulling,contractor will know.Toro DT35 very easy to change primary and secondary nozzles, although I'm sure Rainbird 750;s have many options now as well. Ford vs. chevy....good luck...Greg