Method and apparatus for networked irrigation controllers that adjust watering schedules in response to rainfall

A battery powered irrigation unit, comprising:

• a battery;
• a cellular modem powered by the battery and having a sleep mode and an operating mode,
• an irrigation controller powered by the battery and that is configured to:
• maintain the cellular modem in the sleep mode until occurrence of a watering time, wherein the watering time occurs by default every “n” days where “n” is at least 2;
• at each watering time wake the cellular modem from the sleep mode to the operating mode to attempt to communicate with a backend server via a cellular network, and responsive to communicating with the backend server, receive watering information from the backend server and place the cellular modem back into the sleep mode;
• responsive to, and based on the watering information received during the operating mode the irrigation controller is further configured to determine whether to either:
• water;
• or
• not water and shift the watering time by “n−r” days where “r” is the number of days since it last rained at a location of the battery powered irrigation controller, as determined by the backend server and as indicated in the watering information, and
• responsive to making the determination to either water, or not water and shift the watering time, the irrigation controller is further configured to either water, or not water and shift the watering time, accordingly.

An irrigation system that waters on non-consecutive days and which skips watering at least one day after a rain event, the system comprising:

• a plurality of battery powered irrigation control units, each deployed in a respective region, each having a cellular transceiver modem, and each controller at least one watering zone;
• a backend server that administers each of the plurality of battery powered irrigation control units, and which further monitors rainfall at each location of the plurality of battery powered irrigation control units;
• each of the plurality of battery powered irrigation control units being configured to:
• maintain the cellular transceiver modem in the sleep mode until occurrence of a watering time, wherein the watering time occurs by default every “n” days where “n” is at least 2;
• at each watering time wake the cellular transceiver modem from the sleep mode to the operating mode to attempt to communicate with a backend server via a cellular network, and responsive to communicating with the backend server, receive watering information from the backend server and place the cellular modem back into the sleep mode;
• water when the watering information indicates that the irrigation controller is to water;
• and
• not water and shift the watering time by “n−r” days where “r” is the number of days since it last rained at a location of the battery powered irrigation controller, as determined by the backend server and as indicated in the watering information, when the watering information indicates that the irrigation controller is to not water and shift the watering time.