Mechanized irrigation machine that uses time domain reflectivity to find an open switch or wire

An irrigation system comprising:

• a plurality of towers, each tower including a successive one of a plurality of safety switches, each safety switch being either closed or open, the safety switch of each tower electrically connected to at least one safety switch of another tower;
• a time domain reflectometry (TDR) unit electrically connected to at least one safety switch, the TDR unit configured to output an electronic TDR signal,
• receive reflections of the TDR signal, and
• output data specifying a distance from the TDR unit to an open safety switch;
• and
• a central controller configured to:
• receive data from the TDR unit, and
• perform mathematical calculations on the data to determine at least one of a location of the open safety switch and an identifier of the tower associated with the open safety switch.

A method for identifying an open safety switch in an irrigation system, the irrigation system including a plurality of towers, the method comprising:

• electrically connecting a TDR unit to at least one safety switch in the irrigation system, the irrigation system including a plurality of safety switches electrically connected to one another in series, each safety switch being either open or closed and being associated with a successive one of the towers;
• instructing the TDR unit to output an electronic TDR signal, receive reflections of the TDR signal, and output data indicating a distance from the TDR unit to an open safety switch;
• and
• determining, according to the data from the TDR unit, at least one of a location of the open safety switch and an identifier of the tower associated with the open safety switch.