The short answer
Four dial positions, in this order: SET CURRENT DATE and SET CURRENT TIME, SET WATERING START TIMES, SET VALVE RUN TIME, SELECT DAYS TO WATER. Then the dial goes back to AUTO, or nothing waters. The four steps are right below. Further down is a tool that writes a program for your yard and explains the three words the dial never does.
If the ESP Modular takes the schedule and a zone still stays dry, that is a repair rather than a setting, and Rain Bird sprinkler repair is the page for that.
Program a Rain Bird ESP Modular in Four Steps
Have your run times handy. If you do not have them yet, the program builder below writes them for you.
Step 1: SET CURRENT DATE and SET CURRENT TIME
The clock every start time is read against. Set it first.
- Turn the dial to SET CURRENT DATE. The month flashes. Set it with the arrow buttons, then press
MANUAL START / ADVANCE. - Set the day, press
ADVANCE. Set the year. - Turn the dial to SET CURRENT TIME. Set the flashing hour, press
ADVANCE, set the minutes.
- Turn the dial to SET CURRENT DATE. The month flashes. Set it with the arrow buttons, then press
Step 2: SET WATERING START TIMES
When the program begins. One start time runs every valve in the program, one after another.
- Slide the
PROGRAMswitch to A, then turn the dial to SET WATERING START TIMES. - Set the first start time with the arrow buttons. It moves in 15 minute steps. Early morning, so it finishes before sunrise.
- Press
MANUAL START / ADVANCEto start time 2 and set it about an hour later. Add a third in summer. Each one is another short pass over the yard. - Press
ADVANCEthrough the rest. There are four per program. Anything you did not mean to set, press the arrows until it reads OFF, between 23:45 and 0:00. Slide thePROGRAMswitch and check B and C the same way, because a forgotten program B is why a yard waters twice a day.
- Slide the
Step 3: SET VALVE RUN TIME
How many minutes each zone runs each time its turn comes. Per pass, not per day.
- Turn the dial to numbered position 1. The display shows valve 1 and its minutes.
- Set the minutes with the arrow buttons. On clay, about 6 for spray heads and 15 for rotors per pass.
- Turn the dial to position 2 and keep going. Each valve has its own dial position on this controller, so you turn the dial rather than pressing a button. A zone you want skipped gets 0.
- A position reading NO 5-7, NO 8-10 or NO 11-13 means that module slot is empty. To change one zone later, come back here, turn the dial to its number, change it, dial to AUTO.
Step 4: SELECT DAYS TO WATER
Which days the program runs. Most DFW cities allow two.
- Turn the dial to ADVANCED CYCLES and press the arrows until 1 7 shows, the days of the week cycle.
- Turn the dial to numbered position 1, which is Monday. The display shows the day and
ONorOFF. - Press
ONorOFFfor that day, then turn the dial to the next one and work through all seven. - Turn the dial back to AUTO. The ESP Modular waters only from AUTO.
Water right now. Dial to OFF for three seconds to clear anything queued, then to the valve number and press MANUAL START. For the whole program, go back to AUTO and press MANUAL START. Three seconds on OFF cancels it.
Stop for rain. Dial to OFF. Everything stays in memory. Dial back to AUTO to resume. If the alarm light is on and nothing waters, a rain sensor did it, and the SENSOR switch on BYPASSED overrides it.
Program, Start Time and Run Time on a Rain Bird ESP Modular
Almost all of the confusion with this controller comes from three words the dial uses without explaining.
| The word | What it means | What most homes need |
|---|---|---|
| Program | One watering schedule: which days it waters, what time it begins, and how long each zone runs. The controller offers several, lettered A, B, C, so lawn and drip can keep different schedules. | One for the lawn, A. Drip beds get their own, B. |
| Start time | A clock time the program begins. From that time, the zones run one after another, zone 1 then zone 2 then zone 3, until the last one finishes. It is not a time per zone. A second start time runs the whole program again. | Two or three, an hour apart, before sunrise. Each is a short pass, so the clay can soak between them. |
| Run time | How many minutes each zone runs each time its turn comes. Set zone by zone, and it is per pass, not per day. | About 6 minutes for spray heads and 15 for rotors per pass. Two passes doubles it for the day. |
The one that trips people up is the start time. The ESP Modular allows four of them per program, reached with MANUAL START / ADVANCE, which looks like it wants a time for each zone. It does not. One start time runs every valve in the program, in order from the lowest number to the highest, and a second start time runs the whole yard again. That is exactly what clay wants when the run times are short: 6 minutes of spray, soak for an hour, 6 more. It is a flood when the run times are long.
Build a Simple Program for Your Rain Bird ESP Modular
Walk the yard once and note what each zone waters and what kind of heads it has. Spray heads pop up a few inches and fan out a mist. Rotors turn and throw a single stream. Drip is the tubing in the beds. Then fill this in. It writes the worksheet and the dial steps for you.
Build your program
A simple program for your ESP Modular
List your zones, pick the two days your city allows, choose a start time. The sheet and the dial steps below update as you go.
The season sets how much each zone gets for the day: about 6 minutes of spray or 15 of rotor in winter, twice that in spring and fall, three times in summer. Clay cannot take a day's worth at once, so the total is split into passes an hour apart. Tick Slope on any zone that runs downhill. A slope does not need less water, it runs off sooner, so it gets the same total in more, shorter passes.
Your worksheet
- Days
- Tue, Sat
- Start times
- 4:00 AM, 5:15 AM (2 passes, each about 48 minutes)
- Finishes about
- 6:33 AM
| Station | Zone | Per pass | Per day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Program A, lawn, 2 start times | |||
| 1 | Front lawnSpray heads | 6 | 12 |
| 2 | Front lawnSpray heads | 6 | 12 |
| 3 | Side yardSpray heads | 6 | 12 |
| 4 | Back lawnRotors | 15 | 30 |
| 5 | Back lawnRotors | 15 | 30 |
| Program B, drip, one start time | |||
| 6 | BedsDrip | 30 | 30 |
Drip goes in program B with a single start time, so it runs once, longer, and can water on fewer days. In program A, leave the drip station at 0. In program B, leave the lawn stations at 0.
Enter it on the ESP Modular
- Turn the dial to SET CURRENT TIME and set the clock. Every start time is read against it.
- Turn the dial to SET WATERING START TIMES. Make sure program A is showing (slide the PROGRAM switch if it is not). Set start time 1 to 4:00 AM with the arrow buttons, then the ADVANCE button and set start time 2 to 5:15 AM. Any start time past that stays OFF. Each start time runs the whole program once, which is what the passes are.
- Turn the dial to SET VALVE RUN TIME. In program A set station 1 to 6, station 2 to 6, station 3 to 6, station 4 to 15, station 5 to 15, using the ADVANCE button to move between stations. Set station 6 to 0 in program A.
- Turn the dial to SELECT DAYS TO WATER and set Tue and Sat on, every other day off (pick the 1 7 cycle at ADVANCED CYCLES first, then turn the dial to each numbered day, where 1 is Monday, and press ON or OFF).
- Slide the PROGRAM switch to program B. Give it one start time, the same as A's first, set station 6 to 30, leave the lawn stations at 0, and pick its watering days. It runs right after A finishes.
- Turn the dial back to AUTO. Nothing waters from any other position.
About the minutes. Spray heads put water down fast and North Texas clay takes it slowly, so 6 minutes is about as long as a spray zone can run before water heads down the driveway. Rotors put it down at a fraction of that rate, which is why they get 15. A zone on a slope gets the same total in more, shorter passes, because water leaves a slope sooner. Those are minutes per pass, not per day: two passes of 6 is 12 minutes of spray for the day, three is 18. The DFW seasonal watering schedule has the month by month numbers and the watering schedule guide shows how to measure your own yard.
If you have drip
Beds on drip want one long run on fewer days, not short passes, so they get their own program. Slide the PROGRAM switch to B and repeat the dial positions for the drip valves only, with every lawn valve left at 0 in program B. Give B one start time, the same as A's first. The controller runs A's first pass to the end, then B.
Check That the ESP Modular Program Runs
Do not wait until 4:00 AM to find out. Turn the dial to OFF for three seconds, back to AUTO, set the PROGRAM switch to A, and press MANUAL START. That runs one pass, each valve in turn with its remaining minutes on the display, while you walk the yard. There is also a TEST ALL VALVES position that gives every valve two minutes, which is enough to see coverage, tilt and misting. If a zone never comes on, one zone not working covers what it usually is.
Seasonal Adjust and Passes Through the Year on the ESP Modular
Once the program has run for a week and the lawn looks right, the schedule changes with the season in two ways, and neither one touches the run times.
Add or drop a pass. Summer wants three start times, spring and fall two, winter one. Turn the dial to SET WATERING START TIMES, press MANUAL START / ADVANCE to the one you are adding or removing, and set it or run it down to OFF. The per-pass minutes stay the same all year, because the clay does not change.
Seasonal Adjust. Turn the dial to SEASONAL ADJUST %. It reads 100 percent, meaning your run times run as written, and the arrows move it in 10 point steps from 0 to 200. For the in-between weeks, nudge it down or up and every valve runs that percentage of its minutes. The seasonal watering schedule has a percentage for each month. This controller has no built in cycle and soak, so the start times are how the split gets made, and at 0 percent the program stops watering while everything else still looks correct.
When an ESP Modular Problem Is Not Programming
A controller that takes the program and still misbehaves is telling you about something outside the box.
- A zone that never comes on, while the others do, is a valve or a wire, not a setting. The display may show that valve number followed by
Err, a short on that circuit, with the alarm light on. - A system that waters with the dial on OFF has a valve stuck open. Shut the water off at the irrigation shutoff, because the controller cannot help.
- A display that is blank with the power on is a transformer or the power supply.
The controller error codes guide covers the messages an ESP can show. If you are tired of walking to the garage, a Wi-Fi controller moves this to your phone. We are a Certified Rachio Pro installer, and smart controller installation explains what changes and what does not.
Rain Bird ESP Modular Programming Questions
How do I set the time on a Rain Bird ESP Modular?
Why does my Rain Bird ESP Modular keep watering over and over?
How many minutes should each zone run on a Rain Bird ESP Modular?
How do I run a zone manually on a Rain Bird ESP Modular?
Does the Rain Bird ESP Modular lose its program when the power goes out?
What do the display messages on a Rain Bird ESP Modular mean?
Sources
- Rain Bird. “ESP Modular Controller Installation, Programming and Operation Guide,” P/N 636243C, 2005. Dial positions and the PROGRAM and SENSOR switches, date and time sequences, four start times per program in 15 minute increments, the valve run time positions, the watering cycles, Seasonal Adjust from 0 to 200 percent in 10 point steps, manual start, Test All Valves, the reset button, the 9 volt battery note, the alarm LED causes, and the troubleshooting table including valve Err, MV Err and the NO 5-7 / NO 8-10 / NO 11-13 messages.
- Rain Bird. ESP controller internal fault documentation. Incompatible OSM when an older ROM-8 output module is installed or a module is damaged.