Two Very Different Systems That Both Need Remote Monitoring
Center pivots and drip systems are both irrigation infrastructure, but they fail in different ways, they need monitoring at different points, and remote control means something different for each one. A center pivot has a moving structure — the entire machine travels around the field, and the motor tower can stall, tip, or lose alignment. A drip system is static, but it pressurizes at many points along a distribution network and a single line break or emitter clog can affect an entire zone without any obvious visual signal.
Growers running both systems on the same property sometimes assume the same monitoring setup applies equally. It doesn't. Here's what changes when you add FarmHQ to each system type, and what to watch for if you're mixing both on one property.
Center Pivot: What You're Actually Monitoring
For a center pivot, the pump is typically a high-capacity centrifugal unit delivering 500-1,500 GPM at 40-80 PSI depending on nozzle package and field size. Remote monitoring at the pump covers the primary failure modes: power loss, pressure drop, and motor overtemperature. FarmHQ's module connects to the pump panel and monitors those via current draw and pressure transducer input.
What FarmHQ does not do natively is monitor the pivot machine itself — the tower motor health, the alignment sensors, or whether the machine has stalled mid-field. Pivot-specific control systems like Valley and Zimmatic have their own telemetry for that. FarmHQ and pivot telemetry coexist: FarmHQ handles the pump, the pivot system handles the machine. Some growers use both on the same operation and check each dashboard independently.
The alert logic for pivot pump monitoring focuses on unexpected stops and pressure anomalies. An unexpected stop during a scheduled run is the primary alert — it triggers an SMS within 60 seconds so you can diagnose whether it was a power event, a pressure fault, or the pivot machine sending a stop signal. A pressure drop that persists for more than 3 minutes without a command to stop is a secondary alert — it typically indicates a broken sprinkler head or a line leak downstream.
Drip Systems: Zone Control and Emitter Health
Drip systems operate at much lower flow rates and pressures — typically 10-30 PSI at the emitter and flow rates measured in gallons per hour rather than per minute. The pump feeding a drip system is often a smaller submersible or booster pump, and the distribution network branches into multiple independently controlled zones.
Remote control for drip irrigation is largely about zone valve management. Which zones are running, in what sequence, for how long, and at what flow rate. FarmHQ's current hardware handles pump start/stop and a small number of zone valves (the multi-zone controller in development handles up to 8 zones independently). For orchards with 20+ zones, you'll either need to group zones behind a single valve or wait for a future product revision.
The failure mode to watch in drip systems is pressure differential across the filter station. A plugged filter drives up inlet pressure and drops outlet pressure — the pump works harder, the zones downstream get less water, and you don't notice until a section starts showing stress. Installing a differential pressure gauge at the filter with a contact output to FarmHQ's digital input catches this before it becomes a crop loss event.
Wiring Differences at the Control Panel
Center pivot panels typically have a 120VAC or 240VAC motor contactor that FarmHQ's relay connects to via a dry contact interlock. This is the same wiring point a manual switch would use — two wires that, when shorted, cause the pump to start. The pump control logic in the panel still handles overload protection, thermal cutout, and the auto-restart timer if the panel has one.
Drip system pump panels vary more widely. Some are straightforward motor starters identical in wiring to a pivot pump. Others include a pressure-sustaining valve controller, a filter flush controller, and a fertigation injector interlock that all need to sequence before the main pump runs. In those cases, FarmHQ connects to the system's master start input — the last thing in the sequence that enables the pump — so the remote command triggers the full sequence rather than bypassing it.
If you're unsure about the correct connection point, FarmHQ's installation guide covers the most common panel types. The principle is consistent: connect to the dry contact input that a manual operator would use to start the system. Don't bypass safety interlocks.
Alert Configuration for Mixed Systems
On a property running both a center pivot and a drip system, FarmHQ's dashboard shows each pump as an independent device. You configure alert thresholds per device, so the pivot pump and the drip pump each have their own pressure reference range, their own current draw baseline, and their own alert recipients.
A common setup on multi-system properties: the pivot pump sends alerts to the primary operator's phone. The drip pump sends alerts to the primary operator and a second contact (an irrigation consultant or a farm manager who handles the orchard side of the operation). This is configured per device in the FarmHQ app under notification settings.
Scheduling for mixed systems works the same way — each device has its own schedule. It's possible to interlock schedules so the drip pump doesn't run at the same time as the pivot pump if you have power capacity constraints, but that currently requires manual scheduling coordination rather than automated conflict detection. The scheduling automation in FarmHQ's roadmap for late 2025 will add explicit interlock configuration.
What Actually Goes Wrong Most Often
Across FarmHQ deployments, the most common alert events break down roughly like this: 38% are unexpected pump stops caused by power interruption (grid outage, tripped breaker, or overload cutout). 24% are pressure-low events indicating a problem downstream. 18% are fault alerts from the pump panel (overtemperature, phase loss on 3-phase systems). The remaining 20% are miscellaneous — manual stops that weren't expected, schedule conflicts, and sensor threshold triggers from soil probes.
For center pivots, unexpected stops dominate because pivots are often running through the night when power fluctuations are more likely. For drip systems, pressure events are more common because the distribution network has more failure points. If you're setting alert priorities, configure pressure-low alerts as high-priority (immediate SMS) for drip systems and unexpected-stop alerts as high-priority for pivots.
Practical Advice for Mixed-System Properties
If you're adding FarmHQ to a property with both a pivot and a drip system, start with the pump that's harder to check on — usually the drip pump feeding an orchard, where a missed irrigation event has more immediate crop impact than a delayed pivot run. Get that system monitored and the alert logic tuned first. Then add the pivot pump with its own device registration.
The soil probe pairing also differs by system. For pivots, a single probe at field center gives a representative reading of what the pivot is applying. For drip systems, probe placement needs to be at a representative emitter location within each soil type zone — one probe doesn't represent a 20-zone orchard the way one probe can represent a 160-acre pivot circle.
Questions about wiring your specific panel or configuring alert thresholds for your system type? Email support@farmhq.org with a description of your pump setup and panel type. We can usually give specific wiring guidance within one business day.