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How to choose a reticulation controller (Perth buyer's guide)

A controller is the one retic part you interact with all year, and the one most people buy wrong — too few stations, or smarter than the garden needs. Here's the five-minute decision path we walk customers through at the counter.

Step 1: count your stations (then add one)

Count your solenoid valves — that's your station count. Buy a controller with at least one spare station so a future bed or verge zone doesn't force a whole new unit. Perth homes are typically 4–8 stations.

Step 2: standard or Wi-Fi?

A standard controller is cheaper and utterly reliable — set the roster, walk away. A Wi-Fi controller earns its keep if you travel, fiddle with seasonal run times, or want rain-skip automation and fault alerts on your phone.

The honest rule: if you've never once adjusted your current controller mid-season, buy standard. If you're the household's system-tinkerer, you'll love Wi-Fi.

Step 3: match Perth's roster and winter switch-off

Whatever you buy must handle your assigned watering days cleanly (not just 'every N days') and make the June–August sprinkler switch-off a one-button job. Every controller we stock does both — it's a stocking rule.

Swapping it yourself

A like-for-like swap is genuinely DIY: photograph the old wiring before disconnecting, move wires across one station at a time, and keep the common wire obvious. Allow half an hour and a cup of tea.

If the wiring behind your old controller looks like spaghetti — or stations misbehave after the swap — Perth Reticulation Experts install and program controllers as a standard booked job. Get PRE to install and program it.