You can assemble this simple innovation in no more than one hour, but for this you need to order or buy all the elements of the system.
Advantages of the automatic watering system
- - Simplicity, which means reliability.
- - Quite low cost, in comparison with industrial counterparts.
- - Insulated system with voltage isolation. That is, if water gets on the valve and you touch the hoses, there will be no electric shock.
- - It is possible to power the entire system from 12 volts (and not as it is now from 220 V). And to power everything autonomously from the battery. And to charge the battery with solar panels or a wind generator, but this is all in the future in my plans ...
I used a solenoid valve in the system. There are pluses:
- In case of a sudden blackout, your site will not flood with water, since the valve will close, unlike the electromechanical one.
- Ease of controls. There is voltage - the valve is open, there is no voltage - the valve is closed. Everything is simple. And electromechanical still need to be able to manage.
To work the system you need: a free outlet with a voltage of 220 V and water supply.
Materials:
- Electronic Timer -
- Solenoid valve -
- AC adapter for 12V with a current of at least 0.5 A -
- Adapter 1/2 thread to garden hose -
- Hose - adapter from the line to the valve - in a plumbing store.
- Crimp terminals -
- Double insulated wire to extend the valve chain - any electrical store.
- Water Sprayer - or in the store "everything for the garden."
- Garden hose - or in the store "everything for the garden."
Solenoid valve 12 V.
All system components and necessary tools
garden hose
Scheduled automatic plant watering system assembly
The operation of the system is as follows: that the timer is connected to an alternating current network of 220 V. It controls the operation of the adapter included in it. And according to a given schedule, it turns on or off the power adapter, the load of which, in turn, is the electromagnetic valve. The central water supply is connected to the valve, and as soon as the valve opens, all the pressure rushes into the garden hose and is sprayed through the sprayer to the site. Such sprinklers can be connected through a tee several more if you need to water a large area of the garden.
Now go directly to the assembly
In fact, it consists in putting the valve between the soda hose and the water supply, connecting the power supply to the valve and plug everything into the network. Everything is simple, without unnecessary hassle.
Of course, you can cut the wire from the adapter and immediately screw it to the valve, but I have a considerable distance from the valve to the outlet. Therefore, I will lengthen the 12 volt circuit.
I connect the wire to the power supply.
I connect the terminals to the second end and then connect to the valve.
Then, I screw the adapter to the water supply.
I fasten the adapter to the garden hose to the second end.
It is advisable to provide an additional ball or valve valve between the valve and the water supply so that the water supply systems can be shut off in case of unforeseen circumstances.
Unwind the hose, connect to the sprayer and install it on the irrigation area.
Timer setting
The system is ready. Go to the timer setting.
We need to water our beds in the morning and in the evening, before the heat and after.I set the timer at 5 a.m. when the sun is still low and at 10 p.m. when the sun has already set. Watering time depends on the pressure of the water and can lie within 15-40 minutes.
As a result, it did not take a lot of time and labor to assemble and configure. If you, after reading this article, also decided to build this miracle, then ready-made timers with built-in valves and autonomous power supply appeared on sale, which of course I did not know when I assembled the system.
Here they are. Powered by batteries.
- Electronic Timer -
- A timer with mechanical control, but also electronic -
But my home-made system has poles: you can control watering from home, not from the basement, where a timer is usually set.
Any of the presented systems has a drawback: the system still needs to be controlled, because if it rains heavily it will turn on anyway and will flood the beds even more.
The result of the automatic irrigation system
The system is simple, automatic, cheap, expandable, complemented. For example, you can supplement the system with a pump and not water the plants with tap water, but with rainwater from a barrel, or other container.
