Electronic controlled Automatic watering system

[kcpoole]

As we are all Time poor these days, and many of us are not home durign the day to monitor our trees, I thought I will document my automitic ssytem I have used now for about 4 years so you can all benefit
In these threads, you can see my Benches and water catchment system, but not really my sprinklers

My current system is a Nylex Electronic timer located in the house and powered by the mains house power, with a battery backup so it never gets reset.
this is an 8 sector, 4 program time and currently have 2 sectors / Solenoids on it
I can program the system to come on and off up to 4 times a day for up to 8 individual sectors.

On the garden tap outside, I have a plastic manifold with 2 individual 28 V solenoids that are pied to each section of the benches / garden using standard poly pipe and sprinklers.

The poly pipe runs along the top of the fence with sprayers every 2 M or so and they are angled down to my garden ( where I keep large pots or Boxes) or along the benches as well.

On my Pots on "Display Stands / Poles", I have an individual tap and 2 sprayers so I can control the flow to just a small trickle so it only waters acrass the soil in each pot.

the complete system costs $150 or so and can easily be used on any pressurised system. Mains or pump driven from a tank.

I originally started out with a battery operated "tap timer", but found they kept leaking into the battery compartment or the batteries ran out when away!. After getting 2 replaced under warranty I gave up and went to the current system and have not had an issue with in 4 years.

Edit, forgot to add the link to the original Bench thread here viewtopic.php?f=29&t=1404


Ken

[kcpoole]

part 2

[kcpoole]

Part 3, my Monkey pole setup

[kcpoole]

I still had an example of the old time that I used to use. this type of one keeps leaking around the spindle to control the tap, and leaks into the battery compartment. thus it goes rusty and fails!

Ken

[AndrewM]

Nice setup Ken
Do you have a problem with the heads blowing of with the water pressure ? I have tried the plastic drip type heads but found the water pressure kept blowing them of. I put a inline tap in but that did not rectify the problem.

Andrew

[kcpoole]

Nice setup Ken
Do you have a problem with the heads blowing of with the water pressure ? I have tried the plastic drip type heads but found the water pressure kept blowing them of. I put a inline tap in but that did not rectify the problem.

Andrew

No have had no trouble like that at all
you must have real high water pressure where you are

[AndrewM]

Ok
The spray heads I use are fine it just seems to be the dripers
Thanks any way

[Craig]

I have tried the plastic drip type heads but found the water pressure kept blowing them of.

Andrew, you may need to get a pressure limiting valve.

[MattA]

Ken,

Nice set up & collection there. Thanks for posting such a thorough & informative thread, as much as I hate the idea of using them it is something I am going to have to install here to make life a little easier with all thats going on lately.

Hope its ok if I pick your brains over it a bit when the time comes for me to do mine.... give me plants & animals anyday...

Matt

[kcpoole]

No Worries Matt. Whenever you wanna chat lemmee know

Ken

[Scott Roxburgh]

looks like you have the disease just as bad as the rest of us!

That's a lot of trees!

Thanks for the article Ken, great work mate.

[Petra]

Good one Ken,
excellent idea.Would never work here though,our water preasure is up & down always.
Do you have any problems with the ants.I always get the blighters cloggin up the sprinkler heads. Then everything goes wrong, till i get soakin wet. After that, it all works fine. Can anyone relate.

Only ever have a problem with ants is if you unplug the hose.

This is a permanently connected system so they cannot get in in the first place
Ken

[lakepipes]

Hi Ken,

How do you go with the flow of "Hot" water.
Surely the pipes elevated along the colorbond fence act as a heat sink on hot days?
There would be a good few hours between each spray, and this would give the water time to heat inside the black tubing.

I'd be a little worried about heated water being sprayed over my trees.

Have you experienced this?

Regards,
Mike

Hi Mike
they come on at 7am in the morning but durig summer when they are on the trees do not mind at all.
Hot water is better than none I reckon and by the time the spray settles on the trees it will have cooled off anyway.

Never even thought about it as being an issue.

Ken

[cre8ivbonsai]

Hi Ken, that's a decent setup! as someone less technically minded (and a renter, so need a less permanent application) what are your thoughts on this ... http://www.irrigatia.com/complete-kits ... solar irrigating system from a non-pressurized water source? Hesitations are 1) waters every three hours like it or not 2) could just be a pile of ... and a waste of money!

Cheers, Ryan

[Steven]

Thanks for the info and pictures Ken

I'm in the process of researching watering systems for my garden so your post is very timely.
Are there any brands of pipe and heads that you recommend? There are quiet a few brands available and the price varies considerably.

Regards,
Steven