Automatic Plant Watering Device (simple version)

Step 7 Use!

Put the end of the tube in your pot, plug both of your timers into a handy outlet (or hopefully a GFI plug) and wait for it.

It's not a bad idea to be around the first couple times it goes off just to make 1000% sure that its working right.

Enjoy your vacation/plant negligence!

Tips:

• Be sure to refill the bucket every week/month/whatever. (I set up a reminder on my phone.)
• Every once and a while take it apart and de-gunk it. It gets a little slimy after a few months.
• I don't know if I'd use it with plant vitamins in the water, I suspect it foul up the pumps pretty fast, though I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

Improvements to make:

• Some kind of cover to keep bugs and pets out. I don't have bugs or pets where I live.
• Use a micro controller to control the pumps for more precision than vacation timers.
• Hook it up to a water sensor in the pot so it only waters when it needs it.
• Hook a float to a switch in the top reservoir so the bottom pump only runs as long as it needs to.
• A flow regulator and splitter to water more than one plant at a time. (Just splitting the hose won't work well because the water will just go out the lowest hole.)

Comments

[2 stroke]

you can place a large container under your down spout throw in another pump and time it to refill whenever you want mark a level on your main water reservoir and drill a hole and put a tube in your hole and run it outside

[Grathio]

I'm not sure I totally understand what you're saying. (Capital letters and punctuation would really help.) But it sounds like you're suggesting to fill the main reservoir from rainwater, which I think is a great idea! This setup isn't really made for outdoor use, it's intended for indoor plants, but with some filters and some weatherproofing it could work. An excellent addition!

[uberdum05]

You could keep the main tank indoors and cut the bottom, off, say a pop bottle and cut a hole for a pipe to fill your main tank up. Then only the rainwater collector/funnel jig has to be outside.

[2 stroke]

I am sorry for my punctuation errors. I meant to put a bucket under your downspout put in a pump and run it off a timer time the timer when you want to fill the main water bucket , run tube into your house from outside and put it in your main water bucket .Extra water will have to overflow so drill a hole in your main water bucket and put tube to the outside of the house.

[Grathio]

Ah, I understand. Yup, that would definitely be possible and a great way to cut down on water use!

There's another great Instructable that uses water condensed from an air conditioner to water his outdoor plants. You could use a similar system as they use to collect this otherwise wasted water.

If you run a dehumidifier you could also use that to provide recycled water for the plants.

[2 stroke]

plz reply if it is a good idea

[lucas.s.fragoso]

Why not use only one bucket and one pump? You can measure the amount of water by setting the interval the pump will work lower or higher. If you want a bunch of water set it for 5 minutes, if you want just some drops set it for some seconds. Wouldn't this work properly?

[Grathio]

The double system is because cheap fountain pumps and $10 vacation timers don't provide very reliable control at all. I've never found a vacation timer that works on second increments, it's hard enough to find one that has minute resolution, most are 15 minutes to an hour.

Also these cheap pumps can't be relied on to deliver the same amount of water over a given time. I tested them pretty thoroughly and running them for 10 seconds one time would deliver several cups of water one time, and no water at all another.

As I said in my intro one of the features of this design is to make it reliable. Both to keep my plants alive and not pumping gallons of water all over my floor. Having the extra pump and timer makes it much more reliable.

However if you have a reliable pump and a programmable timer then one water supply and one pump is the way to go and you don't really need an Instructable to set that up. But in my research these things easily double the cost of the project. If you're interested in a more ambitious project, I suggest the Garduino Instructable which uses moisture sensors and a microcontroller to control the pump. It's a very cool project.

[lucas.s.fragoso]

I see... I do have a timer which is very precise, i can program it for 1 sec and it will work. But his pump problem would be an issue. I never used one of those, but I do believe they are not much reliable. Good thinking btw, you got a good solution with cheap stuff.... Great Instructable!