Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Design and Construction => Topic started by: Allotmentman on August 29, 2019, 23:11
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Solar panel timed drip irrigation system
Things you will need
Solar panel usb
Water butt of choice
Optional if water butt has tap Hose adapter
Hose kit
Total £60.00 (without water butt and adapter as I have a couple set up off one 100l container can use a 25l bucket )
* Place your water butt where required ( ideally no more than 1.5m-2m from the placement of plants (can be on the ground or suspended above if using water bag )
* Connect hose to water butt ( can be simply placed in top making sure it reaches the bottom of tank or attached to tap at bottom of tank )
* Next put your timer in position, ideally just off the middle of water butt and the plants (ideally nearer plants a couple foot )
* Connect timer to hose that’s already attached to the butt, no sharp bends. straight if possible or curved if needed sharp bends use right angled connectors do not bend . cut hose to suit length
* Connect the solar panel to the timer then place the solar panel in direct sunlight wherever the lead allows
* Place stakes from hose kit around 3 inches from base of plant ideally place plants 24cm apart in two rows 4 foot apart (10 plant set up )
* Connect a piece of hose to the timer long enough to be able to read the middle of the two rows NO BENDS use angled connectors
* Using a 90 degree connector place another piece of hose directly in between the two rows and attach to the connector (ideally place the timer in the middle of the two rows on a spike and use one pipe straight down the middle)
* Going along each pair of plants cut the pipe and add a T connector. Cut 3 inches of hose and add another T connector facing the opposite side, move to the next pair of plants and repeat process down all the remaining pairs of plant
* On the last set use one T rotated 90 degrees so creates a cap
* Cut lengths of hose long enough to be able to comfortably reach the middle of the plant
* Connect to every T connector all the way down
* Place a sprinkler on the end of every hose (you can twist the orange nozzle to make a mist or direct spray )
* Place a stake in the ground 3-4 inches from stem (can be as far as u like that’s just my preference
* Place hose in steak facing the spray nozzle towards the stem but not direct at it
And there you have it a fully set up solar panel powered automated drip system for up to 15 days !
(Foot note trying to take timer apart remove the “days connection” and connect the wires together to see if it works bypassed and use a 100l container will let you know......)
Now just fill the water butt up turn on the timer and program as follows :
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I've set something up this year using a solar panel, battery, small water dispenser pump, timer, 4mm pipe and drippers. Water is supplied from a 200L butt to a 30L central heating header tank via a ballcock. Setting up the timings to give adequate, but not too much, water took a few days but so far it's working pretty well.
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Good morning mr dog how are you ?
What solar panel are you using im looking at the one pictured seems really good value for money
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And a good afternoon to you!
Mines's a 30W built into a metal support which I thought would be much more robust than just a panel. The controller's a different model with no usb ports but I'm not sure I really need them in the greenhouse. I found that equivalent models were much cheaper on the 'Bay' so it might be worth having a look on there if you've not already purchased. I got the pump, timer, pipe and drippers from the Bay too - less than £3 for the pump delivered from China!
My system also powers some garden lights, coming on at dusk and switching off a few hours later and I'm thinking of buying a temperature switch to operate a fan for increased ventilation when it gets hot. That's for next year now and needs me to look at type and efficiency of fans that are available.
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Good evening mr dog I hope your well
I haven’t ordered yet I’m a real window shopper until I find “the one “ :lol: that ones £33
You got me thinking about adding
battery’s no too, I’m in the process of building a shed out of pallets for free ( see my other posts :D so will have somewhere to store it all and my plots a suntrap literally all day so could power some biggens theoretically :lol:
As for fans I’d recommend a RAM 6 inch clip fan very powerful for what it is not sure how much they are nowadays though :lol: or a small extractor fans like the ones to keep computers cool and install them near the top, you can even run them off 9v battery’s lol
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I had a quick look today and prices have dropped somewhat since I bought mine last December! £33 seems a pretty good price to me; mine cost £40. I'm using a 12V burglar alarm battery as a power source and after some 8 months use for the lights, and getting on for 3 for the pump, the battery is fully recharged before I get up (might be a bit different over the winter). The drippers are pressure compensating and give more or less the same feed rate without need for adjustment all along the supply line - a U with 3 outlets at pot (ca12") height with a T off up to ca 3.5ft above floor level with 4 outlets. I will be extending the system next year to feed probably 7 of the higher level outlets which is well within the pump capacity for the dripper flow rates I'm using.
One thing to remember if you're going to use a gravity drop system is the head you will need to get the water to actually flow. I've also got an Autopot system which recommends a head of at least 6" although I've found that in reality 18" is the minimum to operate my pipe setup which is a 13mm id pipe off the butt into a U shape with 4x reducing (to 4mm) Ts off to the aquavalves.