Hi
I'm in a plant growing competition. I'm not allowed to buy an off-the-shelf watering system, but it occurred to me today that it may be possible to build a simple timing circuit that could dispense the water when I am not there. I have done a web search and found the following: -
http://www.reuk.co.uk/Repeat-Timer-Circuit.htm
which seems ideal as I would be looking for something that would be on for ~5 seconds every couple of hours.
The only constraint is that it must be battery-powered.
Here are my questions: -
Part of the reason I want to do this is enjoyment, but if you can see a simpler solution please let me know. I have also considered buying a Raspberry Pi as programming is not a problem for me, it would just be more expensive and I'm just not sure if it would run off of a battery for many days at a time.
Thank you.
I'm in a plant growing competition. I'm not allowed to buy an off-the-shelf watering system, but it occurred to me today that it may be possible to build a simple timing circuit that could dispense the water when I am not there. I have done a web search and found the following: -
http://www.reuk.co.uk/Repeat-Timer-Circuit.htm
which seems ideal as I would be looking for something that would be on for ~5 seconds every couple of hours.
The only constraint is that it must be battery-powered.
Here are my questions: -
- How realistic do you think this is?
- How much would this cost?
- How long would it take?
- Where could I find a water valve that can be triggered by a potential and then closed? (I live in the UK)
- Do you have any circuit diagrams of something suitable?
Part of the reason I want to do this is enjoyment, but if you can see a simpler solution please let me know. I have also considered buying a Raspberry Pi as programming is not a problem for me, it would just be more expensive and I'm just not sure if it would run off of a battery for many days at a time.
Thank you.