Irrigatia SOL-K12 Fully Automatic Solar Drip Watering System

I love my Greenhouse – but I’m not so keen on tracking backwards and forwards with watering cans during the summer so I bought this in the hope that I could make watering automatic. I was not disappointed. I installed an irrigation system and simply connected this up with the Pump in my Water Butt. When it’s sunny it waters the Greenhouse when it isn’t and it doesn’t need watering it doesn’t. Perfect – and my tomatoes et cetera were much better for it than my intermittent watering protocol! :-) So good a number of my family members have now bought the same systems .

We already have a number of these and knew what to expect. However the delivery was a shambles. Arrived home to find a missed delivery card from City Link. Went on-line to rearrange only to find that I have to wait in for 10 hours, yes TEN HOURS to receive the package. That's cavalier customer service. Other couriers can give a two hour delivery slot so why not City Link. However we had to put up with that so rearranged. We paid for delivery so weren't prepared to drive to their depot. Much to my surprise the day before the rearranged delivery was due there was a knock on the door about 8am and the parcel was delivered. As it happened this suited us very well but what's the point of rearranging delivery if it is ignored. We had already decided to stick to "click and collect" suppliers or the high street and only use Amazon if the product will fit through the letter box or no-one else supplies it. We certainly wont be buying from this market place seller again while they use this courier.

Purchased this for use on my greenhouse. Set it up as per instruction and the pump failed to start. Thinking the batteries were low left it to charge in full sun. After a week still nothing, checked the batteries and they were still discharged, one defective. Purchased new batteries and charged then using a smart charger. Once installed the pump worked for 3 hours and then never ran again. Have contacted customer support which did not help. Do not waste your money!

Required for hanging baskets on front of house, save using watering can couple of times a day. Installed solar unit on outside wall, of our bedroom window, with a large water container on the window sill, (or floor) where it is easy to refill with water and feed. First night woken every three hours, as pump commences to work, day and night. luckily installed where I can reach from a window, so now switch off overnight, and on first thing in the morning. A minor issue is if the day is extremely cloudy, and our house is north/south alignment, battery can only charge pm. The battery became discharged during the evening, and then failed to work until mid afternoon following day, once batteries had some charge, despite the unit being switched off overnight. Batteries are 3x AAA, so feel likely can't hold long charge duration. So do not install pump in same area as you sleep. Otherwise a good investment.

Early on I was a bit disappointed, there was a un-described cable (which I now know is the water level sensor) and no means to charge the unit up before use. However all that aside...its brilliant as a remote unit on my allotment, as by now instead of dead tomatoes plants I have a flourishing forest!. Its a bargain at £60 is you can't get to the greenhouse every day tip1 - make sure you screw in the joiners flush to the joint, push fit does not work (they leak) tip2 - you need a big water butt, i reckon you could do a whole one in 10 days, so I'm going to joint two together in the winter tip3 - mount securely, the pump vibration is quite a bit tip 4 -clean the filter , it gets clogged a bit as the algae builds up moan 1 - poor instructions as to the water level sensor...its just not in the picture on the box!! or in the brochure moan 2 - no manual pump over ride button, this would be really useful for priming the system moan 3 - no battery remote charge (as in 2)

The idea behind the product is brilliant, however, the implementation is rather inadequate. First, setting up the system is far from straightforward: it may work within hours (my first system), or it may take a week to get it going (my second system). The input/output tubes have a tendency to become loose, rendering the system non-functional (while still draining the battery as the pump keeps pumping air). Second, once the battery is flat, it may take another week for the unit to start working again (even during July 12-hour + sunshine). Third, my extension kit contained a couple of faulty drippers which let the water flow rather than drip. Fourth, my extension kits don't seem to be fully compatible with the pumps: some tubes seem to be too loose when inserted into the input slot, which lets air in. Finally, once my water butt became empty, the pump simply stopped working (expected behaviour). However, after refilling the butt, I took me several days to get the pump working again (by re-connecting the tubes, re-charging the batteries etc).

This kit is amazing! We had extremely, record-breaking, hot dry weather throughout July and yet the Irrigatia watered the twelve tomato plants in my greenhouse totally unaided. It used very little water compared to the quantity I'd have used if watering by can. The drip feed kept the plants sufficiently supplied and avoided the flood and drought pattern implicit in can watering. The plants look great. Also, I suspect that the incidence of Grey Mould (Botrytis) will be much lower than that I usually suffer as the drip doesn't seem to lead to the high humidity that Botrytis needs to germinate and which follows heavy can watering at the end of a hot day. I shall be purchasing a second kit to support my other greenhouse for next year. Truly, I can't praise this system too much, I'd read about drip irrigation in arid zone horticulture, now the reality has hit me.