Hozelock Classic Micro Irrigation for Borders or up to 25 Plant Pots with Select Controller

I expect good hanging baskets this year regularly watered!It is not a difficult job to put the system together but requires planning and you may need additional bits and pieces. So NOT a 15 minute job.Tap end. You will probably want to preserve your regular hoseline, so you need to buy a Y shape 2 way connector, this screws on your tap. You will need to purchase a screw end adaptor from hozelock to fit on to one arm of your 2 way connector. The screw end of this adaptor fits onto your timer, the nipple end pushes into your Y connector. Thread your hose through the pressure reducer (tight fit) and on to the base of the timer and screw up tight. Thats the business end done.Micro tube. You will almost certainly need to purchase more. My run was 15 m. but I had to place 6 'T' connectors at intervals and approx. 25cm lengths to mount the drippers to reach into my baskets. Use sharp scissors to cut. If you have spare hose you can always repair - just connect in the straight connectors.Cable clips. They give you 5? You will need more if you are wall mounting. B ad Q electrical 5mm clips does the job and allows you to pull the hose straight when attached.The drippers. A few reviewers comment that the holes are too tiny. I opened mine up a little (could be fiddly but I used one of the cable clip nails and a hammer - wedging the drippers hole side up in my garden table slats to get a slightly bigger hole).You can get lots of different connectors elbow pieces to go around corners - you dont want to kink the hose, 4 way X connectors, sprinkler attachments to connect into the 4mm hose. On Amazon they are cheap and nearly all free delivery. Hortifix seams one of the sellers of these.The timer is easy to set up (make sure you put in the correct batteries before you assembled the business end!). If you want to start watering at 6.00 p.m. You wait until 6.00 p.m. then turn the dial clockwise to auto start and then anti clockwise to choose your pattern, I chose P3 and with an initial whizz away it went.Its working well. I was going to put in another run to my greenhouse tomato plants off my length but I think the extra metres of hose may be more than the system can cope with. I'll see. No harm if I try as I can always repair the hose with a straight connector!Loss of one star: not enough cable clips, poor instructions with hopeless pictures.

Setting up was easy.The AC1 timer (Also known as AC Plus) is plasticky but feels reasonably sturdy.You unscrew the battery panel, insert 2 C Size batteries (not included) and screw the panel back on ensuring you don’t lose any of the rubber seals provided.You then attach the timer to your tap with the provided threaded fittings and attach the pressure reducing adaptor to the bottom of that.The tubing feeds out of the adaptor.You get a reel of tube (15 metres) that you cut to lengths with scissors and push connect together with the adaptors supplied. You use them to branch off the pipping to your pots as needed.At the end of each branch just push on a Dripper stake and stick it in the plant pot soil.When the water is flowing you get a nice constant dribble of water direct into the pot.All parts have good seals with no leaks. Only problem is, 15 metres really doesn’t go a long way. You may need to buy more.The AC1 timer itself is a bit trickier to work out.You have 3 coloured sections on the dial.RED – For Manual watering.GREEN – For ‘Auto Start’ timed watering periods.BLUE – For ‘Auto Start’ predefined program watering periods.RED Manual allows you to override any ‘Auto Start’ settings and simply turns the water On and Off. It also has an option to stay on for 60 minutes (no idea why).GREEN ‘Auto Start’ timed watering periods has options for 2, 5, 15, 30 and 60 minutes. Once you’ve set the ‘Auto Start’ time, it will turn ON for this period of time and turn itself OFF again.BLUE ‘Auto Start’ predefined program watering periods has a set of 8 predefined schedules that you cannot edit but are kind of useful e.g. On for 10 minutes every 12hrs. On for 2 minutes every 6hrs etc Again, you need to set the ‘Auto Start’ time first.SETTING AUTO START TIME.In the Blue section of the timer is an option for ‘Auto Start’. To get the Auto Start to work you first need to turn the dial to this position to set the time.At the time you turn it to that position, it remembers it. So if you want to water your plants at 7am, you need to get up at 7am and turn the dial to that position. Note: That you don’t get any visual indication that it’s worked, but it does.ONCE THE TIME IS SET, THE TIMER WILL MEMORISE IT. YOU DON’T NEED TO SET IT AGAIN.Once you have set the time, just turn the dial to the Green / Blue Auto Start watering period you desire.So if you want to water you plants for 30 minutes at 7am. At 7am, turn the dial clockwise to ‘Auto Start’ then turn it back round anti-clockwise to the green 30 minutes option.If you then turn the dial to Manual ON/OFF, you can override the timer but once you turn it back to one of the Green / Blue ‘Auto Start’ watering settings it continues at the last time you set.If you subsequently want to change that time you need to turn the dial to the ‘Auto Start’ position at that new time.Overall, all good. I’d give it 5 out of 5. There are better timers out there with more options but for the price of the kit, it’s pretty good.

The 15 pot version is NOT an automatic timer as advertised. It is more akin to a kitchen timer- you set it once and then reset each subsequent time. This is completely unsuitable for someone wanting remote, timed watering when absent or otherwise occupied.

Didn't last the season, timer would just turn but not open the valve. Teeth have sheared off the cheap plastic cogs as can be seen in the the picture.Contacted Hozelock, their response "send it to us at your expense IF found to be faulty we will send out a replacement to you, but we will not cover the postage"Shocking will be buying better quality products from now on.

Being able to set it to water at sunrise and/or sunset is very useful. Setting it up could be a bit fiddly for some, but I had no problem. Take your time and be patient.There are plenty of additional accessories available for this system and they all work very well.One issue was a horrible loud noise that resonated throughout the house. Initially I thought that is was the timer, but it wasn't. It was the pressure regulator. This is a very simple design and the valve inside it charters. Maybe it might be worth Hozelock redesigning it to eliminate the noise?Anyway, the fix is to remove it entirely, remove the rubber seal from the irrigation hose connector and replace it with the filter from the regulator, making sure that the dome on the filter points towards the control valve. Its then possible to regulate the water flow by means of the supply tap. The operation is then silent.