A pal of [Kyle’s] was regularly leaving his sprinkler on for too long. He also had forgotten to turn the water off while topping off his pool a couple of times, an embarrassing and wasteful situation. Being such a good friend, [Kyle] offered to make him a water timer. This isn’t a regular water timer that turns the water on and off at the same time every day. This device allows the user to push a button to have the unit switch on a solenoid valve, permitting water flow. After a predetermined amount of time the unit removes power to the solenoid valve which stops the water flow, successfully preventing pool overflows and excessive watering.
[Kyle] started off his design using a 555 chip to do the counting. He quickly became worried that timer lengths over 10 minutes would cause inconsistent functionality due to the leakage current of the capacitor and the charge current of the resistor. There are ways around this, but rather than complicate the design he switched to an ATtiny microcontroller. The added benefit of the ATtiny is that he could connect up a potentiometer to adjust the on-time without replacing parts or making a new unit. When the potentiometer is turned, the on-board LED will flash a number of times which corresponds with the delay in minutes. Ten flashes means a 10 minute delay. It’s a simple and clear interface.
As if the home etched PCB wasn’t cool enough, [Kyle] 3D printed up a case for the unit. The case permits access to the screw terminals and has provisions for the indicator LEDs. Check out the integrated flap in the top of the case. When this portion of the case is pushed in, it presses the PCB-mounted on/off switch.
If you are interested in making one, all of the files and code are available on [Kyle’s] site.
