A few years ago, we bought an automatic, battery operated, watering timer for watering our plants. As always, the purchase was a considered one; with an eye to quality, reliability, ease of use, and, the driving factor: cost.
I'd only just started buying stuff from China (knowingly buying, that is, rather than not checking where much of our stuff comes from) and Banggood was in its infancy and offering some amazing deals. Of course, they still do, but back then the prices were more than a little competitive.
(Even after adding shipping, paying for insurance, and import duty, the timer cost much less than the high street equivalent).
No Instructions
This could be the reason for that low, low price: opening the package, there were no instructions. At least, not in English, and I don't happen to speak any of the oriental languages that the instructions were printed in.
So, I set about trying to find out how to make it work, and the result are these very useful instructions that you are welcome to download and try for yourself if you happen to have a watering timer that looks like mine.
Model Numbers
It's a funny thing, but while I don't find and references to the good old GS-709 that I own, and there are no other discernible markings on the timer itself, I have seen a few pictures that look rather like it.
You may have noticed a similar effect on, say, Amazon. Look for soldering irons, for example, and while there are many price points, and many different badges on show, when you compare the actual photos, there are some startling similarities.
In fact, if you shop on the visuals, rather than the words, the same (unbadged) soldering iron can be had on Banggood for a fraction of the FBA price. You may have to pay shipping, it will almost certainly take longer to arrive, and customs may well ask you to pay import duty, but it will still be cheaper.
The same was true for my watering timer, which looks like this:
I have no idea what the text says that defines the buttons. But, based on playing with many similar devices over the years, it's easy to figure out what the intentions were.
(M) for example, is pretty obvious. Quite why it seems to be tied to the (>) button, I have no idea.
(Pressing both together has no discernible effect.)
Then, the (+) button is obvious. Or so I thought. It has two functions in reality - one is to advance any number that is flashing on the display (obvious) and the other is to turn the unit on, if it happens to be off, during cycles so you can use the attached hose for something else. Like filling up a bucket of water to wash the car, for instance.
Just remember to press it again to turn the timer back on!
Other Oddities
There are some odd things about the timer. For a start, you don't program a start and end time. At least not directly; no, instead you have to program a number of minutes (01 to 99) within a given slot.
The slots are 7h, 8h, 10h, 12h, 14h, 16h, 17h and 18h.
Odd choices, I think, but obviously made for a specific market.
The easiest way to get some kind of alignment with your own needs is often to just change the clock. That's why the photo reads 02h55 when it's quite obviously broad daylight!
However, all in all, it's a great device and has been working happily for several years. The reason I put together the instructions is because we wanted to change the timer, and was in danger of forgetting how.
Now I've made instructions so I don't have to remember, and I'm sharing it with the world so that, in case you have the same issue, you can save some time.
Download the GS 709 Automatic Battery Watering Timer Instruction Sheet from GoFile.
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