Kollea Reliable Automatic Watering System, Automatic Drip Irrigation Kit with 60-Day Programmable Timer, Indoor Self Watering System for Potted Plants

UPDATED 3/6/25: WORKED FOR ANOTHER YEAR'S HOLIDAY MONTH! ADDITIONAL TIPS- Be careful when detaching input/output tubing from pump as teats are very delicate- I snip off tubes with scissors then use nail clippers to cut off stubs. Remember to run pump on TEST to get all water out of pump before storing kit for long period of time.UPDATED 1/25/25: Getting ready to leave for the annual February at North Myrtle Beach, and I pulled unit out to set up for this year. Unit still going strong AND battery still showed full charge after being stored for a year (I still use power cord hook-up while using to be sure). See in the latest online photo that the control pad was redesigned for clarity and this is GOOD! I think that this product has a lot of returns due to buyers either not being able to set up or program properly IMHO! I have to reread the directions each year to do the set up and verify program settings before I'm sure! Don't want the wife's plants to die from lack of water. A happy wife means a happy life!!!UPDATED 1/23/23: Prepping for our annual February trip away. Unit still going strong and battery still had 80% charge from last year. INPUT teat snapped off when being disassembled last year. Super Glue fixed it, but be sure to use a probe inside it while glueing to make sure you don't block it up. Decided to carefully slice it off pump when I disassemble after using it each year. Still a good investment into the 3rd year.January 2021: Just bought this system so that my wife wouldn't lose her plants while we are away for a month. She didn't feel right asking a friend to come over due to Covid situation so I bought this system for her after comparing what is available on the market.Many of the reviews for the various systems are filled with dead plants, leaks, and failures, and I may know why. Since most of them come from China, the instructions are translated and leave a lot of confusion in their wake. I would have rated Assembly/installation higher if the instructions had been better.Here are the "Tricks" IMHO to making this system work:1. Unit came with a 70% battery charge in it. The USB cable supplied is WAY TOO SHORT and there's no charger. I added my own longer cable and USB/AC charger from a phone.2. Charge the unit to full charge. While charging unit will flash 7, 8, 9 (X10%) . Shows 10 when fully charged and connected by USB cord/charger to wall outlet.3. Read the instructions multiple times, then with unit in hand, do a dry run to program it.4. I then cut a short (about 18") piece of tubing, put it into a 2 liter bottle of water, sucked water into it and connected it to pump INTAKE, then standing at the kitchen sink I pushed test and pumped water for a while. Was impressed by the flow/pressure of pump. I then placed this in the side after connecting the intake filter (supplied with unit) to the tube still attached to the pump.5. Taking the roll of plastic tubing, I then unwound a piece long enough to reach/wind through all of the plant containers. I put a plant watering stake on the tube's end (path of least resistance) then working my way past each plant, snipped the tubing and installed a "T" joint that faced the center of each pot and continued to work my way to the last plant. CRITICAL: DO NOT PULL TUBING OFF OF FITTINGS AFTER INSERTION OR 90+% CHANCE OF LEAKAGE! WHEN YOU PUSH TUBING TO FITTING TWIST THE TUBE AS IT MOVES ALL THE WAY AGAINST PIECE.6. I had 9 pots so I cut eight 3" pieces of plastic tubing and inserted a watering stake in each one. I then attached to the open spot on each of the eight "T" fittings already in line. I DID NOT PUT STAKES IN POTS YET.7. Cutting a piece of tubing long enough to reach from the end of the first plant to where the bucket/pump would be located, it was attached to the end of the first "T" fitting in line, taken to the kitchen sink, and connected to the pump's OUT port. Once good flow from all stakes and no leaks were observed at the joints, the assembly was disconnected at the pump, taken to the pots, and the stakes were inserted into each pot's center.8. A large bucket was filled, the pump was reattached to the tubing assembly with the pumps intake line placed into the water and the USB charger/cord was plugged into 110v and the cord's end plugged into the pump AFTER the pump was clipped to the buckets side OVER the inside of the bucket (see photo 2). NOTE THAT THE PUMP IS HIGHER THAN THE BUCKET'S WATER LEVEL, LOWER THAN THE PLANTS/WATERING STAKES, AND THAT ALL TUBING CONNECTIONS (PHOTO 3) ARE OVER THE POTS SO THAT IF THERE IS A LEAK IT DRIPS ON THE PLANT. THIS SHOULD PREVENT ANY SIPHONING ACTION/SUBSEQUENT DAMAGE IF IT WOULD OCCUR.9. The pump was then run on TEST to verify water flow, lack of leaks, and total system operation.POSSIBLE CAUSE OF DRY PLANTS: The system's output is measured in milliliters (ml) TOTAL OUTPUT PER WATERING. THIS PUMP'S MAX OUTPUT IS 990 ml PER WATERING - 120 ml = 4OZ - SO IF YOU SET THIS PUMP TO 990 MAX YOU'RE ONLY PUTTING A QUART TOTAL INTO YOUR PLANTS COLLECTIVELY AT A TIME. I am almost certain that people who have complained of dry plants either didn't calculate the water amount/frequency OR the size of the water reservoir correctly. My wife determined that 4 oz per plant per week should be adequate BUT SHE HAD NINE PLANTS instead of eight and she wanted all nine watered so the amount is actually estimated at 3.7 oz per plant per watering. We will probably increase the frequency to 5 or 6 day intervals to over compensate.Well that's it for now. I plan on editing this review once we are back in March to report if the above worked.JUST BACK AND FOUND ALL PLANTS ALIVE & WELL WITH BUCKET EMPTY. Changed schedule to every 5 INSTEAD OF 7 days watering. BEWARE that you CAN'T regulate individual plant amounts so I found two small ceramic containers filled almost to top ready to overflow when I got back. Would have been my fault if it had happened. Other than that this system is definitely a buy in my book. IF YOU ARE GONE LONGER THAN A MONTH; SUGGEST YOU CONNECT MULTIPLE BUCKETS WITH LARGER D HOSES THRU SIPHON ACTION OR YOU WILL DEFINITELY RUN SHORT OF WATER AND PLANTS WILL DIE. BTW, YOU GET LOADS OF TUBING AND FITTINGS FOR VARIOUS CONFIGURATIONS WITH THIS KIT.Best to all and stay healthy!

I set this automatic pump on my five-level plant rack. As introduced on the manual, I hang the pump at the top level and use the gravity to pass the water to the further, low pots. This works well. The pump can carry the water from the bottle on the floor to the top level. In the test, I don’t see leaking at the junctions after pushing the pipe deep on the connectors. The pipe is soft so then you can install the connectors with no difficulty. But I still use a lighter to carefully heat the pipe to make it plastic before installing. The watering spike has a good flowing. But the hole is at the end, not the body side. So it is watering at the root. I set 10 seconds per watering to avoid overwatering.The major drawback is that the power cord is too short. It is about only 10 inches. I have to purchase a long power cord to reach the power port. There is no plug in the package. You will need to use your own USB port plug.

The media could not be loaded. I spent way too much time searching the reviews, and YT to try to figure out how MUCH water would this thing put out because programming it seemed overwhelming. I've done the work for you! On the top left, it says 'how long' . If you set that to water for one minute (it will say 001, that is one minute) out of each 'stake' it outputs exactly 2 ounces of water. Setting it for 2 minutes (will say 002) produces a little under 3 ounces, approx. 2.7 ounces (on my glass Pyrex cup it was right at the 1/3C line) . Lastly, setting it to run for 3 minutes is a water output of 6 ounces. I have all 15 'stakes' set up, and upon measuring the last one, furthest away from the source, that measured 5 ounces. Hope all of my fiddling around will help someone, make sure once you get it programmed in, press the center button to finalize it, and then the screen will say 10 and you'll think you've screwed it up. It does not tell you it is 'set' it only tells you the charge time you have. I definitely recommend using a longer Type C cord, and keep that plugged in for extra insurance. The only negative I found is that it is a little noisy, but if you're like me, this is running when you're NOT home so that will not affect anyone I hope. I have 8 various plants to water while I'm gone, and I found the best setting is to water every 3 days, for 2 minutes.