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Kool Sci My Garden, Assembly

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Kool Sci My Garden Assembly Download Page 17

 

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Figure 24 Electrical box.  Contents include battery (12v, 7ahr); Genasun solar charge controller; programmable timer (instructions 
beneath); battery charger; and battery tester (green).  Solar panel inputs enter through the elbow on the left and mate with the 
connectors at “solar panels in”.  Pump wires enter through the elbow at bottom of picture and attach to the terminals labeled 
“pump in”.  Pump brown (+) and black (-) wires connect with circuit red (+) and blue (-) wires respectively. Everything is easy to 
reach especially the timer for programming.  Lift the timer to access the single AA battery that we recommend changing between 
crops.  The battery charger is for emergency charging only as in operation the battery stays continually charged by the solar panels.  
The battery tester is useful for measuring solar panel input as well as battery current.  

 

The electrical box serves to connect the solar panels directly to the pump, and to a charge 
controller that keeps a small battery fully charged.  We find it satisfactory for the timer to run the 
pump off the battery for 2 minutes at 10a, noon, 2p, 4p, and 6p. On sunny days the battery is 
irrelevant as the panels power the pump.  On rainy cloudy days, however, plants still transpire 
slowly and eventually wilt.  A few minutes of battery charged pump operation throughout the day 
is more than adequate to save those plants under those conditions.  Don’t run the battery more 
than necessary on cloudy days or you risk running it down.  A battery tester is provided.  Set it to 
12v to see how much juice is left in the battery.  A battery charger is also provided.  If you find 
your battery discharged remove it to a 120v source and let it charge overnight.  Detailed 
instructions including for programming the timer are included in the Operating Instructions. The 
timer can be gently lifted to reach the battery compartment to replace the 2 AA batteries 

Summary of Contents for My Garden

Page 1: ...e receive the hot direct afternoon and evening sun The Garden s functional components reservoir and electrical box are located at the N end and Garden expansion occurs linearly to the S end Use QPlugs only NEVER use soil or loose growing media with the Garden The small bore spaghetti tubing will clog Keep the Electrical box closed and sealed There s lots of water around the Garden that s incompati...

Page 2: ...hed to its support bar Outside and in front of the reservoir is the pump and combination flow valve control filter system small bag of supporting items the return to reservoir drainpipes solar panel supports 2 of 6 shown rubber mallet and GroPlugs behind mallet Inside reservoir is the electrical box bottom Autofill above plant nutrients and battery charger immediately in front Above the reservoir ...

Page 3: ...while the N bottom bar includes a short middle leg that will support the Reservoir Figure 3 Leg bundles S end top N end bottom of picture Open the S end bundle and insert the S end bottom bar into the 2nd from the bottom tees on both legs Note that there are lots of tees making up each leg Do not twist them Put aside the S end Figure 4 This makes the S end once the straight bar is inserted into th...

Page 4: ...e the bottom bar and reservoir support is inserted into 2nd from the bottom tees on each leg Locate the side bottom bars the only components made with crosses Figure 6 side bottom bars As always the feet caps go down Lay the S end flat on the ground Insert the longer of the 2 side bottom bar pipe segments into the lowermost S end leg tees The side top bars are straight pipes Insert them into the t...

Page 5: ... inserted into the S end legs Looking top down from the N end Now lay the N end over top and match up the leg tees with pipe ends as shown in Figure 8 Figure 8 showing the N end top overlaid onto the 4 side pipes coming from the S end on the ground ...

Page 6: ...ing down the structure Top bars have two horizontal pipe sections 12 and 8 inches When standing in front of the N end looking towards the S end the longer 12 section goes to your right Figure 9 Top bars identical components atop both the N and S ends Figure 10 The Garden structure on its feet with the identical N and S top bars attached Notice that the longer pipe segment on the top bars goes to t...

Page 7: ... 2 liter bottles another optional method of production in MyGarden Figure 12 showing plant support bars often replaced with the plugs when crops are small The small holes in the long horizontal pipes not shown in the pipes above are for bottle support straps if the option for a GroBottle option is selected Locate the manifold illustrated upside down in Figure 13 below Make certain the 5 ports are ...

Page 8: ...ring testing add additional tape PLUMBING Figure 13 the drain manifold and return to reservoir section shown here upside down The 5 manifold ports point to the S end to accept the GroPipes and the return to reserve sits below underneath pointing towards the reservoir see Figure 14 Figure 14 view from N end to S end illustrating how one threaded GroPipe supports the manifold in place above the N to...

Page 9: ...5 is a view from the S end looking towards the N end and the manifold held in place using one threaded GroPipe Note return to reservoir section below the top bar Figure 16 The 5 GroPipes installed on the manifold ...

Page 10: ...mp and filter system inside the reservoir vertical section irrigation tube 1 2 rubber tube nutrient solution manifold and five spaghetti distribution tubes one to each GroPipe Everything is preassembled Insert the irrigation support bar s vertical pipes into the middle tees on N and S end s top bars The irrigation manifold goes to the S end The vertical connection system to the reservoir is flexib...

Page 11: ...the reservoir connecting to the pump and filter system inside the reservoir through a small 1 hole Free the spaghetti tubes and stick one down into the small holes at the end of each GroPipe CAUTION Do not loosen the cable ties holding the rubber irrigation tube on its PVC support bar ...

Page 12: ... either once or twice per day and Add On Units AOU which set up easily and double and triple MyGarden production for little additional cost Autofill is not necessary to start out and when the Garden is used to germinate small seedlings for transplanting when growing miniature vegetables or under artificial lights Autofill is almost essential however when growing larger crops especially in hot sunn...

Page 13: ...though water is easily replaced especially with Autofill lost nutrients are not replaced until the next nutrient solution change out Place a paper under the base of the Valve and put 4 gallons of water in the reservoir to check for leaks If you see no drips you re good continue with assembly If the Valve does drip rare turn it over and carefully tighten the large white nut If dripping persists ver...

Page 14: ...e the 2 holes in the reservoir wall the smaller and larger accommodate respectively the vertical section of the irrigation system and the return to Reservoir pipe The level control valve inside Reservoir ships installed in every Reservoir The silver connector below the Reservoir is part of the optional AutoFill Reservoir support board not shown ...

Page 15: ...15 Figure 22 the electrical box situates adjacent to the reservoir Note the manifold return to reservoir system above the box ...

Page 16: ...x Newer Reservoirs lack the wire slit in the upper rim and the wires pass through the same hole as the vertical valve filter irrigation assembly Pump positioning and attachment methods vary The most current assembly and operations instructions and suggestions are always available at www KoolSci org ...

Page 17: ...The electrical box serves to connect the solar panels directly to the pump and to a charge controller that keeps a small battery fully charged We find it satisfactory for the timer to run the pump off the battery for 2 minutes at 10a noon 2p 4p and 6p On sunny days the battery is irrelevant as the panels power the pump On rainy cloudy days however plants still transpire slowly and eventually wilt ...

Page 18: ...d Reservoir where it effectively reduces solar heating of the nutrient solution In Florida summers the solution has been measured at 110 degrees way too hot for the roots of almost all crops Place the other half on the Electrical Box to protect the plastic Without protection one growing season in the sun can destroy the plastic A thorough overlapping cover is essential to preserve the electrical b...

Page 19: ...ay be stopped by wrapping Teflon tape over the bib threads As a last resort replace the bib Install batteries into the timer and program it per instructions With medium leaf area setting the timer to refill the reservoir once daily is adequate Large leaf areas e g several giant tomato plants growing over the Overhead Rack you ll need to re up the reservoir twice daily We suggest on for 2 minutes a...

Page 20: ...valve sit back and watch the Garden take care of itself It s a beautiful thing More Autofill information available in the Operating Instructions Check the website frequently for Assembly and Operating Instruction updates and revisions as well as for fun project based learning ideas control The reservoir support board not shown in this illustration showing the two Autofill components best installed...

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