This isn't a post about Justin Sun, but rather a post about a solar powered tap timer that manages the watering of my back garden. Today, I finished the work I needed to do for a day, and then took a shower.

Upon exiting the shower... I heard what I thought were loud fans, or a distant vacuum. I thought nothing of it, then wandered outside to go check the mail. Upon returning, I found that the noise wasn't a distant vacuum or a collection of loud fans.

It was my garden tap timer, which had failed spectacularly at some point during the day. At least my orange and mandarin tree got a good drenching. As did the side of my house. :|

The failure mode was between the top part of the fitting that connected to the hose, and the "tightener" knob underneath. The gasket between the hose and the timer was fine - but the gasket internally (inaccessible, might I add) - had likely failed beyond repair.

The unit was under warranty, so I took it right back, and got a new one off the shelf at no cost.

It alarmed me, however that this was the only solar powered tap timer available at a national hardware chain in Australia (Bunnings)

The fact that they do not see fit to stock any other brand or any other type of solar powered tap timer is really disappointing, with most of the other models either being hardwired, or taking batteries that are not environmentally friendly, or rechargeable in nature.

This seems like such a common sense niche to corner in a country like Australia. Water is precious, we look after it and use it sparingly, but in order to control it using the power of the sun (and to ensure we're not drenching gardens in the middle of the day) - you've got to buy an incredibly unreliable product.

(Mine only lasted for not even 3 months before failing!)

I'll keep taking advantage of the warranty period should the timer fail again, but when it just so happens to break outside of warranty, I'll try my best to get a refund, and then see what other sort of system I can build to ensure I am as sustainable as possible with my gardening!

I bet you didn't expect to see a post from me about a solar powered garden timer!