They say that necessity is the mother of invention but this invention was necessitated by my mother.

It's pretty much self-evident how you drive this Sprinkler Controller. Once the two watering start times have been set (on the LCD clock), you use the knobs to set the watering duration for each sector (0-60 minutes) and the toggle switches to set the days of the week that watering takes place.

Although the sprinkler timers currently available are wonders of modern technology, they can be rather formidable to operate. Alternate cycles, independently programmable sectors, the ability to set times months in advance and the like are all excellent features for those who want them. However, the extra complication can be a serious barrier to those who simply want to regularly water the lawn and a vegie patch a couple of times a day.

This completely new design is the answer to this problem. It’s a timer that avoids programming as much as possible and is controlled by old fashioned switches and knobs, just the way mum and people of her generation (and some of mine) like it.

Despite this, the timer is capable of controlling six independent solenoids (or sectors). You can individually set the watering period for each sector, turn individual sectors on or off and set which days watering takes place.

The design uses a fairly new and quite high-powered piece of technology in the form of a PIC16C74A microcontroller. This device packs in a tremendous amount of complexity where nobody ever has to see it and greatly simplifies the external circuitry. And that allows us to keep the cost down.