The Harvst tap controller uses a combination of timer and built-in temperature sensor to turn the water flow on or off. Connect it to a garden tap, and then leave the tap turned on. The tap controller will take over from here.
The tap controller is dormant most of the time, and needs to be woken up to interact with it. Wake it up by pressing the orange button on the front.
Batteries
With the supplied mini PZ0 screwdriver, open the rear panel. Use 4x AA alkaline batteries (not rechargeable, not supplied). Battery life with new batteries will be over 6 months. There are measures in place to prevent the tap controller turning on if there will not be enough power to turn it off, which should prevent flooding.
When battery level runs low, you will get an email alert (if your tap controller is connected to your home WiFi).
Connecting to the tap
If you have a standard tap which requires the adapter, remove the adapter from the tap controller and screw it onto the tap first. Then screw the tap controller onto the adapter.
Setting the timers
Settings are changed via the DCP (Device Control Panel) via WiFi on your phone, or via the web app at https://grow.harvst.co.uk
To connect to the Device Control Panel, enter configuration mode:
- Press and hold the button on the front until it starts flashing, then let go.
- On your phone, go to WiFi settings and connect to the "Harvst-tap-xxxx" network. This network does not have internet access, that's OK. If your phone asks you to connect anyway, choose yes.
- Once you're connected to the tap controller's WiFi network (Harvst-tap-xxxx), open a web browser (Safari, Chrome etc) and type the following IP address into the address bar (not the search field) : http://192.168.4.1
If your tap controller is connected to the internet via WiFi, the time will be automatically set for you. If you're not connecting your tap controller to the internet, you'll need to set the time manually using the "Set time" button on the timers setup screen above.
To connect your tap controller to your home WiFi, see this guide.
Manual watering
If you are next to the tap controller and want the water on:
- Press the button once to wake it up. You'll get a green light.
- Press it again to turn on the tap. You'll get a blue light. After 5 seconds, the blue light will go off as the controller goes to sleep. It will wake up to turn the tap off.
- Press the button at any time to wake the controller - the tap will turn off when it wakes up.
You can choose the length of time for manual watering, on the Device Control Panel.
Hot days : more water
The tap controller has a built in temperature sensor which can be used to give your garden extra water on a hot day. The temperature used for boost is a rolling average of the last 3 hours.
Set the hot boost watering period and trigger temperature on the Device Control Panel via WiFi on your phone.
Cool days : less water
If you want to pause watering on cool days, you can set the tap controller to "not water when temperature is below X". We find that 10 degrees C is a good figure for this.
Set the no-watering trigger temperature on the Device Control Panel.
Remote boost (coming soon)
If you have connected your tap controller to your home WiFi, you can request that it waters for a fixed one-off period, using the web app. The web app can be accessed anywhere with internet. Open the device settings page on the web app, and set a boost time.
The tap controller will receive the boost command next time it wakes up and connects to the internet.
Winterising
As with all garden irrigation equipment, drain the tap controller of water and bring it indoors before the first frost, to prevent ice from damaging the unit.