A 24/7 Home Water Irrigation System for Flower Pots

11 October 2018

A home water irrigation system that will supply enough water for the plants to keep them healthy and happy round the clock.    This system needs no water timers.   

How?

To use wicking action to supply water to the plants.  With this system ,  one can easily check if  there is enough water delivered to the pots and plants. 

What is Wicking Action?

It is an absorption  of liquid through capillary action by a material such as candle wick, paper or fabric cloth or strip.  In this irrigation system,  fabric strips are used instead of wicks as they are economical and easy to use;  furthermore,  one could control the rate of water flow easily 

What’s needed? 

1.  A length of 13 mm PVC to deliver water to the flower pots or plant	Click to enlarge picture if necessary
2.  A plastic water cup with lid for each plant.
3.  4 mm  silicone tube often used in aquarium,  preferably black in color to avoid algae growth.
4. Dremel drill or similar with abrasive grinding Stone of 3.5 mm tip
5.  A few sheets of woven type fabric filter cloth
6   Few glue sticks
7.  Mini float valve so that 4 mm or larger silicon tube could supply water through the float valve.
8  Plastic storage box about 150 x 150 x 120 mm

Step by Step

1.  Making plastic box stand
a)  Cut a strip of PVC measuring about 15 x 100 mm to make 2 stands for the cups as shown
b)  Heat the larger end of the PVC strip with a lighter and make it flat to form a  base to fix onto the bottom of the plastic cup using hot glue stick.
c)  Once the stand is ready,  drill 2 holes,  one on the top and the other at near bottom of the cup.  Making sure the near bottom hole is about 3.5 mm for the 4 mm silicon tube to be inserted tightly with no water leak. Make a horizontal cut at the top hole using a scissor. d)  Cut a long fabric strip of  about 5 mm width with one of its ends "threaded" through  the cup, making sure the strip will pass through the horizontal cut at the top hole as shown e)  Extend the 5 mm fabric strip if necessary so that the strip can be wrapped round the PVC stand.  A wedge made at the end of stand can be used to terminate the fabric strip. f)  With the cup cover fix,  the cup is ready to be used
2.  Constructing the Water tank
a)  At  about 100 mm from the bottom,  drill  a  hole of size to fit the mini float;
b)   At the opposite bottom end,  drill another hole of size to fit a PVC socket or otherwise to fix a 6 mm flexible PVC hose.   The hose will allow tank to be moved to adjust water level..    Alternatively in areas where water cannot be  piped through, one can use invested mineral water bottles as shown in the second picture.
3.  Constructing Water Distribution pipe
a)  For each cup,  make a 3.5 mm hole on top of the distribution pipe for the 4 mm silicon tube to be inserted.   There should not be any water leakage if the tube in inserted  properly;  if necessary,  apply UHU Glue to seal the leak. b)  Connect the other end of the silicon tube to the plastic water cup as shown.
4.  Installation
a)  Tank Installation Select a suitable place so that the water distribution pipe will be 15-20 mm below the surface of the earth in the pot.  If the pot is too large and too high,  drill appropriate holes in the pot for the tube and make sure the earth level of the pot is not higher than 20 mm from the distribution pipe. If necessary,  use bubble leveler to ensure that the distribution pipe is truly horizontal.  This will ensure water will find its level to supply water to the cups.  Thereafter,  fix the pipe in position by using pegs or pipe hangers. b)  Flower pot placement Adjust the height of the pot using padding so that all the surfaces of the earth in the pots are at about the same level;  if necessary, construct small stools for the smaller flower pots.
5.  Testing and commissioning
a)  Adjust the water dripping  rate to about 2 drops of water per 5 minutes or about 30-50 mils per day.  This dripping rate can checked by hanging the cup's stand to the pipe as shown using rubber bands b)  The dripping rate can be adjusted  by:  1.  Increasing the depth of the water level in the cup; 2.  Trimming the width of the fibre strip to reduce the water wicking action
6.  Water Filtration System
Water filters will be needed to get rid of algae which will easily clog up the small pipes or tubes.  One should place water filtering media in the following places: a)  in the water tank b)  along and in-line with the water distribution pipe as shown
7.  Maintenance No system can work properly without  maintenance.   Once a while,  one should do the following; a)  Monitor the water level in the cup,  making sure that water level is about the same; b)  Place paper testing strip  under each flower pot to test the wicking action.  Paper should not be  too wet or too dry.  One can also try to use finger to test the wetness of the soil. c)  Clean up the filters and clear the clog in the silicon tube as and when necessary.  Bicycle pump is a good tool to apply pressure to clear any water clog. If one found no water in the cup,   one can do the following: a)   Fill the water tank as high as possible to force water to flow into the cup; b)  Pump water into the cup by massaging or pressing the silicon tube repeatedly.

Note :   The system will work best in low water pressure as silicon tube are not for high pressure application.   High level water cistern should be used as water source instead of the high pressure water mains.   

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Other reference articles 

tinyurl  :  https://tinyurl.com/y9gxuuzk

Quick Set Up of OpenVPN in Smart TVs

5 October 2018 

Update 9 Oct 2018
Understand Beijing is tightening up its rules on radio and TV commercial violating laws and regulation .  Most likely,  one would not be able to view many TV commercial programs or movies on line for quite sometiime.

Some Chinese movies, dramas  or documentary films and also, some of those from YouTube are always locked and viewable only by users in certain designated countries.  Those in other countries will have to resort to other methods to view these contents.  This article will show how to do this using VPN.

What is VPN?

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a service that will  let one access the web by routing one's network  connection through an external server; thus hiding one's  local IP address so that the "web master" of that particular web site cannot tell exactly where one is actually coming from.  

Which VPN provider?

One should always choose a VPN service provider that has a server in the host country so that one can always get the best downloading speed.  To do that one should always “ping” the VPN provider’s server to find out how their server would perform before signing up the service.    It is also good to check with the VPN service provider if their servers can receive the contents from the particular website.

How to “Ping” and Check?

Usually,  the VPN provider will provide a Host Name list of their servers in various countries for  their members.   In the case of PureVPN,   the list is shown here.

All one has to do next is to ping the particular server by using the Window's  Command Prompt;  i.e. at the Prompt,  type and ping the host name .  For example,  one could have selected the a Beijing server for Chinese movies, then type "ping cn1.pointtoserver.com" where "cn1.pointtoserver.com" is the host name of the Beijing server given by PureVPN.  .   The PC will  tell the response time which is shown attached to vary between  38ms to 49 ms.  These values are far less than 100 ms which is usually the minimum required for streaming HD movies; on the other hand,  the 1st server from Bangladesh is found not suitable as it clocked more than 100 ms.

 How to Setup?

After having found the right VPN provider,  one should first subscribe and register with VPN provider to get a username and the password from them.  

Take PureVPN for example,   there are 2 ways to setting up their VPN servers

Method 1 :  Using Provider’s APK

1.   Download PureVPN’s apk for Android TV  from google store  or from here 

2.   Log in and follow up with the instructions given  to log into the desired VPN server

Method 2 :  Using OpenVPN’s APK

1.  Download an universal VPN called “OpenVPN” from google store or from here; after that,

2.  Download OpenVPN configuration files from here. or directly from here (old)  or from here (New)

 Note that there are 2 folders marked “TCP” and “UDP” in the 2nd download.  The folders contain information files of the various servers all over the World.  Select those files in “TCP” folder because TCP is a better protocol.

Step by Step Procedure

Step	Action	Image  (Click image to enlarge)
1	Fire up OpenVPN APK and then select "OVPN Profile"
2	A list of available folders will show up,  allow users to select the correct folder where OpenVPN configuration files is stored.  Once the folder is selected,   a list of servers in various countries will show up for further selection.  Select "China-Beijing-TCP.ovpn" and press "Import" at top right hand corner
3	In the next screen,  enter the  username and then select "save password" and the screen will be extended for entering the password.  On completion,  press add at top right hand corner.
4	This request for permission to connect screen will next appear.  Click ok to accept
5	When the next screen asking for certificate appears,  press continue to ignore the certificate selection
6	On successful connection,   one should see this screen appearing to give a graph and text showing the connection speeds

Which Set up is better?

Apparently,  the OpenVPN is better set up for TV as it is not only more stable but also less cumbersome to use.

Update 8 October 2018 

Since after September 2018,  Xiaomi TV movies can no longer be watched on Xiaomi TV by changing the DNS setting of the television.  One would be faced with the following error 601 message

Understand PureVPN users and the like are also blocked from viewing Xiaomi TV movies.  However,  some VPN service provider like Transsock（穿梭TV版)  can work but the streaming speed is not good.   There might be others such as 领导者IP代理 6.6 but they have not been tested for security issues.  

Registering as a VIP member of Youku and other entertaining service provider will not overcome the problem as it is understood copyright is a separate issue from membership.



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Other related articles :  http://skyjuiceiswater.blogspot.com/search/label/XiaomiTV

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Select Cost Effective Sound Surround System or sound bars for TVs

4 October 2018

Most Smart TV allow a source device such as blue-ray player to be connected to a TV using HDMI cables and have the TV pass the 5.1 or 7.1  sound surround signal to a sound surround receiver/player using HDMI ARC or digital co-axial or optical SPDIF cables.  However,  not all sound surround receiver/player can receive such raw 5.1 or 7.1 sound surround signal.  This article will explain why.

 

 Why?

For the sound surround receiver/player to be able to receive the raw 5.1 or 7.1 Dolby surround sound,  the receiver/player must have processors that can process and decode the compressed digital  bit-stream audio signal sent by the TV.  The cheaper and common receiver/player usually do not have this built in  function.  They simply receive stereo or 2 channel signal and have a Digital Signal Processors (DSP) to convert the stereo into 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound.     It is not a true 5.1 or 7.1 but a simulated  surround sound.

Which is better,   True or Fake?

The commoners  would invariably say the true 5.1 or 7.1 system is better;  however,  it is understand that not all movies are producing or the content providers are providing true surround sound.  Then the next question is whether one should choose the more expensive set that use patented Dolby Prologic signal processor to decode the raw Dolby surround sound  or just any DSP processor that just produce simulated surround sound.

What is Dolby Prologic or DSP?

Dolby Pro Logic is a surround sound processing technology developed by Dolby Laboratories, designed to decode soundtracks encoded with Dolby Surround.  DSP is a  microprocessor that is often used to simulate sound surround.   Whether one should choose a more expensive sound surround system will depend on the design and the quality of the soundbars and more importantly,   the "taste" of the users.  Some claimed that DSP produced better sound effect than Dolby Prologic. Therefore,  it is always better for one to listen to the sound system as everyone’s “taste of sound”  is different.

Why so much Cost Difference?

One would notice that there are a lot of cost differences between the cheaper and the more  expensive audio receivers or soundbars.    Actually,  if one were to strip the set down to its bare bones,  one would notice that all of them have similar major components such as power amplifiers,  signal processors and control  except that the more expensive ones might use better components such as thyroid transformer instead of ordinary laminated iron core transformers.   The more expensive ones usually have  much higher music power for better sound quality at lower sound volume.

Can MiTV4 Provide 5.1 Surround Sound?

Most MiTV can provide 5.1 sound surround sound but only the ones with external sound bars have specifically mentioned that it can provide Digital Audio Atmos digital surround sound.   Most MiTV can only provide simulated or virtual  surround sound

A Cost Effective MiTV Sound Surround System

This article will examine some of the popular and cheaper soundbars that have been used for Xiaomi and other televisions.  Among them,  the most common one that has been sold well  is the 33” Xiaomi TV soundbar as shown attached. 

The other soundbars that have been sold well in China is the JY Audio soundbars that have similar or better specifications.  

 These soundbars are tabulated and compared here for information (Note: scroll table to the left to read).  Note that these cheap sound bars have only DSP simulated sound surround output.

	Xiaomi 33-inch	万音 JY A1S	万音 JY A9S
Price	CNY399	CNY218	CNY358
Power	15 Watts,  6 ohms	30W+30W RMS	80W
Sound Channel	ATS2825/TAS5731M DSP	DSP sound surround	DSPS/SRS sound surround
Frequency	50 Hz - 25000Hz (-10dB)	20 Hz - 20000 Hz	40 Hz -18000 Hz
Channel Separation		>=65 dB	>=60dB
Sound to Signal		>=75 dB	>=70dB
Idling Power		<=0.5 Watts	<=0.5 Watts
Speakers	8 speakers	8 Speakers	8 speakers
Built-in
Tweeter	2 Nos of 35 mm Dome		2 Nos 2"
All Frequencies		2 Nos  2.5"	2 Nos 3"
Sub Woofers	2 Nos of 65 mm sub-Woofers
Mid range	4 Nos of 70x55 mm passive	2 Nos passive radiator	4 Nos 3" Bass radiation
External Woofer		60 Watts Bluetooth or Cable	60 Watts Bluetooth or Cable
Input Output	1x Co-axial SPDIF 1xFiber SPDIF 1x Stereo RCA 1x Aux in	1 x Sub woofer out 1 x Co-axial SPDIF 1 x Audio input Bluetooth for most TV	1 x Sub woofer out 1 x Co-axial SPDIF 1 x Fiber SPDIF 1 x Audio input Bluetooth for most TV
USB Thumb		Yes	Yes
Card Reader		TF card	TF card
Bluetooth	4.2	4.2	4.2
Power Supply	16 Volt 2.5 A	220 Volts	DC 24 V 3 A
Casing	Plastic Material	Wood with metal surface control panel	Wood with metal surface control panel
Dimension	83 x 7.2 x 8.7 cm	100 x 7.5 x 6.5 cm	98 x 10.2 x 7.1 cm
Weight (kg)	1.925 kg	3.2 kg	3.14 kg
Accessories	Co-axial SPDIF cable Manual	3.5 mm RCA Co-axial SPDIF Infra-red Remote Control Manual	3.5 RCA Coaxial SPDIF Fiber SPDIF Infra-red Remote Control Manual
	https://news.znds.com/article/32629.html		https://cn.made-in-china.com/gongying/jyav2013-ZeYJzxuGvjWm.html
Speaker System (Click to enlarge pictures)
Input Output (Click to enlarge pictures)
Control Panel (Click to enlarge pictures)
Accessories (Click to enlarge pictures)
Pthers (Click to enlarge pictures)

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