Pump up the pressure

I could not be happier. Three weeks ago, I was moaning about the difficulty of using a pump to boost the pressure in my watering system. It turned out that the “clockwork” timer I set up for the pump was just too inaccurate to reliably switch on just before the main watering timer. Too often, the pump had automatically switched off before the water came on, and, as noted, although it has an auto-off, it does not have an auto-on. The plants nearest the sprinklers were OK, but those further away depended on the kindness of friends. Nothing died as a result.

Yesterday I ordered a couple of Meross smart plugs (MSS210), though I think of them as smart sockets. They arrived this afternoon. It was a doddle to add them to the Home app, which is handy enough if I want Siri to turn the pump on. (I don't.) Not too good though for automating the process, as the phone has to be present for that, unless I get a Homepod or similar. The Meross app, however, has simple automation, including a timer, and that too added the device flawlessly.

I could hardly wait. I set the pump timer to come on one minute before the watering timer. It came on. The watering timer came on. There was water, with pressure.

As I said, I could not be happier. I'm not even sure I need a smart watering system now, as the clock doesn’t seem to drift all that much. But smart things are such fun. What shall I do with the second plug?