Gardena Water Distributor automatic: 6-point distributor, simple operation, space-saving, allows flexible use, ideal even at low water pressure, 3/4 inch outer threads (1197-20)

distributes the water very well, still working fine.

The product could be great however I ordered the controller at the Same time, which is supposed to work with it. The controller has been unavailable for the last 4 months with no explanation and with no news of when it will be available other than next year some time. Very poor marketing especially as I organised the garden watering specifically for this system. Broken delivery promises month after month. Very disappointing. Hoping things improve next year. Would probably have given 5 stars had I recurved the set. I am thinking of writing to the CEO.

This thing is great when it works. I only use four out of the six ports and I find that invariably, when the water pressure goes down and the distributor clicks on one port it will click into one of the two that I have turned off. It's very annoying because it means I have to go and check that it's watered as expected the next day and if it hasn't re-run it having manually moved the ports on to the first one. When it works, it works. When it doesn't it's really annoying and defeats the objects of why I got it. FYI, this is a replacement for a previous one that I had on the ground. For some reason the ants decided it would make a great home and filled it with their families. This new one is mounted on the wall - much better. When it works.

First and foremost, this does work, and it works fairly well, but it's not perfect. I don't think it has been sufficiently tested with only a subset of the outlets being used, and if you set it up as intended, you can end up with the mechanism seizing up.Under normal operation, when you disconnect the water supply (via timer, or manually) the water pressure inside will drop and the spring-loaded mechanism will trigger a rotation to the next outlet. When you turn the supply back on, pressure will be restored and water will come out of that outlet until you next disconnect the supply and repeat the process.At least, in theory.I use only 3 of the possible 6 outlets, and sometimes (for whatever reason) it rotates onto one of the outlets that I do not have enabled. As I had capped off the unused outlets per the instructions, the pressure would not release, and therefore the spring-loaded mechanism would never rotate to the next outlet. There is a button for manual rotation, but good luck pressing it. I've never managed to push it in when the mechanism is pressurised. The only thing I could do was gently unscrew the cap on the wrongly selected outlet until the pressure dissipated and caused rotation to the next desired outlet.The workaround here is to simply not cap off any of the outlets, and run hoses from all of them, with the "unused" outlets running to a convenient drainage point.Considering the price, and that rotating between outlets is literally the only thing this product exists for, you would think it would cope a bit better and be more robust/reliable.Overall, it's fine assuming you either want to use all of the outlets, or are happy to drain off the unused ones. Frankly, there's no realistic alternative apart from maintaining a pressurised system with lots of timer/smart valves which are only activated one at a time, which would be more expensive and annoying to administer.

Simple to install.

I purchased one of these to provide a more cost effective water irrigation solution. I am running 5x 20m and 1x 30m hoses and barely see any drop in pressure. We have 2bar pressure and it does not cause any issues that others have reported. I have this coupled with a BT controller to run 2x hour cycles each day with 10 mins running time and 10 second soaking time and it has never missed a beat for the past 8 days of using it. Very pleased with the purchase.

I have bought the corresponding water timer to use this with, Gardena's 01864-20. Think this number is out of date now, it's their Master Control timer you need. These water timers have a special programme that allows a 5 minute pause between the watering sessions, which is necessary for this device to switch to the next outlet, and if one outlet is not supposed to water on a given day, it still waters for 30 secs, thereby again allowing it to switch to the next outlet. You can in theory operate this with other timers, if they can be programmed to do the above. I have different areas that need different irrigation schedules and this allows me to run them automatically, together with the above water timer. So far, so good. However, there are a couple of limitations, if you're running this special programme 15, compared to how the (expensive) water timer operates normally: the maximum watering duration is 2 hrs 59 minutes (ok, more than sufficient for most needs), also, you cannot use the manual watering option if you've got programme 15 set, you can only use the manual button to interrupt a watering session, not to initiate one. If you've only got one tap, and you want a separate water outlet, you will need to attach a manifold before the timer. A limitation of this device itself is that it cannot be connected lower than 1.5 meters below the highest dripper or sprayer, which means if you're irrigating high hanging baskets, you might need to install this above the tap (it says nothing about this, although all pics show it installed below the tap and timer).Mine came with 5 tap connectors (one for inlet) and 3 end caps (was a Warehouse Deal, though). According to Gardena, you can run this with between 2 - 6 outlets - just not with the accessories they supply. To run all 6 outlets, you'd need an extra 2 tap connectors. For the minimum possible 2 outlets, you'd need an extra end cap, which is not even available separately.This comes with a plate, which you can fix on wall or ground, screws and fixings not supplied.The instructions are reasonable (although trouble shooting is basic), and come in English. You have to make sure all 6 outlets are set in the correct order and synced correctly to the water timer.Now having installed this, I've discovered further limitations, which I'd read, but not thought significant, as my water pressure and flow at tap is good. It needs a minimum 1 bar pressure to switch correctly between outlets, and having too many emitters (drippers/sprinklers etc) can reduce the pressure too much for it to switch. Also, you need a minimum flow of 20 liters per hour going through the emitters, but also not too much flow. I didn't (and still don't quite) understand the relationship between pressure and flow, but have gleaned that as flow increases, pressure reduces, so you need enough starting pressure to be able to create at least a 20 liter per hour flow, without reducing water pressure below 1 bar and correct flow rate at emitters. I was surprised at how few emitters can be too many, and stop it switching.So despite being advertised as being ideal for gardens with low water pressure, you still need a minimum pressure. It seems there's no simple way of knowing beforehand whether it will work. I am going to have to play with my system to get this to switch properly, I know that much. As soon as your switching to next outlet is affected, btw, it affects the water timer programming, as that continues switching to the next programme, whereas this does not.. Not to mention 1 area gets watered endlessly and the others get nothing, so would defo recommend you monitor this initially. If it works, the device is great, set-up was simple and quick, but that's assuming your system meets all the requirements. Gardena should provide far more info than they do, including how to trouble-shoot problems..Edit Sept 2022:Original one stopped working after 4 years, was watering multiple areas and leaking, so dis-assembled it, cleaned and lubricated all parts that looked like needed it, put it back together - not that easy, there is massive, stiff spring that powers switching, which is only held in place by screws of outer cover. After this, initially, for first time since I bought it, the manual switch worked. But it still leaked, although no longer watered multiple areas, would not switch, and manual switch stopped working again.Bought 2 new ones (one came with 7 tap connectors and 4 caps, one with 6 connectors and 5 caps). One was reduced Warehouse Deal, so thought maybe defective, and ordered new one. Both did same thing: would switch ok from 1 to 2, then after watering area 2, would switch directly to 6, which was off, and get stuck there. The previous one had worked fine, while it did work, but had made some changes: replaced soaker hose with new ones, added some sprayers and drippers elsewhere. Read about problems with soaker hoses (which I did not have with old distributor), so removed 2 areas with soaker hoses. Then, I undid all changes to my irrigation system, and put it back to how it was when old distributor worked. Still both switched straight to 6 after 2, and stuck there. On 2, I could hear it clicking muiltiple times, when it should only click once.Areas 2 and 3 now only contained Gardena original parts. Funnily enough, area 1, only one that worked, contains a mix of all different brands. But area 1 is drippers only, whereas others are mini-sprayers, but my garden is tiny and my water pressure is good.. so if it doesn't work in mine, how is it going to work in large gardens with more emitters?Also tried connecting it directly after timer (before, was after non-Gardena water filter). Instructions give minimum flow, but not max flow, and trouble shooting part is useless. When it does not switch, it means you have insuffucient pressure or too little or too much flow (or both), but switching to 6, and getting stuck?After spending 2 weeks or so messing about, I gave up and returned both, and bought a Wifi gate and 5 Wifi taps (2 have 2 outlets, so have 5 outlets), from a cheaper brand here on Amazon (starts with Di, don't want algorithm to refuse this), which I installed on a manifold after filter. So now, with 0 problems, have fully functioning irrigation system again with 5 different watering regimes, Wifi control, and with more features.Have reduced rating to 3 stars, which is generous, considering I could only get 1 of 3 devices to work, and they don't last very long. If they work, are great, but, based on my experience, if you have mini-sprayers, or soaker hose, these will likely not work in many cases, and who has 2-6 areas of only drippers?

Yes, it works well with Gardena Water Timer. But after sometime of regular use, the water distributor need to be changed.

Le systèmes gardena est très utile pour géré l'arrosage de la pelouse et les fleurs

produit de qualité, fait son job c'est gardena, aucun risquelivraison rapide, produit conformece qui est dommage c'est qu'il ne soit pas proposé ou conseillé d'acheter avec le programmateur

Facile da installare,funzionale.

Nécessité de brancher sur du 3/4 avec un bon débit et pressions pour que le mechanisme fonctionne sans problème durant l absence. Sur eau de ville pas de soucis, sur groupe hydro avec puit d eau faible il a bloqué quelques fois. Néanmoins satisfait de l achat.