# Lucky Reptile Super Rain points of interest (plus auto timer)



## yingyangcham (Jan 1, 2010)

Hi 
This may help a few people who either have purchased or are thinking of purchasing the Super Rain system. 

I have read a few threads stating the system is pretty noisy, in actual fact its not but it can be. 

The actual pump itself is not that noisy at all. 

If you open the box containing the pump (don’t worry there are no exposed moving parts or electrics when you open it) and you hold the actual pump in your hand then turn the pump on you will discover its not that noisy at all really. 

The reason it can be noisy in use is that the pump box will start to vibrate on any surface it is placed when in use and being plastic this will amplify this noise, making it even louder. 

If you remove the pump from the plastic box and place it on a piece of polystyrene or something like the noise level will be greatly reduced without creating any mechanical problems for the pump. You could even fix it and use silicon mounting pads to reduce the vibration (don’t buy them just use a dollop of silicon from a tube and don’t push it down too much squeezing it all out) 

The other thing of interest is that the Super Rain is advertised as 6.5 bar, though as you will see the pump manufactured by PRO Pumps (FL-2201) is only 3.8 bar, This wont be a problem for most though for those that don’t know the higher the bar the more jets you can run and the finer the mist (microns) that can be created. 

I have a super rain system in use and I am happy with it as it fits its current purpose though I would not buy another and instead go with a more professional set up, interestingly enough only about 40-50 pounds more expensive. 

As for timing many of you will realise the system doesn’t have any timer facility at all and is either on or off. On top of this all timers unless extremely expensive work in increments of minutes not seconds. A full minute of misting will drench most enclosures.

I have purchased all sorts of timer in the past and the problems being, size to big, timing in minutes and cost. 

B and Q sell a digital timer that is only the width of the plug itself, costs £10 pounds and that’s for 3 of them! £4 for 1

These timers are also incremented in minutes though due to size and cost you can take one and plug it into the power socket then take another and plug this into the first allowing you to have two clocks running which when configured off set to each other seconds apart you can configure one to turn on and the other to turn off seconds apart (as many seconds as you wish, just offset the clocks to the amount of seconds required)

Hope this is of help for some and of interest to others


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## jacko1 (Jul 4, 2009)

i use the b&q didgital timers there spot on


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## yingyangcham (Jan 1, 2010)

*too true*

They are the only ones that you can fit as many as you have outlets on an extension bar, 

I commonly use as many as 6 for some set ups and I only have to use a 6 way extension to accommodate the timers. 

Extension lead 6 way £3.50 from Wilkinson’s
6 timers £20 from B and Q 

Total cost £23.50 

That’s the way forward 

Reptile Rip offs I’m sick of them due to hundreds of wasted pounds in the past.


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

yingyangcham said:


> Hi
> This may help a few people who either have purchased or are thinking of purchasing the Super Rain system.
> 
> I have read a few threads stating the system is pretty noisy, in actual fact its not but it can be.
> ...


get yourself a "Lucky Reptile Easy Timer". its an interval timer, where you specify the on-time, and the on-interval, with a minimum on-time of 15s.

i run mine to switch on for 15 seconds every 2 hours (using a Pollywog system, rather than a Super Rain).

it only comes in a european 2-pin plug version, but you just need a couple of plug converters and job done. i havent found any shops that sell it yet, but plenty of places sell it online for about £20.


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## yingyangcham (Jan 1, 2010)

15 seconds can be a long time if you’re using a pump that that has a high throughput 
Depending on how good the spray heads atomise the water plus the size of the viv or tank is also a consideration when it comes to how long the spray should be running. 

The two timer solution (£6-8) could in theory run from 1 sec upwards. 

I’ve wasted hundreds of pounds in the past testing and trying out so called reptile products. The super rain passes as a good product as it’s available off the shelf and would suit most people’s environments, though as I say I wouldn’t buy another (just personal preference). 

I just looked up the lucky reptile timer and interestingly enough they have one that’s listed as follows, 

The PRO Timer is a digital timer and has a minimum time setting of one second! This makes it excellent for controlling rain systems. Over the time frame of a week, 8 separate time settings can be programmed, e.g. a programm can be repeated daily, or there is the possibility to programm the device to work only on a special week day. This gives you the highest possible flexibility for controlling your vivarium technical items. A replacable battery ensures saving of the setting. The maximum wattage is 3500W. This is a UK model

For £14 pounds (petzoo)and one second increments it sounds like it’s worth trying out. 

Last thing on the Super Rain, 
A few have had problems with the spray heads. If you run tap water through a system it will eventually block due to Calcium Magnesium build up especially in a hard water areas. Bottled water generally stops this happening, I say generally as bottled water can be hard as well depending on source. That said I buy the cheapest 15 litre bottles I can find at the supermarket and haven’t had any problems. 

For me, here ends the Super Rain discussion as after all, all said and done it just sprays water like any £3 hand held spray bottle. Which also can work in second intervals.


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

if you want water that wont cause problems then go to your local aquatics shop and buy R.O. water! most of them sell it, and its usually about £10 for a 10 gallon (i think) tank of it.

the pro timer has its 1 second setting, but only 8 on-off times per 24 hour period is the big downside. im not sure how effective the Super Rain is for fine mist, but the Pollywog setup is excellent. it claims to be the finest mist on the market, which i wouldnt be at all surprised by. 15 seconds doesnt result in a huge amount of standing water in my viv.


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