The feed adjustment controls the length of time the feeder will run from a split second to approximately 70 seconds after power is initially applied to the jack or the terminal strip underneath the feeder. Power is normally applied to the feeder through its supplied low voltage power adapter, which can be plugged into just about any type of programmable timer such as a common lamp timer, digital lamp or appliance timer, power module with a home automation system (see http://www.smarthome.com ), a clapper switch, a remote control device, etc... It can also be directly powered by any type of timing device that has a 9 to 24 volt AC or DC output, such as a "Malibu" light timer/transformer (12Vac), a sprinkler timer with 24Vac output, or any other programmable timing device of your own. If wanting to only feed a group of days and skip days, you will need a 7 day (weekly) digital timer.
Normally the reset jumper is set for a reset "off" time of approximately 30-45 minutes. This is the required time that the feeder must be off between feed cycles to reset its internal feed timer clock. However, you can switch the "jumper" one notch to the left, and you can then reset the feeder's internal timer with 1 to 2 minutes of "off" time, meaning that you can feed once each 2-3 minute interval using a digital timer with 1 minute available increments.
The reset switch basically serves two functions: It can void the reset "off" time required between cycles while the power is off to test the remote timer with multiple cycles in a row), and to adjust the amount of food dispensed by pushing the reset button and adjusting the feed dial until you get the amount of food you want dispensed per cycle. You normally do this before you install your feeder and while you have the supplied power adapter plugged into a 120 volt socket and the feeder is connected to the low voltage power adapter.
The status light is mounted internally for waterproofing. It illuminates through the plastic and lets you know when the feeder is being powered and also serves as a status/testing device.
The jack fits just about any type of 2.1 mm plug with center positive if using a DC power pack, or the polarity does not matter if using an AC power pack. Of course each feeder is supplied with its own power pack for you to use, or you could use your own.
The rubber plugs assure weatherproofing, particularly for outdoors use.
The terminal strip is wired in parallel with the jack plug and can be used for a "bare" wire input hook-up for the KSF-2 Koi-Pond model or the CSF-3 cat feeder to keep animals from unplugging the jack plug, or you can also use it as an output to wire multiple feeders together and trigger them simultaneously. There is a supplied wire clamp to hold the wire in place.