Odd request ! Convert solar to run a fountai

[SenKat_Stonetek]

Okay here is my request for electrical assistance from the masses

I (actually my wife did all the work) recently installed a waterfall type fountain in my front yard. It is powered by 110v A/C and I would like to hook it up to two small solar panels to power it instead. The pump is the only powered part of it - and it is recommended to only be ran for a maximum of 8 hours at a time to prevent it from over-heating. SO....

Does anyone think this can be done ? Power the waterfall thingie from a couple of smallish sized solar panels ? I figure if it is ran direct off the solar panels, the pump would cut off when the sun goes down at least. since it is in the front of my house, that area does not get direct sunlight until later morning anyways - so it would be stretching the 8 hour limit....

Give me your thoughts - if the panels have to be HUGE or something, I would rather not do it.

 

[FrothyChimp]

Re: Odd request ! Convert solar  to run a fou

Traditional solar panels are generally not the most efficient things around so you may not get much current with your 3, 5, 6 or 12 volt panel. Pumps often have decent loads that require a bit of amperage to get going. First you need to look at the pump motor and try and figure out the specifications. If the AC is converted to DC via a rectifier of some kind find out what DC power is supplied to the pump both voltage and current. If it's an AC motor you are kind of screwed as you would add another layer of inefficiency and loss by applying an inverter.

I think you will quickly find out way solar panels are not on the roofs of every house.

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

Re: Odd request ! Convert solar  to run a fountai

SenKat --

FC pretty well summed up the solar story. How many watts (or current draw) is the pump? If it's around 10 watts, An inverter powered by a 25 to 50 watt panel might do the trick. I think a 25 watt panel is about 2x3 feet but could mount on the roof. The panel will cost more than the fountain

Mike

 

[SenKat_Stonetek]

Re: Odd request ! Convert solar  to run a fou

rats Thanks for the info - I was afraid of that....anyone got a spare, "Mr Fusion" that they can take out of their Delorean for me ?

 

[MarioMaster]

Re: Odd request ! Convert solar  to run a fou

I do some work with solar here at my house, and you could probably buy a 12vdc water pump designed for PC water cooling, then with the aid of an LM317 as a voltage regulator hook it directly to a solar panel of the appropriate size. One set of these : http://cgi.ebay.com/40-2x3-solar-ce...ryZ41981QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
should do the trick of powering it. You'd still need to make the panel yourself but it's a great way to save a ton of money vs buying a premade panel.

 

[jatic]

Re: Odd request ! Convert solar  to run a fountai

Solar panel shouldn't be directly connected to the load. I think you usually use the solar panels to charge a battery and use it to feed the system. In this case propably not the size of a car battery but not too small either. When the pump is not on, the solar panel is still charging the battery, and when its cloudy the battery has some power reserve. You'd need also a simple circuit between the panel and battery to prevent the battery from feeding the panel. I believe small panel wouldn't have the juice to feed a pump directly even if it was sunny, unless its a really small pump.

It could be done like -> solar panel -> charging circuit -> battery -> inverter -> 8/24h timer -> pump
But like MarioMaster said it might be better to change the pump into 12V, then you wouldn't need more expensive (and not so effective) inverter to reach 110 volts.

Damn.. solar power gets almost always too expensive when you start to really design the system  


8 hours per day... Unless you have already, you should hook it up with simple power timer .. I can't find anything matching because we got 240V system but I got a simple timer where you can adjust it to feed power for any period for any time (like 2 hours at 8 AM and 5 hours at 3 PM). Shouldn't cost much, max 30$. Useful for many things.. works like a cheap burglary prevention when you set it to switch on some lights in your house when your not at home lol  ;D

 

[SenKat_Stonetek]

Re: Odd request ! Convert solar  to run a fou

Jatic - thanks for the advice, and to all of the rest of you as well ! I have decided to simply hard wire it into the elec box outside, with a timer - and bury the cable in PVC pipe under the decorative rocks we have sitting there covering the ground I wimped out when the dollar signs started flashing soooo much ! The PVC pipe and joints will cost MAYBE $10.00 total ! NOT how I wanted to do it, but it will be neat, hidden, and be safer than than the bright orange extension cord my wife plugs into it right now

 

[MarioMaster]

Re: Odd request ! Convert solar  to run a fou

there's no point in using an inverter for something like this anyways, you can get 12vdc water pumps designed for computer liquid cooling systems

too bad senkat, solar power is fun

 

[jatic]

Re: Odd request ! Convert solar  to run a fou

Jatic - thanks for the advice, and to all of the rest of you as well !  I have decided to simply hard wire it into the elec box outside, with a timer - and bury the cable in PVC pipe under the decorative rocks we have sitting there covering the ground  I wimped out when the dollar signs started flashing soooo much !  The PVC pipe and joints will cost MAYBE $10.00 total !  NOT how I wanted to do it, but it will be neat, hidden, and be safer than than the bright orange extension cord my wife plugs into it right now

Yeah thats what I would've done too Solar power has too low cost efficiency Only thing I have used it was a mobile mobile phone charger with some cheap small panels. Too bad I would need to move closer to the Equator to get any efficiency out of it so now its disassebled.

 

[diachi]

Re: Odd request ! Convert solar  to run a fountai

You dont actually need a charging circuit, just hook a diode on there and that stops current flowing into the panel from the battery ( technically should work anyway )

 

[Ace82]

Re: Odd request ! Convert solar  to run a fountai

If your talking to have your fountain "stand alone", then I don't think it will be pretty. And of coarse, you would want the fountain running during the day, and not the night. Well for stand alone yard lights, they charge during the day and run during the night. You would defiantly need some type of energy storage device like a large cap or battery. You could retro-fit a DC motor as your pump and get a panel that provides charge for a 12V DC @ 1.5A battery should work decent but comes in a large ugly solar panel. And by now you probably know its really expensive set up, probably easiest to run conduit to a timer or switch to 115V AC to your house.