Anyone use a solar powered water pump in their back yard fountain?

[paperfist]

I have a bird bath/fountain in the back yard that uses a AC pump. I don't really feel like trenching 100' of yard to run wire for the hookup. So I've been looking for a solar powered alternative for the pump and there's a few choices, but none really look that great or get great user reviews.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Train]

To power a water pump you're going to need a decent sized panel. If you dont want it sitting right next to the bird bath you'll need to run some cable anyways.

Are you only going to run it when there is enough sun to power the pump? Are you going to have a battery along with the panel to try and run around the clock?

Whats the Amps and Volts of the pump?

 

[JulesMaximus]

To power a water pump you're going to need a decent sized panel. If you dont want it sitting right next to the bird bath you'll need to run some cable anyways.

Are you only going to run it when there is enough sun to power the pump? Are you going to have a battery along with the panel to try and run around the clock?

Whats the Amps and Volts of the pump?

Agreed. Probably be cheaper just to run electrical.

 

[Drako]

Get one of these, they are relatively cheap. We have a similar one in a little backyard fountain.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...FG1NPC86MFPBWF

 

[paperfist]

The pump it uses is 120V, 60HZ, 9 WATTS, .17 A. 130GPH, 4' lift, 1' of flow.

It's a small fountain and it's located in pretty much all day sun with no obstructions. I figured I'd place the panel on top of the fence behind it which is about 5' away. It doesn't have to run 24/7 after the sun goes down, but I'd like the ability to hook up a battery later on as I live in the North East where clear skies aren't always present.

 

[hanoverphist]

100 ft of wire is nothing. get a couple local kids to trench it out for 30 bucks and run some lighting along with it. then you can install one of those cool programmable LED light systems and have an evening water feature too

 

[Imp]

I'd be more worried about how reliable the solar panels/pump would be for kits that didn't cost a fortune. Consumer grade crap like garden lights don't work all that well.

 

[hanoverphist]

I'd be more worried about how reliable the solar panels/pump would be for kits that didn't cost a fortune. Consumer grade crap like garden lights don't work all that well.

garden lights only have about 1.5" sq panels, they arent accumulating much power, and what they do accumulate some gets lost in storage until its dark and usable. i wouldnt equate those on par with a dedicated panel to run a pump in real time. especially with 50X more surface area on the panels.

im doing a simple RTU powered by solar and the panels we are using are 48"X26". those suckers are rated for 6.3A (17.4V) each and we are using two of them. of course ours will use a battery system and charger to give 24hr service.

 

[paperfist]

100 ft of wire is nothing. get a couple local kids to trench it out for 30 bucks and run some lighting along with it. then you can install one of those cool programmable LED light systems and have an evening water feature too

Not an option at this point. My plans for the summer are to demo my garage which houses the electrical panel and put up an enclosed patio in its place. I don't plan on building a new garage for a couple more years so power won't be accessible for a while. So I don't want to run a temporary solution.