Solar-powered water features - any advice?
 

I'm thinking of putting a small water feature in my garden. The problem I
have is that I live in a mid-terrace house and there is a small communal
pathway, about 1m wide, between my house and the garden. I cannot dig up the
pathway to run electric cables to the water feature.

I've noticed a few solar-powered water features which may help solve my
problem. Has anyone bought one of these? How do they perform? How powerful
are they? What happens when its cloudy/dark?

Andrew Thomson

Solar-powered water features - any advice?
 

Andrew

I bought new one last year off of EBay for around £50 to provide a fountain. It
did work during July/August 11:00 until 14:00, if you tracked it at the sun,
and if the sun was very strong, but any hint of a cloud and it would stop.

The panel was around 12" x 9" for comparison, so if my experience is usual I
would not bother.

Hamish


"Andrew Thomson" wrote in message
...
: I'm thinking of putting a small water feature in my garden. The problem I
: have is that I live in a mid-terrace house and there is a small communal
: pathway, about 1m wide, between my house and the garden. I cannot dig up the
: pathway to run electric cables to the water feature.
:
: I've noticed a few solar-powered water features which may help solve my
: problem. Has anyone bought one of these? How do they perform? How powerful
: are they? What happens when its cloudy/dark?
:
: Andrew Thomson
:
:

Solar-powered water features - any advice?
 

Hamish wrote:

I bought new one last year off of EBay for around £50 to provide a fountain. It
did work during July/August 11:00 until 14:00, if you tracked it at the sun,
and if the sun was very strong, but any hint of a cloud and it would stop.

The panel was around 12" x 9" for comparison, so if my experience is usual I
would not bother.

They are generally hopelessly underpowered. The solar panel is the most expensive
part and is skimped in most commercial designs I have seen. Put a decent 3 sq ft
solar panel on it and it will perform OK.

The pumps also work well with a 12v lead acid accumulator or any other 12v DC 2A
supply.

"Andrew Thomson" wrote in message
...
: I'm thinking of putting a small water feature in my garden. The problem I
: have is that I live in a mid-terrace house and there is a small communal
: pathway, about 1m wide, between my house and the garden. I cannot dig up the
: pathway to run electric cables to the water feature.
:
: I've noticed a few solar-powered water features which may help solve my
: problem. Has anyone bought one of these? How do they perform? How powerful
: are they? What happens when its cloudy/dark?

The pumps are fine, but the solar panels are usually undersized.

Mine can throw water about 2m into the air at 8L / minute. YMMV
(that is with a decent power supply not with a wimpy toy solar panel)

http://www.nezumi.demon.co.uk/home/g...r/fountain.htm

Regards,
Martin Brown

Solar-powered water features - any advice?
 

"Andrew Thomson" wrote in message ...
I've noticed a few solar-powered water features which may help solve my problem. Has anyone bought one of these? How
do they perform? How powerful are they? What happens when its cloudy/dark?

Nothing - unless the system charges a battery.

Rod

Solar-powered water features - any advice?
 

In article ,
(Martin Brown) wrote:

The pumps also work well with a 12v lead acid accumulator or any
other 12v DC 2A supply.

How much do the pumps draw?

Guess: 50 mA which would require a 40 AH car battery to be charged
monthly. That's a power of 0.6W let's say 0.5W after losses.

According to http://www.onlineconversion.com/power.htm that's 0.368781
foot-lbs/sec. Sounds like enough for a small fountain.

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com

Solar-powered water features - any advice?
 

"Hamish" wrote in
:

Andrew

I bought new one last year off of EBay for around £50 to provide a
fountain. It did work during July/August 11:00 until 14:00, if you
tracked it at the sun, and if the sun was very strong, but any hint of
a cloud and it would stop.

The panel was around 12" x 9" for comparison, so if my experience is
usual I would not bother.

My mother had one of the floating ones with a solar panel on top. I was
surprised to discover how well it worked on relatively cloudy days and
early in the year, but then she did have it against a white painted south-
facing wall, in Devon.

Personally I didn't care for the floating effect - prefer the bottom of a
fountain to stay still.

It didn't last all that long - died after a couple of seasons.

Victoria

Solar-powered water features - any advice?
 

Steve Harris wrote:

In article ,
(Martin Brown) wrote:

The pumps also work well with a 12v lead acid accumulator or any
other 12v DC 2A supply.

How much do the pumps draw?

Depends how much you want to pump. The pump I had stalled on anything much
less than 8v and 1A.

Guess: 50 mA which would require a 40 AH car battery to be charged
monthly. That's a power of 0.6W let's say 0.5W after losses.

I ran mine at 14v 2A for about 10 minutes a day for greenhouse irrigation
from a big water butt.
Roughly 2 months between charging with a 20Ah lead acid accumulator
(I intended to use solar power but it simply wasn't cost effective)

Also you need a deep discharge battery - car batteries are really only
happy kept well charged for starting cars.

Regards,
Martin Brown

Take a look at these solar fountain : Solar Outdoor Fountains | DIY Solar water features | PowerBee Ltd This is an excellent company to deal with. I have now used them for some time and find their products well worth the money