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setting up my solar panel system to run my pump!

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  • setting up my solar panel system to run my pump!

    i need help to run my pond pump 24/7

    THE BIG QUESTION IS HOW MANY 60WATTS PANELS WOULD I NEED TO RUN THIS PUMP 24/7?

    i have a 250gph pump rated at 120v 60hz 20watts
    i have a 60 Watt and a 120 Watt poly crystaline solar panel (total 180 Watts of solar panel)
    i also got a duralast deep cycle battery from autozone 550ca at 90 ah
    sunforce 30a controller for future-proofing
    400watt modified power inverter


    when i used my kill-a-watt meter and tested my pump on the wall i got 12.5watts and .19 amps at 120 volts ac, it works perfectly even though it draws low watts which is great...
    when i plugged it up to my solar system i got around 10 watts .19 amp at 12 volts dc, it still works fine...
    so i'd give it a 10-20watts peak.

    so i multiplied 20watt x 24 hours = 480 watts required
    and i know that a 550ca is a about 90 amp hours. i also know that don't want to discharge a battery below 50%.
    To recharge that battery you've got about 4-6 hours of good sunlight to work since i am in texas... in winter! that is coming soon!, getting darker.
    480 watts / 5 hours = 96 watts per hour.
    and due to natural inefficiency i did 96w/.75= 128 watts of panel

    will a 180 Watts panel work for this system 24/7?

    and i have a 60 watt and a 120 watt will it work on this system?
    am i doing this correctly?

  • #2
    Originally posted by ElideN View Post
    i need help to run my pond pump 24/7

    THE BIG QUESTION IS HOW MANY 60WATTS PANELS WOULD I NEED TO RUN THIS PUMP 24/7?

    i have a 250gph pump rated at 120v 60hz 20watts
    Well hard to answer without your location but assuming a 3 Sun Hour winter day you would need:

    960 watt Solar Panel wattage
    80 amp charge controller if running it at 12 volt battery
    12 volt @ 600 Amp Hours or 500 pounds worth
    MSEE, PE

    Comment


    • #3
      texas we get 10 hours worth usually

      5 during winter...

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by ElideN View Post
        texas we get 10 hours worth usually

        5 during winter...
        Not all the hours between sunrise and sunset count.
        Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
        || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
        || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

        solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
        gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by ElideN View Post
          texas we get 10 hours worth usually

          5 during winter...
          I live in TX.

          At best if you live El Paso you receive 4.7 Sun Hours in Winter, or at worse Brownsville of 3.8 Sun Hours. No where on the face of the planet receives 10 Sun Hours.
          MSEE, PE

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Sunking View Post
            Well hard to answer without your location but assuming a 3 Sun Hour winter day you would need:

            960 watt Solar Panel wattage
            80 amp charge controller if running it at 12 volt battery
            12 volt @ 600 Amp Hours or 500 pounds worth
            960watt? @_@

            for a small water pump?

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by ElideN View Post
              960watt? @_@

              for a small water pump?
              Pumping water is always energy intensive - expensive.
              [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by ElideN View Post
                960watt? @_@

                for a small water pump?
                I went back and read the OP again and notice I made an error, first go around I calculated using 60 watts for the pump, when it is actually 20 watts, My bad, Cut 960 down to 320 watts assuming a 3 Sun Hour day.

                Now with that said we now know the OP is somewhere in TX which is good, just need to know where in TX to get it nailed down. The pump will use 500 watt hours per day, so the system needs to generate 1000 watt hours per day to overcome all the losses.
                MSEE, PE

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