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  • Solar for an Aquaponics System

    hi guys,

    my name is louis, and im trying to figure out if i have enough to power my aquaponics system... Ill be running a 35 watt air pump and a 12volt power bubbler that i cant find watts for it anywhere but i cant imagine it being more than 50 watts...so lets say i have 90 total watts.... I have a renogy 100w panel, controller, but i need a deep cycle battery just not sure on the size, or if the one panel will be enough. i dont want the fish to die.......SO what im asking for is: will the one panel be enough, and what size battery do i need? thank you guys!

  • #2
    Hello loummar7 and welcome to Solar Panel Talk

    To properly size your battery and panel wattage you need to also know how long you plan on running that pump each day. From the estimated watt hour calculation you can then size your battery and then your panel wattage. Unless you plan on only running the pump for a couple of hours IMO a single 100 watt panel will not be enough.

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    • #3
      I plan on running both pumps 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I live in SWFL where i get a good 8 hours of sunlight almost everyday

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      • #4
        Originally posted by loummar7 View Post
        I plan on running both pumps 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I live in SWFL where i get a good 8 hours of sunlight almost everyday
        If your load is estimated at 90 watts and you plan on using that for 24 hours then you will use close to 2.2kWh a day. That will require a 12volt battery around 730Ah and a solar panel wattage around 900 watts with an 80 amp MPPT Charge controller.

        Believe me when I say you do not really get 8 hours of useful sunlight a day and there will be days when you don't get any sunlight if you have a storm so you have to run those pumps only from the battery.

        I also live in SWFL (Clearwater actually) and we sometimes get 2 to 3 days of clouds. On average we get 4 to 5 hours of useful sunlight over the year but it can be as low as 3 hours during the winter.
        Last edited by SunEagle; 11-07-2016, 05:04 PM. Reason: added last sentence

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        • #5
          wow and here i was expecting to be able to run it off the sun then the battery at night.....wasn't expecting that much....the cost to cover that right now just doesn't seem worth it. I looked around and the only batteries i see in that category, well over 500 bucks. To get to 900w of solar panels is a little crazy too. My mother bought this aquaponics system from some guy and it came with all this. the 100w solar panel, 20amp charge conttroller and a deep cycle battery, but its dead. Told her it was running the table so idk what it was really running. Thank you for your help

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          • #6
            Originally posted by loummar7 View Post
            wow and here i was expecting to be able to run it off the sun then the battery at night.....wasn't expecting that much....the cost to cover that right now just doesn't seem worth it. I looked around and the only batteries i see in that category, well over 500 bucks. To get to 900w of solar panels is a little crazy too. My mother bought this aquaponics system from some guy and it came with all this. the 100w solar panel, 20amp charge conttroller and a deep cycle battery, but its dead. Told her it was running the table so idk what it was really running. Thank you for your help
            If the load is small and the time it is being run short then a solar/battery system does not cost that much. But once you get to and above the daily 500 watt hour range you will end up spending a lot of money where it will actually be much cheaper to run a cable from the house electrical system to power the load even if it is hundreds of feet away.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by loummar7 View Post
              I plan on running both pumps 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I live in SWFL where i get a good 8 hours of sunlight almost everyday
              OK no place on earth has 8 Sun Hours.

              You are in for a huge shock. I do not know your location but based on you using 50 watts 24 hours per day is 1200 watt hours requires a minimum:

              Panel Wattage = 500 watts or $1000 to $2000
              12 volt battery capacity = 500 AH, or $700 to $900 today and will cost even more in two or three year when you replace the battery.
              40 Amp MPPT Charge controller = $300 to $400.

              Now where is the fun part you will really like. Just in battery cost alone not including everything else on top of battery cost is going to cost yyou roughly 75-cent to $1 per Kwh. Now here is the fun part you will love. FPL or whoever your electric provider is only charges you 13-cents per Kwh. So please tell us why you want to pay 5 to 10 times more for electricity than you have to? . You will have a lot of fun explaining that.
              MSEE, PE

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              • #8
                I would advise you to buy a GT POWER 130A type power meter on ebay for about $10. You can't make a good decision without good numbers. This will tell you actually how much is being used each day. The current sense is in the neg leads, only one of the red +12V wires needs to b connected. Moving it around will give you in and out of the battery ( it only measures one direction) and what the motors draw. Labeled currents are often locked motor current and normal operation will be less. It is also determined by head. And these are fish. They need to live on their own. Often continuous operation is not needed. A micro could monitor generation and battery state and determine run times. A rather minimal system would then work. Short of that, the system needs to be big and dumb. If this was a working system, it is likely that the controller had a low battery cutoff pin powering the pumps. Those deep drains would have killed the battery over time allowing the system to run only during the day. Maybe the fish died or they might have survived quite well with only daytime operation.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by loummar7 View Post
                  wow and here i was expecting to be able to run it off the sun then the battery at night.....wasn't expecting that much....the cost to cover that right now just doesn't seem worth it. I looked around and the only batteries i see in that category, well over 500 bucks. To get to 900w of solar panels is a little crazy too. My mother bought this aquaponics system from some guy and it came with all this. the 100w solar panel, 20amp charge conttroller and a deep cycle battery, but its dead.
                  That's what happens when you buy solar stuff from "some guy"

                  You could repurpose the solar panel and charge controller for providing emergency power for charging laptops and cellphones, maybe, but I'm not sure it's worth it.

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                  • #10
                    If I use these two items, will the one solar panel be enough....The air pump is rated at 35 watts, not sure how many amps.....the 12v bubbler is rated at like .46 amps but not sure the watts... trying to figure out how the people had it done before me....I know they used both of these items..

                    https://www.amazon.com/Marine-Metal-..._cd_al_qh_dp_i

                    https://www.amazon.com/Commercial-Ai...air+pump&psc=1

                    I already ran an extension cord to where i needed and i dont have a battery at the moment but i just want to know if that would keep it running all day and night. Thanks

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                    • #11
                      Well i thought i just wrote something but it went away........

                      Using the power bubbler which is rated at .46 amps not sure the watts, and an air pump that is rated at 35 watts not sure the amps. Can i use the one solar panel and what size battery?
                      Im trying to figure out how the previous owner had it wired. I have both of these and thinking that it how they did it. I already ran an extension cord to where i needed and i dont even have a battery just want to know if it would run all day and night. thanks

                      https://www.amazon.com/Marine-Metal-..._cd_al_qh_dp_i

                      https://www.amazon.com/Commercial-Ai...air+pump&psc=1

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by loummar7 View Post
                        Well i thought i just wrote something but it went away........

                        Using the power bubbler which is rated at .46 amps not sure the watts, and an air pump that is rated at 35 watts not sure the amps. Can i use the one solar panel and what size battery?
                        Im trying to figure out how the previous owner had it wired. I have both of these and thinking that it how they did it. I already ran an extension cord to where i needed and i dont even have a battery just want to know if it would run all day and night. thanks

                        https://www.amazon.com/Marine-Metal-..._cd_al_qh_dp_i

                        https://www.amazon.com/Commercial-Ai...air+pump&psc=1
                        Whenever someone makes a post with links it goes to an unapproved section and waits for a Moderator to review it first. I approved both of your posts

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                        • #13
                          By my estimation you would need at least 500W of panels just to work on the average day and not any extra for cloudy days. I think you should only buy the all metal pump for reliability. With inverter total would be 55W X 24H is 1300W a day. divided bay three is 440W, so 500W of panels. Wish you were closer, I'd set you up with a micro to save some power by scheduling and monitoring the battery. That could get you through bad days. I think this has been priced out of practical and I am far more optimistic than others here.

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