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| I have a pond that's about 300 feet from the house (and electric). Currently I have heavy-duty extension cords running from the house down to the pond to power the fountain pump. (It's a 700 gph pump). Just about all the solar-powered pumps I looked at were much too wimpy and/or expensive.
Is there anyway to power my pump off a 12volt battery? Maybe using a power inverter? My idea would be to house the battery and inverter under one of those large "mock rocks" to hide them and keep them dry. Or, what about the non-submersible pumps? On another site someone mentioned the Gen-X External Water Pump, because apparently you get a lot of flow with less power consumption, so it might be more feasible to hook this up to a solar panel. However, my impression is it's for indoor aquarium use. Any suggestions?? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by groundbeef (My Page) on Thu, Aug 11, 11 at 16:34
| It wouldn't last long. Like hours long. Best bet would be to look into some sort of battery backup system. Similar to an APC unit for a computer. System will constantly be charged, but if the power gets cut it will kick on automatically. But a 12V battery (marine deep cycle) wouldn't last a day of constant use. Plus then you would have to charge it for a few hours. I have a 12V battery and inverter as a back up for my basement sump pump. I can get 6 hours out of it during heavy rains if needed. |
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- Posted by gardengimp 9B Seminole Cnty FL (My Page) on Thu, Aug 11, 11 at 19:55
| You may want to look into low-voltage pumps. My understanding is that they use to be more common than they are now. You can find them if you poke around. I was thinking of using them since we have an existing low-voltage setup. Instead, I just trenched 2"PVC in ground and ran a HD exterior extension cord inside the PVC. ~dianne |
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- Posted by albert_135 Sunset 2 or 3 (My Page) on Mon, Aug 15, 11 at 13:39
| My spouse took an adult continuing education course at a community college where she made a solar collector that runs the pump during the day and charges a marine battery to run the pump at night. It cost about $250 (Plus course fees?) and provides about half what she wants for a 450 gallon tank. |
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| I would love to find just a simple air pump that could work on batteries and get me thru the power outages. |
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- Posted by albert_135 Sunset 2 or 3 (My Page) on Sat, Aug 20, 11 at 16:04
| Spouse says she uses a DC "bilge pump". One has the name Tsunami series. |
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- Posted by orchardcreek 6 (My Page) on Sat, Aug 20, 11 at 17:18
| Okay, thanks! I'll look up a low-voltage pump. Do you by any chance have a photo of the solar set-up? |
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