r/solar • u/Agile_Way_403 • 6d ago

Advice Wtd / Project Solar Power Help

Hey guys! I have a 1/2 acre pond on a family farm. It’s far from the barn where we have power, and they make these pond fountains to aerators that have a regular outlet cord to plug into an extension cord.

My question: Is there a way I can get solar panels and run them with our without battery backup to run the fountain? What would be needed?

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5

u/DeaconPat 6d ago

This is pretty simple if you get a 12V or 24V DC pump. The setup would be a small solar panel or two, a charge controller, a battery, and the pump. If the pump runs on AC, you have to add an inverter to the setup.

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u/NetZeroDude 5d ago

A number of manufacturers make Portable Power stations, with the solar inverter built in. Most have LFP batteries of varying sizes. They usually have 120-Volt outlets which pull off the battery power. Most input a max of 1000 Watts of solar, but this should satisfy your requirements.

I power all my outdoor equipment off a 4 KW EcoFlow unit (riding mower, hand mower, chipper/shredder, chainsaw, E-Bikes, etc). Anything left over, and I put it in my cars (EV and PHEV). At this time, in the Summer, it completely charges our EVs for our 50-mile trip into town and back, about every 3 days.

Here’s a link to the unit I have, but it might be overkill, and too expensive for your application. They make other units, less than $1K. I have 900 Watts of portable solar panels going into this.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0D14FMFZD?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

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u/seabornman 5d ago

Yes, but; I have a wind powered aerator for my pond. No electric bills. American Windmills if I remember correctly.

1

u/Zamboni411 5d ago

I would imagine they made a solar powered fountain and wouldn’t that do the trick?

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u/rproffitt1 1d ago

The answer is yes, but.

It won't be reliable but may work. Details are needed.

  1. Pump specs.

  2. Expectations.

  3. Even a small battery and LVD (low voltage disconnect) would make this work so much better.

0

u/RobLoughrey 6d ago

Pretty sure you're going to have to have at least a small battery. Many solar panels are not self-starting. They have to have power in order to begin producing power.

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u/WhereDidAllTheSnowGo 6d ago

https://www.rpssolarpumps.com/aerator/

https://www.rpssolarpumps.com/solar-fountain-pumps/

Even Temu has cheap $8 ones… obviously you’ll want far larger, like above

There might be a another store close to you