Need to design a small solar garden irrigation system

Mar 9, 2011 08:46 pm
Need to design a small solar garden irrigation system

I know very little to nothing about solar power and solar water pumping.
I am planning to put in a vegitable garden and the only water I have available is a small sping fed pond and there is currenlty no power source. The water would need to be pushed uphill for about 30 feet. The total elevation change from the water source to the garden would be about 10 feet.
I have expirence with electrical wiring and plumbing.
Can someone tell me what I need to buy to be able to create an efficiant and reliable irrigation system.
 
220 Posts
Mar 10, 2011 04:12 pm
Re: Need to design a small solar garden irrigation system

Hey Cory,

 sounds like a ton of fun! 10 foot of head and a run of 30 foot is not too much to ask from a pump..even a surface pump should be ok, much more lift than that things can get expensive real quick.

to be able to create an officiant and reliable irrigation system.

a big choice here will be on the irrigation controls? is it gonna be Cory with a garden hose and a flip of the switch to start the water or some kind of automatic system with a timed/metered schedule or even some kind of moisture sensor controlled system? ..also need to guess at the water requirements you might need per day? ..so we can make good guesses at the pump size and pv requirements for your location.

about this time last year i was up to a similar sort of project as well.

might get a few ideas from what we ended up with?

daves solar powered hydroponic garden

we will be running an expanded version of the garden again this year..about ten times the size as last year. all the system components will be the same, ..just some added plumbing will be needed.

cheers, dave
« Last Edit: Mar 10, 2011 04:14 pm by david ames »
 
Mar 10, 2011 08:54 pm
Re: Need to design a small solar garden irrigation system

Thanks for the info.

I am planning to water the garden via a manual process. The system would be running while I am on site. I figure that I am going to be watering the garden once per week. I can figure out the volume and flow that I will need. What I need is an idea of what components I need to be able to run a pump using solar power. I don't know if I can simply buy a solar panal and a pump and just connect them together or if there are other items that I need.
 
220 Posts
Mar 10, 2011 11:29 pm
Re: Need to design a small solar garden irrigation system


What I need is an idea of what components I need to be able to run a pump using solar power. I don't know if I can simply buy a solar panel and a pump and just connect them together or if there are other items that I need.

oh, ok i see..equipment needs?

* the following is my opinion only..

being a cheap SOB i would go with a bare bones basic system of a small pv module (5-10 watt range) a battery between 1 and 5% of the pv charging output (about a 10 to 20AH 12volt battery) and a shurflo 2088 series or similar rated kind of surface pump.

that would let us water up to 4 times per week with fifteen minutes each watering, delivering approximately 30 gallons of water per watering.

lots of other ways to do it..plenty of other equipment we can add in to make it "nicer" ..if we need more than the 30 gallons and 15 minutes per.-we will have to change things.

folks at this point are probably asking where are the charge controllers/pump controls and meter readouts we all need to have?  IMHO..a small "right sized" purpose based system can run like this without any trouble at all with just a few checks from time to time. (a lot of checking for the first week or so, then less often)

cheers, dave
 
99 Posts
Mar 11, 2011 06:15 pm
Re: Need to design a small solar garden irrigation system

I would use natural solar-powered watering -- the sun evaporates water, which condenses into clouds, and then falls upon the earth.  Your spring may seem a convenient source of water, but perhaps collecting rain water would be more efficient overall and less complex or likely to fail.  A small roof, such as over a shed or gazebo, could provide many gallons of water in just a short rain storm, which could be stored at a higher elevation than you need to use it.  Gravity alone would then be all that's needed to get it into your garden when you want it.  This may not work in your particular case, but I would first make sure that ruling out a non-electronic means of accomplishing what you want is absolutely necessary.
 
462 Posts
Mar 26, 2012 11:14 am
Re: Need to design a small solar garden irrigation system

or you could consider an off the shelf submersible sump pump in conjunction with a pv panel, controller, battery and small inverter...
 

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