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
