what single panel and inverter to power 2 fountain pumps at 110v?

1 Posts
Sep 5, 2014 09:33 pm
what single panel and inverter to power 2 fountain pumps at 110v?

I just want the pumps to pump water through the fountains during the day while the sun is shining. I was thinking a canadian solar 260m (20v). Both pumps show 97watts on my kill-a-watt meter.  But what inverter? Its for an outside location and a lot of the inverters are way overpriced for this simple application. I might even mount it under the panel so the panel itself provides shade for the inverter, or behind a brick wall. Also, the 24v inverters seem to alarm at 20.6v and have a low shutoff of 20v.  So will this panel even work? I'm in sunny S. California.
 
47 Posts
Nov 18, 2014 01:13 pm
Re: what single panel and inverter to power 2 fountain pumps at 110v?

It's not as simple as connecting an inverter to a panel.�  Inverters have to run off batteries, so you would need to connect the panels to a charge controller to a battery to an inverter.�  If you want to run 2 pumps at 97W each during the day, that's 97W x 2 x 8 hours = 1552 watt hours.�  You didn't say where you are, but if we assume 5 sun hours a day, and 67% efficiency for the system, you'd need 463W of solar, so 2 of those panels would do the trick.�  However, you'd also need an MPPT charge controller that can take the 20V down to 12V battery bank, so you may be better off with two 24V panels in parallel for a 24V 145ah battery bank (for 1 day, 50% depth of discharge).�  We've got 305W Canadian Solars that would give you plenty of power.�  Then you can use a PWM charge controller like the Morningstar ProStar 30.�  You could use a Samlex PST-300-24 inverter.� 

It may be easier, and less expensive, to switch over to DC pumps that can run PV direct.�  http://www.altestore.com/store/Solar-Water-Pumps/Surface-Solar-Pumps/Shurflo-Surface-Pumps/c648/

Amy
altE Store
Solar Queen
 

Disclaimer and Disclosure

The Alternative Energy Store, Inc reserves the right, within its sole discretion, to refuse or delete any posting or portion thereof, or terminate or block the access to this forum.

The opinions and statements posted on this forum are the opinions and statements of the person posting same, and do not constitute the opinion or act of the Alternative Energy Store, Inc (AltE). The Alternative Energy Store, Inc does not endorse or subscribe to any particular posting. No posting shall be construed as the act or opinion of the Alternative Energy Store, Inc.

Click here for BBB Business Review

McAfee SECURE sites help keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams
Desktop Website | Mobile Website

Share

Click on an icon to share! If you don't see the method you want, hover over the orange "+".

Feedback

What can we do to help you?

Please enter a summary
Sorry, the copyright must be in the template.
Please notify this forum's administrator that this site is using an ILLEGAL copy of SMF!
Copyright removed!!