Does anyone have experience of solar-powered water pumps – for household & irrigation purposes?
I installed one as part of a environmental remedial system. I cobbled it together myself with a PV panel from a discount mailorder company, a large automotive battery and an invertor from Westmarine (their catalog is pretty good for off-the-grid stuff). The invertor conveniently shut itself off when the voltage dropped so no more control scheme was needed. And the pump was higher wattage than the PV panel so the battery could never be overcharged. I haven’t used grundfos’ solar pump, but I’ve used lots of their on-the-grid submersible pumps as well as their variable-frequency 2″ sampling pump. They are all well made and long-lasting. I’d go with their recommendations on battery-bank size and PV panel size. I assume they recommend a swing-check or ball-check valve so you don’t pump the same water twice when the pump cycles. Consider that you’ve got a lot less head and flow to play with than if you could plug into the grid. So little details like pipe sizes, losses across valves and pipi
