• 0 Posts
  • 9 Comments
Joined 7 months ago
cake
Cake day: February 11th, 2024

help-circle

  • Good question on the low power of motors. Most of the low cost pumps have often DC brushed motors which do not need a controller to steer but uses a brush. Once there is not enough power (in the morning and evening) I think there will be a point where the power will be too low to overcome the torque and the motor stops. The centrifugal pump can still rotate easily compared to other types so I would expect the startup current will be low as well. Panels will deliver a constant voltage while the current will drop when light conditions are dropping. I think the simplest is to search for these aQuarium pumps (24/7 performance) on 12v but I doubt many cars/trucks have built in fishtanks ^^)




  • I perhaps can help you with this. I’m working in a company that is helping smallholder farmers over the world to increase their crop yield. We used to start with a small hydropowered waterwheel but moved to solar due to the reach of the sun. I am the technical person that is sourcing pumps, solar panels, inverters etc for irrigation.

    So far as I can read your question you don’t need a lot of water and also not a lot of pressure. It is quite easy to calculate.

    • Hydraulic power need (W) / efficiencies = electric power requirement (W)-> *1.3 = solar panel (Wp)

    • Hydraulic power = 9,81 * height differencence of water (m) * liter per second you want to pump

    • Efficiencies = centrifugal pumps are approx 35% eff so (hydraulicp/0,35) *1,33= panelsize

    • halve a liter per second is sufficient for halve an acre (2020m2) of crops.

    Please if you have more questions I would glad to be of help