Direct PV to Fountain Pump

[farmhand]

A "small" project:
Have a 12-24vdc pump coming from Amazon for a fountain. I have 2 25w panels 30ft away on the well tower. I can't think of any reason why I couldn't just run the PV direct to pump.
-Thoughts?

Pump:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QVNBNX9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[wpns]

4.5-6W should be easy. What are your panel specs?

 

[OzSolar]

Seems pretty plausible that one panel would work just fine. Two in series would most likely be too high of a voltage.

You might try it out in a bucket at the base of your well tower first.

 

[wiseacre]

I have a similar fountain pump running directly off a 18w panel about 20 ft away.
The pump is "variable speed" depending on the sun, from no flow increasing to full as a big fluffy cloud passes by.

 

[v_green57]

I've been using similar pumps for 10+ years to circulate water through some home-made collectors to heat my hot trough. They work fine.

As has already been stated, just make sure your panel Voc doesn't exceed the max. voltage rating of the pump. Most small 12V panels have a Voc of around 20V, so those work well.

As has already been said, don't run those in series. The resulting voltage will likely be too high. If you connect them in parallel, your pump will start to run sooner in the morning than it would with only one panel.

 

[farmhand]

As I wanted the water noise after dusk for a while, I went with:

(2) 25watt panels for morning/evening charging.
(1) Cheapo charge controller & 7Ah LifePO4
(1) Cheapo pump off AMZ.

https://imgur.com/a/XSMmPHk