Equipment Check and General Questions

[twotoedsleuth]

I am trying to power a submersible water pump (http://amzn.com/B003Y330W0) using solar panels. Right now the pump is powered 24 hours of the day using a regular 120 volt power outlet. Note: the amazon link says that the pump requires 120 volts, 175 watts, 1.3 amps, 60 Hz but the actual manual (http://manuals.harborfreight.com/man...8999/68418.pdf) says that it requires 120 volts and 2.3 amps, so somewhere closer to 120*2.3 = 276 watts should be needed to power it.
I plan to buy a 45 watt solar panel kit (http://www.harborfreight.com/45-watt...kit-68751.html), a 12 volt battery, and a 400 watt inverter (http://www.harborfreight.com/400-wat...ter-66814.html) to power the pump.

Would I need to buy about 250 watts worth of solar panels (in addition to the existing 45 watts) to keep the pump going during the day? Also, would using a switch (http://amzn.com/B001FRE1E8) be an appropriate way to switch from powering the pump through the solar panels during the day to powering the pump at night through a regular 120 volt power outlet?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Sunking]

You would be a damn fool to run it off solar if you have commercial power available. To start you have no clue what it takes. Throw everything away you have because it is useless. To run that pump 24 hours a day requires 6.6 Kwh per day or about 60 to 70-cents-cents worth of electricity per day to that greedy ole power company

To take it off grid will require roughly:

• 2000 to 3000 watt solar panel. $4000
• 60 amp MPPT controller, $400
• 48 volt 700 AH, 2000 pound $7000 battery you get to replace every few years.

You got $13,000 burning a hole in your pocket and $7000 every few years to replace the battery?

I did no think so fuhgeddaboudit

Instead of paying the mean old electric company 70-cents per day, you pay your battery nice battery salesman $5 per day..

[zohaib]

Hello, I have a 5 HP AC submersible pump(Siemens) available having 3 inch diameter and total lift of 40 ft. The water requirement is 3 cusec. Which capacity inverter and how many panels (Let say 250w) are suitable to run this pump and meet this water requirement. And what will be panels configuration in this case.Please help me in this regard.

[SunEagle]

Hello, I have a 5 HP AC submersible pump(Siemens) available having 3 inch diameter and total lift of 40 ft. The water requirement is 3 cusec. Which capacity inverter and how many panels (Let say 250w) are suitable to run this pump and meet this water requirement. And what will be panels configuration in this case.Please help me in this regard.

Please do not ask the same question in multiple posts. It can lead to confusion.

[Wy_White_Wolf]

twotoedsleuth how may hours a day does the pump actually run?

Everything you've bought is way undersized for this and will not power the pump for even an hour. Even the inverter is way undersized as it cannot handle the startup load of the inverter.

If you really want that to run 24 hours a day then Sunkings numbers are close.

WWW

[twotoedsleuth]

Hello Wy_White_Wolf,

We did heed Sunking's advice as the pump does run 24 hours a day. Currently the pump is simply connected to an electric outlet.

[Sunking]

Hello Wy_White_Wolf,

We did heed Sunking's advice as the pump does run 24 hours a day. Currently the pump is simply connected to an electric outlet.

Leave it there. It would be very foolish to run on Solar. You are talking paying 10 times more for power the rest of your life.

[Wy_White_Wolf]

Hello Wy_White_Wolf,

We did heed Sunking's advice as the pump does run 24 hours a day. Currently the pump is simply connected to an electric outlet.

Then an off-grid style setup is a very poor option for you. If net metering is available to you and you really really really want to do something with solar than a grid tie setup to offset your usage would be a deceint option that may break even in 5 to 15 years.

WWW