Solar Water Pumping
The Kickstarter is complete! Special thanks for Samantha Comfort at SamanthaComfort.com and Billy Alexander for being Executive Producers! We learned a lot and intend to share this newly won knowledge with the world!
When you want to use a solar direct pump you typically need a Linear Current Booster(LCB) or Pump controller to prevent burning out or stalling your pump. This also does a great job of matching input voltage and amperage with what the pump actually needs, similar to an MPPT charge controller. If you arent going to use a battery in the system this is the magic of keeping it simple!
If you are going to wire multiple panels together for this controller you can use A branch connector to connect the panels utilizing the existing MC4 connectors.
There are a few options for your pump depending on the Total Dynamic Head(TDH). TDH is determined by adding the height the water must be pumped(static head) to the friction in the pipe and fittings(Friction head). One option for higher TDH is a submersible pump like this one.
For lower head applications, something like a shurflo could be run off a single solar panel.
For a complete breakdown of everything you need to know to design your own solar water pumping system, consider buying my Solar Water Pumping Whitepaper which provides TDH calculation data, friction charts, actual pump testing results, and links to everything needed to build your own system from scratch.
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