1) why not have the prime operating hours at night? What is the limit on the systems' capacity for night time operation?
2) was the 18 hour cycle time recommended as a start up time or did you gradually work up to that cycle time?
Meadowlark,
I'm not sure how long the energy from the solar panel is stored. I set the system to run a little before sunrise and a little after sunset. I figured this wouldn't put to much strain on the battery. The company says that in a perfect situation it would get 20 hours of operation in a day. My pond is surrounded by trees, so I'm not getting sun on the panel every possible hour.That's why I cut it back from the 20 hours.
I don't have any bluegill or bass in the pond yet, so I wasn't worried about starting the system up gradually.
