Pond Boss
Posted By: Black Creek WW New Pond-Solar aeration - 12/19/21 10:50 PM
I have a .75 acre pond, somewhat oval- 12ft deep at a small area at one end the remainder of the pond is about 6.5ft deep. I have a solar setup 300w with controller, battery and inverter. researching what pump and number of difs to run and can not decide on what pump to use. Any recommendations? I have looked at linear and rocking types. has anyone run a setup like this and what pumps worked for you?
Posted By: highflyer Re: New Pond-Solar aeration - 12/20/21 04:48 AM
What type solar panels are you using? Which charge controller are you using? What type of batteries are you using? How many Amp-Hours? What size inverter? What Kind of inverter? What voltage is your battery bank (system)? How much air do you want to run? Are you de-icing, or aerating? Or both?

Also, welcome.
Posted By: Black Creek WW Re: New Pond-Solar aeration - 12/20/21 05:46 PM
Thanks Brian for the welcome!

using 3 Renogy 100w panels (300W) will be using a 40a controller- AGM 12v battery 100ah. inverter will be according to the pump requirements. Looking for aeration at this time.
Posted By: Dilley Re: New Pond-Solar aeration - 12/20/21 09:34 PM
I have a similar situation and I use a airmax PS10. https://www.amazon.com/Airmax-PS10-...irmax+ps10&qid=1640035753&sr=8-2

I have 400W though, and my battery bank is woefully under powered. I only have 200ah battery bank. I can run the pump for about 45 minutes straight then it needs to charge for 30 mins or so.

I can still get a solid 5 hours a day depending on the time of year. I'm down South TX though with lots of sun.

My inverter is 600w. I had a 300W, but it wouldn't start the pump consistently. I am thinking I need to add at least 200-300ah to my battery bank and probably another 200W solar or so to get it to run 8 hours.

So far though it's done the job. I have just over a half acre pond and ever since I started running it the pond has cleared up nicely and fish seem well supplied with oxygen.
Posted By: woodster Re: New Pond-Solar aeration - 12/20/21 11:31 PM
I have a couple solar systems running on 300 watts each. I use two conventional lead acid batteries in parallel in each. I run sewer aeration pumps made by blue diamond. They are shallow pumps so only 5 feet down. You can hang the aerator from a float and then anchor it. I use this setup because its way cheaper and uses very little wattage thus it runs longer without sun. You can run a very cheap modified signwave inverter with these pumps. They have been running for years and keep the ice open even up here in Wisconsin. I had trouble with muskrats chewing on my floats and puncturing them. I use a "Jolly Ball" made for horses now as a float and the muskrats don't chew on them.

I was so impressed by what a simple solar system could do that I built one for my home, but that's a whole new story.
Posted By: highflyer Re: New Pond-Solar aeration - 12/21/21 02:35 AM
Originally Posted by Black Creek WW
Thanks Brian for the welcome!

using 3 Renogy 100w panels (300W) will be using a 40a controller- AGM 12v battery 100ah. inverter will be according to the pump requirements. Looking for aeration at this time.

Using your panels, you can expect to make no more than 1.8 kWhs a day. In reality, you will only see something like 1.1 or 1.2 kWh a day of production. If you want 24/7 aeration, you can see the best you can use is 1.1 kWh/24 hours = 45 watts continual usage. Next you need to see what that will do to your batteries. 45 watts is almost 3 amps multiply that times a 14 hour drawn down over night (winter months) and you will see 42 amps drawn out of your battery or more over night, every night. Your battery will not last very long at that level or usage. Now add some clouds and you can see your problem.

Figure out your load first. Then figure out how much you need to store. Then finally figure out how you are going to produce that much energy.

Don't worry, you are not the first to do it backwards. This is fixable. But start with the load and work your way through the problem.
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