Brian I have the inlet in a 5 gal. bucket with holes, the bucket is covered in screen wire. I have been running the DC treadmill motor hooked to a semi trash centrifugal pump for 3 days, seems to be doing ok The motor is rated up to 115 vdc, @ 13 amps, but will pump on much less, it is getting 71volts in full sun. Like FishnRod suggested in an earlier post ,i'll run that to failure then go from there. Probably upgrade my panels like you suggested and try the actual solar pump again, since I have money invested in it.