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Oct 9 2011 06:59pm
THE BIG QUESTION IS HOW MANY 60WATTS PANELS WOULD I NEED TO RUN THIS PUMP 24/7?

so i have a 20 watt pump at 120V

60Hz if that helps with anything

using ohm's law: P = E x I

20watts/120V=.167 Amps

now my solar panel says:
powers: 12V 60 watt

60W / 12V = 5 Amps?

yet the rating says 3.5 Amps on the back because i know solar is inefficient in that aspect.

am i doing this correctly?

since the solar panel system uses a 12 Volts and not a 120 Volts

what do i do from there to figure this out?
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Oct 9 2011 09:24pm
i have a ever last deep cycle battery... it last a long while before it drains all the way...

i want the pumps to run off my battery at night.

and use sunlight in the day.
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Oct 10 2011 12:05am
i need help to run my pond pump 24/7

THE BIG QUESTION IS HOW MANY 60WATTS PANELS WOULD I NEED TO RUN THIS PUMP 24/7?

i have a 250gph pump rated at 120v 60hz 20watts
i have a 60 Watt and a 120 Watt poly crystaline solar panel (total 180 Watts of solar panel)
i also got a duralast deep cycle battery from autozone 550ca at 90 ah
sunforce 30a controller for future-proofing
400watt modified power inverter


when i used my kill-a-watt meter and tested my pump on the wall i got 12.5watts and .19 amps at 120 volts ac, it works perfectly even though it draws low watts which is great...
when i plugged it up to my solar system i got around 10 watts .19 amp at 12 volts dc, it still works fine...
so i'd give it a 10-20watts peak.

so i multiplied 20watt x 24 hours = 480 watts required
and i know that a 550ca is a about 90 amp hours. i also know that don't want to discharge a battery below 50%.
To recharge that battery you've got about 4-6 hours of good sunlight to work since i am in texas... in winter! that is coming soon!, getting darker.
480 watts / 5 hours = 96 watts per hour.
and due to natural inefficiency i did 96w/.75= 128 watts of panel

will a 180 Watts panel work for this system 24/7?

and i have a 60 watt and a 120 watt will it work on this system?
am i doing this correctly?
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Oct 10 2011 12:46am
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