Backyard Aquaponics
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I am looking for a DC powered air pump that can connect to a charge controller. Note that the solar panel is five watts and theres a 9ah battery and a 10 ah controller (pvm i believe).

That's going to have to be a very small air pump, in the order of 1 or 2W if you dont want to run your battery flat and plan to run it 24 hours per day. There are a few 12VDC pumps on the market, but I suspect most will be more than 2W.

what I'm using https://www.amazon.com/B15-Marine-Metal ... ir+pump+dc

I think you will need more power.

Okay then. I am probably going to do that. How do I attach those alligator clips to a solar controller?

Solar controllers usually have screwed terminals, so you can strip the wire and fasten it inside the terminal with the screw.

my panels are on a separate building behind my greenhouse. I ran 2 wires from the controller over inside the green house bought some screw type terminal bars like in a panel. I attach the alligator clip to that.



I bought 3 sets similar to that one. One for ground, one for always on and the other is off of the timer.

I spray painted 2 of them red one black.

I've seen these floating around on ebay quite cheap. They use 2.5w.

Remember a 5w solar panel will only produce 5w when it is working 100% efficiently, most of the time you will not be producing that. I would suggest going for 20w or 50w solar panel. This will enable you to run your air stones and charge the battery for running the air stones at night.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Woodside-Solar-Powered-Oxygenator-Pond-Water-Oxygen-Pump-2-Air-Stone-Aerator-/311631086016

If you go onto ebay type in "12v air pump", you will find a heap of small pumps there for around $2 each I run one of these 24/7 they draw around 0.2a or around .25w. My clamp meter is not particularly accurate at these low amps.

The best way is to get something like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFWA2JnQYS8

run the system on solar during the day and switch over to grid during the night. You can do an auto switch via a photo switching.

Rationale: while you are saving bills you are actually putting it aside for when your battery needs replacement. In short you aren't saving anything.

If you run entirely on solar you will need a panel that's roughly twice the size. half for running the pump during the day and half for storing electricity to the battery. that's more than twice the initial investment.

cheap versions

http://filmlar.pw/video/VaBr0OHOCws

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPvPJuvLw9Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDOq3BIZMj8

Or get a water tank and install it higher than your system. Fill it with your solar pump during the day and use it at night. Tanks dont need replacement for a very long time.


this might be of help

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/p ... er.615058/

hi I run my setup entirely from solar, and a battery, Having had a bit of experience in this field, I find that the main reason solar doesn't work is because it is undersized, either in Battery or solar panels, or both. if a system is properly sized and cycles, a normal sealed lead acid battery will last up to 10 years, even at $300 each for good quality sized batteries, that is less than $30 a year, I am sure the power used would be more than that.
I looked at using a "header tank, and gravity, however would have needed solenoid valves, and then how to maintain the levels in the fish tank? i found the easier option was to pump to the grow beds and return via a sump pump, a 12 v bilge pump, which turns on automatically when the water in the sump reaches 30 mm deep and turns off when it returns to that level, in fact the depth in the sump rarely exceeds about 40 mm.

Hi john Thanks for your input. How many $300 battery you use. I also have a bit of experience in this as a result of installing a number of systems for costumers. I'm a professional handyman. And because of this I did some research and on one forum I ask how much is the cost of solar power in terms of battery maintenance. One of them reported that the cost is same as grid cost. which means no saving at all. Thats why when i think solar, it means to me no batteries. I'm sure we can save a lot more than having batteries. I have a solar with battery at home but its only meant to power lights during power outage not to save.

Hi Julian, I use one 100 ah battery and 160w of solar input.
I have been running totally off grid in a motor home bus for the last 9 years, admittedly I had 3 x 110 ah batteries and 480 w of solar, that ran the bus 24 / 7 including a compressor type fridge, and a compressor type car fridge, as well as TV, fans and lights all run of 12v. the secret is sizing your battery to provide power for the desired period when there is no sun, usually 3 days in the case of a motorhome, and then fitting at least the same amount in Watts of panels as you have amp hours in batteries, (preferable one and a half to twice value)
to ensure maximum charge rate by midday. Today with solar panel available at not much more than a dollar a watt, I cant see how that would even look like costing the value of grid power. Batteries are the killer, but the modern technological advances, in battery and charging have greatly advanced the effectiveness of batteries, the adjustable charging algorithms available on relatively cheap pwm Solar regulators make all that much simpler, the main killer of batteries is over discharging and under charging. No lead acid battery, copes with being discharged to less than 50% state of charge, (even though they may be marked deep cycle) and the maximum rate of charge (as a rule of thumb) is equivalent to the 10 hour rate of discharge, for a normal 100 ah VRSLA battery this is around 10 amps.

Wow, you been leaving on a bus for nine years. I'm envious. Yes I know of the parameters you need to observe in operating the components of solar system. I didn't know that tech. has now advance to that stage, I'm in a 3rd country. Anyway if I remember correctly that forum discussion was around 4 years ago although the one who made the calculation is from US. I've heard that there are now air conditioning that runs directly on solar panel. haven't seen one though so I can't attest if it really has no battery.