Solar powered water pump for sprinkler?

Question

Where can I get a solar powered water pump for a sprinker? I want the pump to pull water out of a river next to my yard and water my garden and lawn.

Answer 1

Solar catalog. You will need a whole system, to collect the solar energy in the day and use battery's at night to run the pump,as you would not want to run the sprinkler in the sun light.Also think of elevator storage of the water. the head pressure will help the pump. If you have access to a river think hydro power,also, for cloudy days. Water turbines to generate electric, place under the surface. Get thinking man.

Answer 2

This project may be very poorly considered.

Solar power is costly on a capital cost per watt basis. You would want to use that costly power to do things for you all year round, not just when your garden needs water.

For any pumping role, your solar panels will not provide good starting ability, particularly when the sun comes up. You will need battery power to build up some charge to start the motor under pumping load.

Your system then has to be designed not to try to start the pump when there is not enough charge. Late in the day, or when the  sun wanes, you also need to have the pump stop running if  the voltage drops too low. It just waits for the battery to regain charge,

You will get more water delivered in drip mode than via sprinkler, and with less sunlight. Sprinklers will waste at least 30% of the water and 45% of the energy.

If you use an inverter between battery and pump, you can use cheap ac pumping motors, but additionally you can use the power in your house.

If your only application of power is pumping, and you are far from neighbours, you might want to consider using a wind turbine, as it will give more kwh per dollar. But in the village, and powering household uses, solar is a good alternative.