Up and running again

[CowboyRam]

I finally got my solar system running, and pumping water again. I had been fighting is for over a couple years after we had a lightning strike take out the charge controller and fried the diodes in the solar panels. Replaced them, but it just never worked right. A year ago I bought two new 320 watt panels to replace the cheap RV panels I had. I also had been fighting charge controller, replaced several of those. Just before Christmas my system went down. I decided it was time to stop being so cheap, and buy a good quality charge controller, add in another battery, and convert the system from 12 volt to 24 volt.

Now after spending the last three weeks swapping out batteries to keep the pump going during the day all of my parts finally arrived. I put the two solar panels in series, put the four batteries in series parallel to make a 24 volt system. Added in a converter to drop the voltage from 24 down to 12 because the pump is 12 volts. Put in a breaker so I can cut the power from the panels and a breaker between the batteries and the charge controller. Yesterday when I started working on this the temp was not to bad, but then the clouds rolled in and it got cold; I did get it all done yesterday. Looked at it this afternoon and everything is working great; the batteries are full charge. The cows seem happy that they have nice clean water to drink.

Note to self when you try to be cheap cheap cheap, you are going to pay pay pay.

I think I may just have this solar thing figured out, well until something else come up.

 

[Silver]

I had been putting a charger on my system every day since November. I figure that's over $500 in gas for the generator. I replaced all eight batteries a few days ago (ouch) and it hasn't missed a beat yet. I'm hoping to get at least 3 days of zero sun out of it. According to the forecast I should know I by tomorrow night.

 

[wbvs58]

Fortunately we do not have to deal with your freezing temps, my solar pump works directly off the panels, no batteries and I pump into a 6000 litre holding tank which then gravity feeds the cows water trough.

Ken

 

[CowboyRam]

Fortunately we do not have to deal with your freezing temps, my solar pump works directly off the panels, no batteries and I pump into a 6000 litre holding tank which then gravity feeds the cows water trough.

Ken

My uncle does the same thing at the ranch, but he shuts everything down in the winter. We moved all our cows off the ranch November 1, so once the cattle are gone he can shut things down. Here at the farm, we want the pump running all nigh to keep the tank from freezing. Otherwise I would have not invested in 4 100 amp hour batteries that cost about $200 each.

I think I know just enough about solar to be dangerous.

 

[Silver]

Mine only pumps when the motion switch is triggered. When they back away the water falls back down the hole under the trough to well below the frost level.

 

[TCRanch]

No solar panels but have been fighting with the well in the east 80. Bulls broke off the spout to the tank late last summer and I had to crawl inside the well house & pump water with a hose for almost 2 months - it was right after Mr. TC's surgery and I recognize my limitations as far as plumbing. All good until our first epic freeze a few weeks ago. Clearly, the band new deicer I bought wasn't working and inside the well house, the solenoid valve literally blew off and water was spewing inside. Replaced the deicer, cranked up the heater inside the well house and called the only guy that works on wells in this area who is 80, retired & lives almost an hour away. Big fun climbing back inside the well house for a week to pump water with the hose but doable. Got the solenoid valve replaced and it worked - for a few hours, until the float wasn't working and the water wasn't shutting off. Called the guy again. Oh, and could he also see what was wrong with the 2nd well at the barnyard that fills the fountain?

I do feel for you with the lightning strike! One good hit and it'll shut everything down.

 

[cfpinz]

No solar panels but have been fighting with the well in the east 80. Bulls broke off the spout to the tank late last summer and I had to crawl inside the well house & pump water with a hose for almost 2 months - it was right after Mr. TC's surgery and I recognize my limitations as far as plumbing. All good until our first epic freeze a few weeks ago. Clearly, the band new deicer I bought wasn't working and inside the well house, the solenoid valve literally blew off and water was spewing inside. Replaced the deicer, cranked up the heater inside the well house and called the only guy that works on wells in this area who is 80, retired & lives almost an hour away. Big fun climbing back inside the well house for a week to pump water with the hose but doable. Got the solenoid valve replaced and it worked - for a few hours, until the float wasn't working and the water wasn't shutting off. Called the guy again. Oh, and could he also see what was wrong with the 2nd well at the barnyard that fills the fountain?

I do feel for you with the lightning strike! One good hit and it'll shut everything down.

That last picture, damn!

 

[TCRanch]

That last picture, damn!

I'm no engineer, but I'm pretty sure it was fried beyond repair. And the bulls were right next to the fence, eyeing my heifers across the road.

 

[cfpinz]

I'm no engineer, but I'm pretty sure it was fried beyond repair.

The technical term for that is fubar.....

 

[pdfangus]

I finally got my solar system running, and pumping water again. I had been fighting is for over a couple years after we had a lightning strike take out the charge controller and fried the diodes in the solar panels. Replaced them, but it just never worked right. A year ago I bought two new 320 watt panels to replace the cheap RV panels I had. I also had been fighting charge controller, replaced several of those. Just before Christmas my system went down. I decided it was time to stop being so cheap, and buy a good quality charge controller, add in another battery, and convert the system from 12 volt to 24 volt.

Now after spending the last three weeks swapping out batteries to keep the pump going during the day all of my parts finally arrived. I put the two solar panels in series, put the four batteries in series parallel to make a 24 volt system. Added in a converter to drop the voltage from 24 down to 12 because the pump is 12 volts. Put in a breaker so I can cut the power from the panels and a breaker between the batteries and the charge controller. Yesterday when I started working on this the temp was not to bad, but then the clouds rolled in and it got cold; I did get it all done yesterday. Looked at it this afternoon and everything is working great; the batteries are full charge. The cows seem happy that they have nice clean water to drink.

Note to self when you try to be cheap cheap cheap, you are going to pay pay pay.

I think I may just have this solar thing figured out, well until something else come up.

I have abandoned my solar pump....it was to pump water from my neighbors pond.....my neighbor and I were cattle partners.....after he died several years ago from cancer, his sons maintained ownership for a few years.....

I finally got my solar system running, and pumping water again. I had been fighting is for over a couple years after we had a lightning strike take out the charge controller and fried the diodes in the solar panels. Replaced them, but it just never worked right. A year ago I bought two new 320 watt panels to replace the cheap RV panels I had. I also had been fighting charge controller, replaced several of those. Just before Christmas my system went down. I decided it was time to stop being so cheap, and buy a good quality charge controller, add in another battery, and convert the system from 12 volt to 24 volt.

Now after spending the last three weeks swapping out batteries to keep the pump going during the day all of my parts finally arrived. I put the two solar panels in series, put the four batteries in series parallel to make a 24 volt system. Added in a converter to drop the voltage from 24 down to 12 because the pump is 12 volts. Put in a breaker so I can cut the power from the panels and a breaker between the batteries and the charge controller. Yesterday when I started working on this the temp was not to bad, but then the clouds rolled in and it got cold; I did get it all done yesterday. Looked at it this afternoon and everything is working great; the batteries are full charge. The cows seem happy that they have nice clean water to drink.

Note to self when you try to be cheap cheap cheap, you are going to pay pay pay.

I think I may just have this solar thing figured out, well until something else come up.

my solar system is now idle.
originally I pumped water from my neighbor's pond to troughs on my property. after he died i continued to use it as his adult children retained the property......but after a couple of years they decided to sell.....i approached the new owner and inquired if he was okay with me accessing the pond to do Maintenace on my system.....he looked at me as if I were insane and did not answer me at all.....since we don't have a bunch of cows it is no longer a hardship to water the few here from my well