WorkingDevices

Solar Pump

The solar pump project was started when I built a pond in my backyard. The closest power source for me was several feet away and I don�t want to lay a power grid on my lawn. Luckily, I remember that I still have my 1 square foot solar panel collecting dust in my storage. Now that I have taken care of my power source, lets look at pump design.

For the pump design, I went to the junkyard and got one of those water pumps for windshield washers. The pump was perfect since my solar panel is 12 volts, all I need now is to house the pump with the motor in a water proof enclosure. Instead of housing the motor with the pump, I went ahead and attached the motor to the pump with a long plastic shaft (a BIC pen shell will work). The shaft was long enough to prevent the motor from immersing in the water.

some of the automotive water pumps for the windshield wipers are submersible, I just grabbed the first one I saw in the junk yard.