river driver!

[stanwaterman]

I need a couple of panels to pump a small river round my property. Perlight at £135 or so seem ok and cheap. What's the best way of efficiently driving a water pump from two panels?

 

[Worcester]

A dc pump, battery and a charge controller.

 

[jerriais]

Or just a DC pump, no battery needed if you don't need it to pump at a specific constant rate. Often used for remote water pumping solutions, it just pumps faster when the sun is stronger.

 

[stanwaterman]

Thanks for that. I don't need to pump at any particular rate but can I get a pump happy with the great variability of op from solar panels? With 2 panels in series I'd be looking at max power of about 400watts at 60ish volts I suppose so I need a pump that can take that and still work a bit when it's much duller and giving 50 watts or so- is that right? Or, option 2, should I use a small inverter and an ac pump?