Use Solar Folding Panel to Pump Creek Water

Agree but as it is not going to run constantly it should manage as long as there is enough time to recharge batteries between use.

Just to verify my figures..
65 amps for 5 minutes:-
5 minutes is 1/12th of an hour, therefore 65/12 =5.42Ah

I rounded up to get my figures of 6 and 12Ah for 5 and 10 minutes respectively.

Brian I'm not disputing your figures, I was just pointing out that when a 100Ah battery is discharged at 60A its capacity falls form around 100An to 60Ah.

Therefore for every 1Ah your taking out at a 60Ah rate your in reality taking out around 1.6Ah allowing for recharge losses etc.

From the quick check I did I assumed you had forgotten to allow for the lower battery amp hour capacity due to the high discharge rate,if you did I apologies.

Leigh

jokirt,

Just to clarify, looking at the 65A drain you might think that you can run your pump for around 1.5 hours before your battery would be totally discharged. You can't, at 65A your 100Ah battery will only have a real capacity of 60Ah or there abouts, so in reality you can only run it for approximately an hour before the battery would be totally exhausted.

Keep in mind the above is all guess work without actually knowing the actual run current etc, you may get more, may get less.

I understand your point Leigh.
A couple of different perspectives can be taken on this.

1. An amp hour is an amp hour no matter whether it comes from a 100Ah battery or a 1000 Ah battery, so the Ah actually consumed is what it is.
Watthours will be different due to the voltage variations over the runtime.

2. Peukert tells us though that the faster we take it out, the less we can take out, so that gives us a situation where, even though we have taken 5.4Ah from a 100Ah (C20 rate) battery, but at a high discharge current, in this case 0.65C, we can end up with less than the expected (100 - 5.4 = 94.6Ah) capacity remaining in the battery.

Math can help us here, as the formula:- "Capacity reduction in Ah = time in hrs x (discharge current x Pk)" tells us how much capacity we will lose from the battery in the time for which the discharge is occurring.
Pk is Peukert's constant, and while we don't know it for this particular battery, it will be fairly safe to pick the high end for an AGM battery of say 1.15.
As he said it was a battery pack then I assumed it would be either AGM or Gel.
You could use 1.25 as a constant for a gel battery if you prefer, but that will only change the answer by about 0.5Ah
The discharge current is 65 amps
The time is 5 minutes or 0.083 of an hour
So capacity = T x (current x Pk)
capacity = 0.083 x (65 x 1.15)
capacity = 6.2 Ah
Not a lot of difference from my original figure of 6Ah.
100 - 6.2 = 93.8Ah remaining
If the battery was a flooded type, then the lost capacity could be as high as 9Ah as you suggested,
Either way, the remaining capacity will still be better than 90Ah, assuming it was initially in good condition and fully charged.
Remember that the pump is only running for about 5 minutes.

By transposing that same formula you would find that drawing 65 amps out of that battery would give you 1.34 hrs to flat, or an effective capacity of 75Ah.

Here we go again - into the minutia - trying to outdo each other with excruciating facts when near enough is good enough.

The Pedantic Thread applies.

Couldn't agree more, it's making this forum tedious & boring. If you go back 10 years this was a totally different place to visit & is now being ruined by Google professors!

I'm pretty sure that Shogun electric is owned by Mitsubishi and, as the name suggests, it certainly sounds Japanese.
The LRA is probably not critical to you now as I gave you a rough estimate of what it would be.
Some motors have the LRA shown as a letter type "NEMA code", or even just "code", and yours will likely be somewhere between J and N, with M being a distinct possibility.

If the pump will start on the inverter, then you will easily get half a dozen 5 minute runs with an hour or so break in between.

The problem with bilge pumps is they don't push a lot of head and their flow suffers badly when there is flow resistance.

They are great little things though and cheap as chips.

cheers

Shifting 13 tonnes of water 8 meters in an hour.....think about this.

Something is not adding up...750 watts consumed...yeh don't think so.

cheers

No, 750 Watts output.
1725W consumed.
Davey specs:

Allan - love your disclaimer!
Bantam - I haven't done the sums, but that was my first thought too!

Cheers

John

Guys, I am making no expressions re the flow capacity of these pumps other than comparing the published specs of each.
My observation was the comparison of the manufacturer's electrical characteristics, optimistic though the flow ratings may be.

And John, Einstein also said "Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater."

I checked out the pump you suggested and think it would be ideal. Unfortunately I am not out there all the time and my van and shed were ransacked last winter. So I have to take everything out in the trailer and bring it all home again.....including water in containers. I do have a 4.4 kv generator that could have done the job, but it is too big for me to move down the hall let alone into the car. I've decided to sell it on Gum Tree and get something smaller further down the track. If I move out there to live your suggestion will be my first option.

You have got a good point there Shaker. I never thought of one of those.

These have been around for ever and have proven themselves time and again. In fact the last one I saw working was at Apsley Falls near Walcha NSW back in 1983. More or less work on the KISS principle as well.

So long as you have the fall they are brilliant and cost nothing to run for an unlimited water supply. Price might be another matter though.

Cheers, Bruce

Clever idea, but not suitable for my creek I'm afraid as I only have water holes to pump. Thanks for the suggestion Shaker. I really appreciate all the ideas that have been offered.

This looks really interesting....and easy to move around as well. I have an 18ah battery and a 20ah battery that could be alternated with very little effort. I had thought about putting my pump in an old bird cage covered with shade cloth to act as a filter. I could double up with a bucket inside to be sure nothing gets through. The Shogun recommends also placing the pump on a brick to prevent silt being sucked up. I am wondering how durable the Rule inline pump is in dirty (sometimes sandy) water. Many of the Rule bilge pump specs that I have read say that the pump would be ruined in this type of situation. Has anyone had experience with the inline pump?
If this one works I'll be selling my Shogun on Gum Tree as well.

During the 80's, we used to have a smaller version of this pump(only 1/2" outlet), and we used to use it to pump water out of waterholes in the Georgina River. The pump lasted about 5 or 6 years, with fair bit of use.

When pumping, some fine material like panty hose, would keep any abrasive stuff out of the pump.

Bob.