Solar system for a water pump and the shed for it.

BeezFun · Sep 16, 2014

EddieWalker said:
I have zero experience with this, so it's all bits and pieces of information I'm getting from what I find online. I'm not sure what solar panels are the best, or what to look for when buying. How did you decide and what brand are you using?

This is a reliable company that 's competitive and been in business for a long time: The Solar Biz. My friend lives next door to them in New Mexico, they're so far from the grid you can't even find it so everything is solar including their deep wells. I've seen all the work he's done on his own place, he can help you with design and engineering questions as well as sell you the stuff.

LuigiQuims · Sep 18, 2014

LuigiQuims said:
As I mentioned in one of my previous post, we installed a water well last month. Because we are off the grid and no budget to bring the hydro on the property, we decide to install a solar pump manufactured in solar panels factory. We choose a Groundfous pump 16SQF-10; a quite expensive pump but worth every penny so far. To drive this pump I bought 6x 255W panels which I connected in 2 parallel strings of 3 panels in series. As a result, the total power delivery in full sun is 106V at 16A. The panels are connected directly to the pump using the pump controller but this will be changed once the house will be build and water will be required during the night, so CC, inverter and batteries will complete the system.

I installed all piping as can be seen in one of the pictures. It was quite challenging as took me almost a day to dug the 4ft big hole manually. Now we have water to fill up the pond, for garden and when the house will be ready I can connect it to the well.

To keep the solar panels in full sun, I build a small shed 8'x12'=96sqft(no permit required) and I installed the PVs on the roof. Quite tricky to bring those panels on the roof because of size and weight (50lbs at 3'x5'-6") but with my friend kubota everything is possible. I attached some picture for reference. What is left, is to install the siding. I'll post the final pictures
Looks like very effective water pump..Is it working fine? Hope you will share you true review..