I built a fish cleaning table from scrap steel. I used a large piece of 3/8"s mild steel for the top and 3" steel pipes for legs. Cut a hole in the sheet for an enamel sink I found out in the woods. My pond is about 100 yds downhill from the house. I intend to set the table by the pond. Table details are unimportant but I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It followed my welding rule -- more rods are better than less rods when you're a half-fast welder!

So I'm gonna use pond water for rinsing the fish (spring fed small stream, forested watershed) before carrying them to the house. Heads & guts and scales go back in the pond. Ultimate recycling! I need water.

Yes, I can get a bucket. But you know -- that's too simple! I'm going full Tim Allen here!

I want a solar panel to charge a battery that runs a water pump.

How do I get there?

Howdy Bot,
Google Real Goods. You might get some ideas from them.

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Frank X. Morris
17 Kia Niro
08 Jeep Wrangler 4 door unlimited

12V RV water pump? Deep-Cycle 12V battery? One of those cheap solar panels to keep a car battery topped off? Might need some type of particulate filter to keep the pump internals happy.

Solar Power 101: Batteries | Backwoods Home Magazine

Easiest way looks like this:
https://www.harborfreight.com/100-watt-solar-panel-kit-63585.html
(insert Harbor Freight disclaimer here)
(yeah, its expensive...)

After that, some kinda 12v pump. You might need a 12v positive-displacement pump (piston or gearrotor) if your elevation change is too much.

This one makes 50psi of head, which should get you about 100ft of lift
https://www.harborfreight.com/12-volt-dc-transfer-pump-63324.html


100W isn't going to move a lot of water uphill quickly. You might want to make some kinda storage tank at the top (a few 5-gal buckets?).
Not sure how best to make some kind of inlet filter - I see this causing a fair amount of issues in the long term.

-John

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

Ah, Harbor Freight! Shop porno!

Yeah, my super duper HF sale catalog gave me the idea. My electrical skills start with, "Ouch, that hurt."

I like the 12v RV pump suggested above. I use ladies stockings to filter sour mash so I figure they'd work for pond water. I only have to move water about 5' vertical so I figure a standard impeller pump would do.

A friend told me to remember that in daylight, a solar panel is on. I man that's obvious, right? Wonder how many people get popped for that reason.

I used to subscribe to a paper magazine similar to that style of writing called, "Motger Earth News". I read the first page and found it reassuring. I already knew most of that. I look forward to the next installment about circuits. I hope I remember enough physics and trade school basic circuits to get through it.

Thanks!

I wished you lived in a swamp near mine! Thanks Frank.

Hadn't even thought of looking at RV plumbing. Bet RV sites have solar panel widgets, too. Thanks.

Howdy Bot,
I would have to drain it to suit my liking

__________________
Frank X. Morris
17 Kia Niro
08 Jeep Wrangler 4 door unlimited

One last coat of oil-based paint and I'm done with the table proper. I'll carry it down to the pond with my tractor and put in the sink down there.

I've been reading the sites you guys recommended. Thanks. After some provided calculations I realized I was paying for more power than I would ever use. So now I'm thinking about running lights, too! I have several strings of 5 watt LED's (purchased earlier for one of my daughter's weddings) that would be a nice touch. Stick a daylight sensing thingie in the circuit and have the lights come on and off with nightfall and sunrise.

I'd go at it from a different direction.

Poly 55 gallon drums are cheap on CL around here, $15/ea. Mount them water-tower style. Then your pump and panel can be tiny, take all day/all week/whatever to fill the barrels, and when the sky is cloudy you've still got water stashed. Pump runs whenever the sun shines, when the barrels are full they just overflow and drain. Solar fountain pumps are cheap + readily available and no batteries needed.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

Interesting project. For best efficiency, don't forget to orient your panels E-W and tilt at an angle equal to your longitude.

Make that Latitude.

X2 on the storage. Easier to store water than electricity.

Used to pump water ~15' up from the ground to the storage tank in my loft.
Had a couple 6D truck batteries hooked up to a pair of 20w solar panels.
Was able to use an inverter to run a 120v transfer pump. The AC pumps seem to be much cheaper for that amount of head, and as I only carried 15 gallons at a time it wasn't a significant drain on my batteries.
Would be pretty easy to use an inverter off your tractor battery to operate a pump to tank solution.

Last year, for shlts and giggles I set up a small DC circulation pump and a Renology panel to circulate pool water through 200' of black garden hose as a heater. You could try a small panel, charge controller and a submersible DC pump, probably get everything for less than a C note

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

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