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Forum Index : Solar : AUTOMATIC SOLAR POWERED WATERING SYSTEM

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solargrower
Newbie

Joined: 25/06/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 6
Posted: 10:24am 25 Jun 2009
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Hi there.
I am very new to the world of electronics and solar and would like some advice on the battery and solar panel system that I will require for the following project.

I am attempting to set up an automatic watering system to keep my plants well fed during long stays away. I have a 12 volt bilge water pump that will be submersed in a large drum of water and will be connected to plumbing feeding to approx 10 pot plants, all that have another pumping system pluged into the bottom to allow the drained water to return to the drum.

I have purchased a 12volt digital timer that will be programed to turn the pump on 6 times throughout the day. (Every 2 hours starting at 6am). It will run the pump for 5 minutes.

*What type/size deep cycle battery will I require to run this system?

What size of solar panel will i need to keep the battery charged?
(The location gets fantastic sunlight all year round; west brisbane, queensland, australia)

What size wiring will i require to hook them all up?*

Your help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Here are the specifications for the pump and timer;

*Timer; *
Contact Rating: 16A @ 30VDC
Operating Voltage: 12VDC
Max. Current: 8A
Voltage: 12V
"ON" Power Usage: 3W
Backup Batt: 1.2V NiCad


*Pump;*
Rated power: 50W / 5800rpm
Current: 5.4 amps
Voltage: 12V
Rating: Continuous
 
Tinker

Guru

Joined: 07/11/2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 1904
Posted: 03:51pm 25 Jun 2009
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You run the pump for 30min/day total. It will use 5.4A/2 = 2.7Amp Hours a day. Your solar panel must be able to replace this plus 20% for losses.
A 20W solar panel should do if it faces north and is angled correctly to your latitude.
A 10Ah battery would do since you don't run any power at night.
You should buy a small solar regulator if you use the battery suggested. This is not required IF the battery is much larger and the panel is the self regulating type.
Wiring size depends on how far the pump is from the battery & panel.
Klaus
 
Robb
Senior Member

Joined: 01/08/2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 221
Posted: 07:37am 26 Jun 2009
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Don't forget that if its cloudy and raining for a few days you will need a battery big enough to survive this and a panel big enough to charge it up again afterwards. So if it was sunny all the time the above figures would be all you'd need.

Now if you got the plants out in the rain and could make the system shut down when it rained you could save a lot.
 
MacGyver

Guru

Joined: 12/05/2009
Location: United States
Posts: 1329
Posted: 02:31am 27 Jun 2009
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Solargrower:

I'm curious where you got your timer. I'm a hydroponic grower and am
working on an aeroponic tomato grower along the same lines as your
situation except that I want the run time to be 30 seconds and the interval
to be 15 minutes 24/7.

By the way, if you need any "plant help" there's tons on my Web site at
www.TenGreenThumbs.com (info-share; nothing for sale).

:O)
Nothing difficult is ever easy!
Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman,
"Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!"
Copeville, Texas
 
solargrower
Newbie

Joined: 25/06/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 6
Posted: 02:51am 27 Jun 2009
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Thanks for your help guys.
I am planning to grow hydroponic basil with this set up on my remote property in west queensland,australia.

I purchased my timer from ebay actually. I found it the cheapest for that particular 12 volt digital timer model. The timer is only able to be programed for 8 "on off's" per day, so it may not be suitable for your application (96 times per day!!)

Will definately check out your website.

 
MacGyver

Guru

Joined: 12/05/2009
Location: United States
Posts: 1329
Posted: 03:43am 01 Jul 2009
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Solargrower:

I'm a hydroponic grower and I'm working on an aeroponic 12-volt, d.c.
timer that turns the pump on for ten seconds each minute. If you're
interested, private email me or log onto my Web page and as soon as I
get all the bugs out of it, I'll share / publish my findings.

As for your ebay timer, I don't see how you're going to squeeze in twelve
8-event operations out of the thing. The timer I've designed cost me $3
for the clock and about $8 for the rest of the stuff to make it work.

I grow tomatoes using aeroponics. Everything I do is 12-volts so I can
take advantage of all the off-the-shelf gadgets out there.

Stay tuned.
Nothing difficult is ever easy!
Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman,
"Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!"
Copeville, Texas
 
solargrower
Newbie

Joined: 25/06/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 6
Posted: 07:53am 07 Jul 2009
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Thanks for your feedback.

I have now set up my prototype of my hydro system.

This is just going to be a test run in my back yard here in brisbane, I plan to plant some lettuce and basil into the pots within the next few days (as soon as the seedlings are a little bigger)..

Thought you might be interested in seeing some photos.

Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions for the current system.

I plan to do this on a much larger scale powered by a solar panel (or multiple panels) if the test goes well..



I knocked up a quick frame out of pine stud that i had laying around.. and decided to use plaster buckets (that i have in great supply).





All the buckets have been plumbed back into 19mm irrigation pipe that runs back into the reservoir for maximum water efficency (via a filter).


I have used a 60litre black bin (paid $10 from bunnings) as the reservoir, plumped it up with 19mm irrigation poly pipe and attached a small (20gal per hour) 12 volt bilge pump.


I'm just using an old car battery for the moment., no solar panel is attached to this prototype because i have the luxury of charging the battery up at night if the charge drops too low.


This digital 12volt timer is one i bought off ebay for about $50-60. Its got 8 turn on/turn off abilities.. I have programed it to run for 2 minutes 8 times per day starting at 6am every 2 hours until 6pm (with an extra watering thrown in there at 13:00 at the heat of the day).


I had a design problem earlier on. How would I avoid rain entering the pots, and ultimately watering down my nutrient solution? Well i came up with the idea of siliconing 2" pvc off cuts into the lids, this will also avoid unecessary evaporation occuring.


The first 6-7cms of the buckets are filled with coarse gravel to allow good drainage and circulation. The remaining space of the bucket has been filled with a 2/3 coconute fibre, 1/3 perlite mix. This gives the plants a perfect medium that is light enough, but holds moisture inbetween watering. It is almost impossible to over water this mix of medium as any excess is simply drained through back into the reservoir avoiding having to adjust the timer setting through different stages of the plants lives.

 
petanque don
Senior Member

Joined: 02/08/2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 212
Posted: 07:07am 09 Jul 2009
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The price of basil must be quite high at the monument to justify all this paraphernalia.

I suppose there is no substitute of fresh herbs.


 
MacGyver

Guru

Joined: 12/05/2009
Location: United States
Posts: 1329
Posted: 10:10pm 12 Jul 2009
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FYI Hydroponics for the most part is just a 'hobby'.

I have a commercial grower's license and have spent thousands of $ (US) on
things. Still, if it were a matter of saving money on food costs, the money
I've spent on my hydroponics hobby would have bought 100 times the
amount of food I've produced hydroponically.

My goal is to create a no-brainer way to grow tomatoes aeroponically,
utilizing solar-operated pumps and timers. I'm almost there. When it
happens, I'll publish the results of my research here.

Again, if your goal is to save money on veggies, buy them at the market!
Nothing difficult is ever easy!
Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman,
"Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!"
Copeville, Texas
 
Bryan1

Guru

Joined: 22/02/2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 1344
Posted: 09:21am 13 Jul 2009
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Sheesh all that work just for growing basil My missus gets a head start on the rest of the market growers by simply sewing the basil seeds in the hotbox I made for her. I did wire up about 30 metres of the oatley waterproof heating wire but upto date which is now over 4 years it hasnt been needed. The hotbox is made from 1mm gal sheet and the lid is perspex which is angled high at the back.

Cheers Bryan
 
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