Solar powered auto watering system

Okay, i am gearing up for the upcoming season and have picked a new location in the middle of a large creek. I have two 50 volt solar panels and want to use both or one of them to charge a car battery that will power a small cooler pump and a timer for automatically watering my plants so i can cut down on trips to my grow site. How would i go about setting this up. The setup being discovered is not really a concern as i live in a rural area and few people trek into said creek and those who do not go as deep in as i do.

you could use a drip system...something like this



idk how big you're going, so you might need extra drippers...but these kits are a good starting place...
also welcome and good first post...

grav fed drip system, using a resevoir that catches the water , that uses gravity to put water through the drip feeders

If you want electric then go 12V. Much cheaper PV cell can run it.

http://www2.northerntool.com/water-pumps/12-volt-pumps.htm

Buy one helluva pump for 12V by saving on the smaller PV cell and be less obvious at that.

http://www.amazon.com/Ramsond-Monocrystalline-Photovoltaic-Battery-Charging/dp/B005QUALBW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1361739159&sr=8-3&keywords=12+volt+photovoltaic

Thank you, this site is great! The gravity system is a good idea but i don't have anything to use as a resivoir, i have a very tight budget and have to rely on resources i already have, i have the solar panels and water pump. I was thinking i could barry a bucket up to the rim maybe 5 feet away from the bank of the creek with the pump in the bottom and some pvc for water input and a drain a little bit above the input so the water level is constant but im more asking how would i charge the battery with the solar panels and correspondingly run the the pump and timer on the battery

By the way i have 30 sprouts right now so somewhere around there by the time they go in the ground

bepends on how far your water is.... if its right near your grow. i would place a pump hose in source pump water to a cooler or container with a spicket or hose then to a soaker hose around your plants let gravity do the work. only would need to put container a foot above grow on mound. and place pump on a timer to go offand pump once a day for what ever a mount of time you need to fill the container. put a over flow hole in top of container. and you should only need one solar panel and the one yolu have is to big its going to over heat the battery and start a fire and bring everyone to your grow... you only need a small charger your pump wont us the hole batter unless your fillingover 50gallon container. this i would say shouldnt take more then 15minutes a day.

Well shit... The spot is in the middle of the creek like an island connected to the mainland by a big beaver dam so theres water on all sides, the nearest waterfront is 50-60 feet away from the clearing, btw whatever supplies i take there i will drive there and drop at night and go back the following morning, i have to carry them in by hand through pretty thick bush so it would be better is thesetup wasn't too heavy( no one component over 60 lbs

Is there any way to use the one i already have by usinig a dc-ac inverter alone or will i need something else.

you will have to go with a 12 volt pump.

i bought and tested the SHURFLO model 2088-422-444 from tract supply. Its 12 volt and like 46 psi. I hooked up a 300 ft garden hose and got decent flow off a car battery, I will be doing the charging via solar panel as well as i dont want to lug the battery back and forth.

you shouldnt even need a battery.... the panel will run the pump you dont need it running and watering all the time. you wouldnt even need a timer.. just have small drippers set up let it drip all day if you add perlite to the soil which you should anyway you wouldnt have a problem if its a larger plant.

I'm curious as to what timer. I could not find one (12 volt) that was programable. Was thinking about using some 6" PVC for a resevior and gravity dripping from there. Wanted to pump the res full once every 5 days, maybe more frequently when real hot and dry. Texas!

Gravity fed drip system is the best most reliable way to set your situation up!

If i don't use a battery then how do i connect the panel to the pump, I want all of the electronics to fit in a 10 gallon plastic tote,and i was going to use polymer crystals as well, so the only time i will have to go there is to check progress and other such matters, THANK YOU!! For all the feedback i'v been bouncing this idea off numerous people and this is the first time i'v gotten viable information back

Caliking said:

If i don't use a battery then how do i connect the panel to the pump, I want all of the electronics to fit in a 10 gallon plastic tote,and i was going to use polymer crystals as well, so the only time i will have to go there is to check progress and other such matters, THANK YOU!! For all the feedback i'v been bouncing this idea off numerous people and this is the first time i'v gotten viable information back

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iv only messed with smaller panels but dosent it have a positive and a negative? ... you run those wires to the pump and stick the panel up in a tree and use a few heavy duty extension cords for wiring. if you wanted a timer just put a female end on the panel and plug the timer into it and plug the pump into the timer

the panel would only give power when there was sun so it wouldnt work at night or on dark cloudy days but you dont need constant watering so it would be good.

people use deep cell batteries on there panels so that they can store energy and use it at night. you dont need to do such a thing all you need is the pump to come to life afew times a day when the sun is good enough theres no need to store extra energy as long as the panel and pump are both 12volt

if you use extension cords and there orange you might want to paint them and also be carefull where you place the panel you need direct sunlight but also im sure from in the air it would be almost like a signaling mirror at times to pesky planes and helicopters

This sounds like a fool's errand with the right fellow assigned the task. If you already have all this shit then why in hell don't you know diddly about it? Steal the stuff? Methinks me smells something adrift in the air.

I got the panels from a friend of mine a while back ( for way cheap), i was going to do some type of chargind port for small electronics, for camping and shit like that, however i got lazy an never did anything with em before. I have always done my growing at home before so i just ran a hose to them no problem this is my first full size guerilla grow, i didnt steal them, i have just never messed with em till now and im not an electrician and would like to refrain from electrocuting my self or frying
my stuff, u know?

Caliking said:

I got the panels from a friend of mine a while back ( for way cheap), i was going to do some type of chargind port for small electronics, for camping and shit like that, however i got lazy an never did anything with em before. I have always done my growing at home before so i just ran a hose to them no problem this is my first full size guerilla grow, i didnt steal them, i have just never messed with em till now and im not an electrician and would like to refrain from electrocuting my self or frying
my stuff, u know?

Click to expand...

What I thought. No disrespect but KISS. Your lack of knowledge about the panels and inverters and battery - seriously? Use a wick instead. Place on in a piece of PVC pipe that is far larger as your wick will swell when wet. One end of the wick in the water, the other at your plant. Make some attempt to bury it to give you a better chance of harvesting mature bud. Cheaper, quicker, easier to hide.

While all that is going on you now have time to investigate and learn to properly wire and use your solar gear.

Well i know that solar panels put out direct current voltage and appliances use alternating current so I'm pretty sure there needs to be an inverter in the mix somewhere i was wondering if i can simply go panel-inverter-pump or is there more components needed