Solar Powered Water Pump for Cattle Trough

Conor20

Hi all, I'm looking at installing a solar powered water pump on a farm to keep a water trough topped up from a local stream that runs through the land. I was hoping to get any advice or experience that people had (1) about solar powered pumps in general and (2) about wiring up a ball-cock shut off to it. It would be a simple setup: a solar powered pump, with a ball-cock shut off to turn off the pump when the trough is full. The stream is about 1 foot deep at its driest time of year. Assuming a 35 litre requirement per (non-milking) cow per day, it'll need to pump a maximum of 35 litres * 50 cattle = 1,750 litres of water per day. The trough will be about 2m in height above the stream, and about 10 meters away from it.

This is a photo of where the water will be taken from. Hopefully, the silt won't be a problem.



I've been looking at systems such as this one: a 100W Solar Panel + Water pump here :


And then adding a water level sensor switch like this, or this. Though I'm not sure how easy it would be to wire the stop-cock into the circuit. Could anyone offer advice with how to fit the ball-cock shut off? The applications are listed as: aquarium yard & garden ponds, fountains as water feature, Irrigation oxygenate for pond, and watering. There seems to be two broad categories of solar pumps available: smaller ones aimed at garden ponds and watering (of which this is one), and much larger ones aimed at agriculture, which are way oversized for the amount of water we're looking to move per day.

This is heavier duty agricultural solar pump systems.

It's €200-€400, but it appears to be way oversized for the amount of water we're looking to move per day:

• Load Power (W): 1200W -11000W
• Solar Power (W): 1500W-15000W
• Work Time (h): 10 HOURS
• solar pump's max. flow: 200 m3/h
• solar pump's max. head: 190m
• Max Immersible depth: 40m

So if anyone could offer advice, that would be appreciated: (1) would the smaller solar pumps be suitable, and has anyone set them up successfully? (2) Has anyone wired in a ball-cock cut-off into a pump system like this?

Thanks.

annubis

would it be easier to set it up so that solar pump was pumping all the time and have an overflow running back to stream? perhaps the pumps arent capable of running all the time

patsy_mccabe

Get an IBC and use it as a tank to supply the ballcock. Get a float switch then and put it at the top of the IBC. Wire the pump then through the Normally Open (NO) contacts of the float switch.

Conor20

annubis wrote: »

would it be easier to set it up so that solar pump was pumping all the time and have an overflow running back to stream? perhaps the pumps arent capable of running all the time

Thanks. This would probably be the simplest solution, but it would in theory involve pumping water which had been in contact with animals back into the stream, which isn't ideal from an environmental perspective, so hopefully we will avoid this.

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Get an IBC and use it as a tank to supply the ballcock. Get a float switch then and put it at the top of the IBC. Wire the pump then through the Normally Open (NO) contacts of the float switch.

Thanks. Do you mean using the IBC (I assume you mean a Intermediate bulk container) as the drinking trough? This is the detail of what I was hoping to do, so thanks for that. I guess it's as simple as it sounds - that if the float switch is connected in series with the pump, that it will just break the circuit when the tank is full and the pump will stop. I'm not sure what happens to the electricity the panel is generating when the circuit it's connected to is broken, but I assume it won't damage the panel?

Nekarsulm

One hell of a solar pump if it will move 200 m3 per hour. That's nearly 700 gallons per minute. A sixty horsepower tractor on an NC pump would just about do the same......
I think some ones figures are off.

If it shifted 2 m3 an hour, would be more than ample. Or even 200 gallons per hour.

patsy_mccabe

Ya, an IBC is the 1,000 lt container. Use that to feed an ordinary trough but it will need to be higher up to gravity feed the trough.
I would agree with NEK, cant imagine a solar panel in Ireland doing much pumping, unless it was very large in area. I'd recheck those figures.

TheBody

Get a few of these pumps. FANTASTIC piece of kit. Almost no maintenance required. The cattle pump the water themselves. No power required.

The Real Elmer Fudd

Conor20 wrote: »

Hi all, I'm looking at installing a solar powered water pump on a farm to keep a water trough topped up from a local stream that runs through the land. I was hoping to get any advice or experience that people had (1) about solar powered pumps in general and (2) about wiring up a ball-cock shut off to it. It would be a simple setup: a solar powered pump, with a ball-cock shut off to turn off the pump when the trough is full. The stream is about 1 foot deep at its driest time of year. Assuming a 35 litre requirement per (non-milking) cow per day, it'll need to pump a maximum of 35 litres * 50 cattle = 1,750 litres of water per day. The trough will be about 2m in height above the stream, and about 10 meters away from it.

This is a photo of where the water will be taken from. Hopefully, the silt won't be a problem.



I've been looking at systems such as this one: a 100W Solar Panel + Water pump here :


And then adding a water level sensor switch like this, or this. Though I'm not sure how easy it would be to wire the stop-cock into the circuit. Could anyone offer advice with how to fit the ball-cock shut off? The applications are listed as: aquarium yard & garden ponds, fountains as water feature, Irrigation oxygenate for pond, and watering. There seems to be two broad categories of solar pumps available: smaller ones aimed at garden ponds and watering (of which this is one), and much larger ones aimed at agriculture, which are way oversized for the amount of water we're looking to move per day.

This is heavier duty agricultural solar pump systems.

It's €200-€400, but it appears to be way oversized for the amount of water we're looking to move per day:

• Load Power (W): 1200W -11000W
• Solar Power (W): 1500W-15000W
• Work Time (h): 10 HOURS
• solar pump's max. flow: 200 m3/h
• solar pump's max. head: 190m
• Max Immersible depth: 40m

So if anyone could offer advice, that would be appreciated: (1) would the smaller solar pumps be suitable, and has anyone set them up successfully? (2) Has anyone wired in a ball-cock cut-off into a pump system like this?

Thanks.[qoute]

Hi, OP what did you finish up doing on this project and How did it work out. have you any advice for some looking at a similar situation now?

The Real Elmer Fudd

TheBody wrote: »

Get a few of these pumps. FANTASTIC piece of kit. Almost no maintenance required. The cattle pump the water themselves. No power required.

These look like a good option but how would young stock be able to handle the pump? Have you any experience with them?

einn32

We put one on a 40/50 metre deep bore. Pumped out 16 L/min to a watering hole about 400m. It was claimed it could do 25L/min but we assumed the bore wasn't supplying enough water to do this or pipe wasnt big enough maybe. You probably need to pump in to a tank first as they switch off without sun afaik which is what we set up and then gravity fed to a watering hole. Would the stream supply enough water for it? Good systemthough system though and was easy to set up and get working. If we doubled the solar panels we would double water output according to the company who supplied it.

The Real Elmer Fudd

einn32 wrote: »

We put one on a 40/50 metre deep bore. Pumped out 16 L/min to a watering hole about 400m. It was claimed it could do 25L/min but we assumed the bore wasn't supplying enough water to do this or pipe wasnt big enough maybe. You probably need to pump in to a tank first as they switch off without sun afaik which is what we set up and then gravity fed to a watering hole. Would the stream supply enough water for it? Good systemthough system though and was easy to set up and get working. If we doubled the solar panels we would double water output according to the company who supplied it.

Thanks, i would be taking the water from a small stream. It is to supply a small number of sucklers on about 20 acres of ground. This is the only water supply on the farm and the cattle have always been drinking from various drinking points on the stream.

However, I jointed glas without realising that you can't have drinking points on water courses which need to be closed off by 31st March 2016. It is my intention to pipe water around the farm from the mains at the road but I'm not really in a position to do that until next year as I have a lot of other work to do on that farm first which I intend doing this year and don't want to be digging up water pipes twice. So I'm really only looking for a solution to get me over the next 12 to 18 months.

The nose water pumps look like a good job but I'm just not sure how calves or weanling would handle it.

Markcheese

Would a couple of ram pumps lift water up to drinking troughs ?

solerina

The Real Elmer Fudd wrote: »

These look like a good option but how would young stock be able to handle the pump? Have you any experience with them?

I would love to know that too...do they work well ????

The Real Elmer Fudd

Markcheese wrote: »

Would a couple of ram pumps lift water up to drinking troughs ?

Thanks I just looked at them after reading your post. They might be an option. I hadn't come across them before. I'm not sure if I'd have enough of a down hill flow to run it though. But they do look like a simple system to run

The Real Elmer Fudd

solerina wrote: »

I would love to know that too...do they work well ????

I don't know anyone who has one but I've done a bit of reading on them. Everything I've read states that they work well with larger animals such as cows and horses but there is no mention of younger stock which is what worries me.

If I was happy that younger could work it I think I'd go with the nose pumps.

6480

The Real Elmer Fudd wrote: »

I don't know anyone who has one but I've done a bit of reading on them. Everything I've read states that they work well with larger animals such as cows and horses but there is no mention of younger stock which is what worries me.

If I was happy that younger could work it I think I'd go with the nose pumps.

If your stream is about 600 meters long you could put a wee dam in and about 600 meters down stream your wee dam would be above ground level and water would flow out here through a pipe and fill a drinker .I seen this done and very handy

Farrell

Pure breed did something similar with a ram pump in the summer, filling a ibc tank which gravity fed a drinker

TheBody

The Real Elmer Fudd wrote: »

These look like a good option but how would young stock be able to handle the pump? Have you any experience with them?

We had one for years before my father retired.

They are wonderful yokes but animals would need to be over 8 ish months to use them.

tractorporn

solerina wrote:

I would love to know that too...do they work well ????

We have 3 of those lister nose pumps on bits of land away from the yard. Never had any issue with them the cattle will walk off one at a time when they are thirsty and drink their fill.

In term of the younger stock we have cows and calves in the paddocks so they learn from mammy how to operate the pump. But even bought in stock will learn how to operate it surprisingly quickly the only think you have to do is hand pump up water into the little bowl and the cattle will figure out to push the pump while they are drinking what's in the bowl.

Bitten & Hisses

The Real Elmer Fudd wrote: »

The nose water pumps look like a good job but I'm just not sure how calves or weanling would handle it.

I got an aquamat nose pump from O'Donovan engineering 3 years ago. Superb pump, no problem with smaller animals. The version I got has an additional bowl on the side for calves, which fills when mammy is drinking

Bitten & Hisses

http://www.odonovaneng.ie/product/aquamat-pasture-pump/

The middle photo on the left shows the additional bowl

TheBody

Bitten & Hisses wrote: »

http://www.odonovaneng.ie/product/aquamat-pasture-pump/

The middle photo on the left shows the additional bowl

That's a great idea. So simple!!

tanko

Bitten & Hisses wrote: »

http://www.odonovaneng.ie/product/aquamat-pasture-pump/

The middle photo on the left shows the additional bowl

What is the ideal depth of water needed for the feeder pipe to be in the river?

Bitten & Hisses

I'm using a large enough river, but I'd expect a few inches would do provided there's a decent flow in it. The suction pipe is 3/4 inch.
Another advantage is, it comes with a silt filter to put on the suction pipe.

epfff

Bitten & Hisses wrote: »

I'm using a large enough river, but I'd expect a few inches would do provided there's a decent flow in it. The suction pipe is 3/4 inch.
Another advantage is, it comes with a silt filter to put on the suction pipe.

I have a lister nose pump here it worked well for few years but can't get it to stay primed
Is their something that goes on them

tractorporn

Silt filter is only 2/3" once you keep that covered in water it will suck out of the river

visatorro

See a lad on DD from tipp with a neat looking container which acts as a pump and a fencer. Looks a handy job. Anyone have any experience with this?

THEDOODGE

Hi there, just wondering if one of these pumps would work for me, the stream is fast flowing but only 5 to 6 inches deep at the deepest point, and less in the summer time when i need it most, typical lol, also whats the maximum distance it can be pumped,thanks

Markcheese

THEDOODGE wrote: »

Hi there, just wondering if one of these pumps would work for me, the stream is fast flowing but only 5 to 6 inches deep at the deepest point, and less in the summer time when i need it most, typical lol, also whats the maximum distance it can be pumped,thanks

If the stream is fast flowing out a hydraulic ram in , relatively cheap to buy , and not much to go wrong , in theory it could lift a couple of hundred feet ( depending on the flow ).

THEDOODGE

OK thanks, but im not near an electrcity supply, would i need it to power the hydralic ram?

THEDOODGE

ok, just googled the hydralic ram and id say it should work for me, but i guess id have to feed the water into a IBC type of tank first, then feed it to the cattle via a ballcock system or to the nose type pump ? i dont want to waste water so i need a way of stopping the feed or else have an over flow back to the stream??thanks for the advise

Markcheese

I think there's a few people on here who've got ram pumps ,so maybe start a different thread to ask about how best to use one,and where best to get one from ,