Hi there. Thanks for a great forum. 

We have a small off-grid farm in Montagu that we can only visit every 2nd weekend. I have a 1.1kw submersible pump that is powered by 9 panels. At this stage, when I turn it on it runs when the sun comes up and switches off when the sun disappears. Is there a way of controlling that start and stop so that while I'm away, it can operate independently. Also, is it about standard for north facing panels to start at around 9:30 and switch off at around 17:00? Thanks   

9:30-17:00 sounds about right, give or take a few minutes. Mine is north facing and at about 28 degrees and that is more or less my experience.

What doe you mean by "controlling the start while you are away"? Do you want to control it remotely? or doe you want some sort of pre-defined schedule while you are away?

 

Edited January 13, 20206 yr by stoic

Hi Stoic

Thanks for reply stoic.

I think remote control would be complicated. I would eventually like to install stations to water specific areas. I have battery operated control valves for that.

Normally when we go there, we turn the borehole on when we arrive and then I use taps to direct water to a tank and to various other spots.  I don't want to run the borehole all the time while away, waste of water. But would like to run it for maybe an hour a day to keep ponds topped up for animals and grass and trees that we plant alive.

Plant something and irrigate it if you have excess water.

On 2020/01/13 at 10:24 AM, Chris Kitson said:

Hi Stoic

Thanks for reply stoic.

I think remote control would be complicated. I would eventually like to install stations to water specific areas. I have battery operated control valves for that.

Normally when we go there, we turn the borehole on when we arrive and then I use taps to direct water to a tank and to various other spots.  I don't want to run the borehole all the time while away, waste of water. But would like to run it for maybe an hour a day to keep ponds topped up for animals and grass and trees that we plant alive.

You have a few options for scheduling it for an hour a day:

1. Look for a control box that has the option to schedule
2. Get an arduino or raspberry pi and a simple relay and  program it to switch you borehole on and off at certain times
3. If your existing control box has over/under voltage protection you could make do with a normal water timer to open or close the valve based on time. The control box should detect that it is using too much power and switch off when the timer is closed, and will run when the timer is open. This is all dependent on your control box though

Hi Stoic

Thanks for the info. Is it still possible with this controller ( see attached ) that's been installed?

On 2020/01/16 at 10:09 AM, Chris Kitson said:

Thanks for the info. Is it still possible with this controller ( see attached ) that's been installed?

sadly i am not by any means an expert on control boxes   The white box on the right should be the container that houses the pump protection circuitry. 

Does your pump auto switch off when the well is empty? if so this might be a way of doing it without getting a water timer. if your pump has dry-run protection it will usually have the option to delay next start. If this is the case you can delay the start by 24hrs. but this will only work if your well empties fairly quickly though. The pump will then swich on ... pump well empty, and delay starting again by 24 hrs.

Maybe try and get some documentation on the controller,

Thanks Stoic