How to build a Solar Power source?

[Rikko]

Hey Sam,

Walmart also sells all-in-one solar powered "pond" pump units for a surprisingly low $40 - comes with a solar panel about 4"x4", covered in beautiful (hic) faux rock, and is directly connected to a submersible pump.
Under full sun it pushes a fair bit of water - depending on what you're looking to spend, one of these units might be cannibalizable for what you want to do.

[Samw]

Hey, thanks for all the ideas. What's the difference between a Marine battery and a car battery?

[Samw]

So I may just go for AC power for now.

Maybe something like:

Motomaster 300A Power Pack $49.99

5-6W Solar Panel - EBay

Jebao 12VDC Pump

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Samw

Hey, thanks for all the ideas. What's the difference between a Marine battery and a car battery?

be carfull not much you don't realy want either as so many marine batteries are heavy versions of car batteries.. what you want is a true deep cell battery not a marine starting battery or a car battery.. the difference is the deep cell is designed to be deeply discharged then recharged, where a car battery is ment to remain fairly charged at all times.. also a true deep cell has way more capacity than a simular sized starting battery.

here are some good pages on batteries

http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden//carfaq.htm

http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm

http://www.phrannie.org/battery.html

Steve

[Samw]

Ok, I'm not 100% sure what the advantages of buying a separate battery, charge controller, and inverter would be over buying just the powerpack/powerbox.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Samw

Ok, I'm not 100% sure what the advantages of buying a separate battery, charge controller, and inverter would be over buying just the powerpack/powerbox.

the power pack power box is usually a crappy battery. like a car type battery as they expect it to seldom have to be used as the power pack is plugged in for charging and also runs off your wall outlet until the power goes out.

Steve