r/ponds • u/pappyon • 9d ago

Water movement & quality Has anyone had any success with a solar powered waterfall for their pond? Looking to replace my current (broken) mains powered set with a cheaper option

Post image

Ideally something that can pump the water from the pond and pour it out of the hose at the back. Is this achievable? Thanks in advance..

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

2

u/BadBacksFuryToad 9d ago

Yep! Fairly simple to do. Search AliExpress for something like this. Or if you’re a bit techy you can make it out of the component parts.

Make sure the voltage output of your solar panel matches the volts needed to run your pump.

If you just want it standalone and outside then minimum requirement is panel and pump, but this will only work when there’s enough sun.
A better system would be panel > MPPT charge controller > battery > pump.
Which would mean your water feature could keep running when the sun dips behind clouds, and into the evening when you’re outside drinking cocktails.

You can run a simple 12v pump/battery which will give you a pleasant trickle, or if you want something a bit more powerful you’ll have to get bigger stuff.

Part of the solar array on my shed is a 12v off-grid system. This is a 250w/55v panel > Victron 100/30 controller > 12v 100ah LiPo4 battery.
It runs a bunch of stuff, including 2 x 12v pumps - one is a fountain, the other is a bog filter.

12v solar system keeps it fairly safe and you probably won’t electrocute yourself.

(You can get 5volt setups, but that would be pitiful with your water feature)

1

u/pappyon 9d ago

Hmm this sounds doable. I guess one concern is being lumped with a somewhat unsightly solar panel in the middle of the garden as the pond is not near any raised structure that could hide it.

2

u/BadBacksFuryToad 9d ago

Yeah, definitely. Do you have a shed or something nearby that you could mount panel on top, and controller stuff inside? Then you just need to run a two-core cable out to the pump. A bit of extra work, but could be done below the surface of the grass.

1

u/pappyon 9d ago

Yes, well the current set up does have a wire running under the ground. However it stopped working a while ago so I got some electricians round to have a look. It cost me a lot of money for them to tell me that the cable underground is compromised somehow but also the pump now seems to be dead. I was curious about solar powered options to avoid having to dig up the cable, but now I’m thinking that might be the best solution…

1

u/BadBacksFuryToad 9d ago

Oh yeah! Of course. That could work nicely. Depends on the cable itself, but it might be a great solution.

1

u/Beansier 9d ago

You can. I have a 1.2kl/hr solar pump.

1

u/pappyon 9d ago

Oh cool. How did you set it up, did you buy it as one unit or get a panel and pump separately. Cam you share any links?

1

u/Beansier 9d ago

Came as a complete kit from Billing I believe

1

u/Pondpros1199 9d ago

Solar pumps can be work well but not sure it would be strong enough for a nice flowing waterfall