Battery for Solar Water feature

WIAWSNB

Korkyb said:

Here are pics of the solar panel and battery.

Do'h! With the battery reconnected, and the panel in the sun, does that LED light up at all?

twopenny

Wonder if it's like some solar lights?
They need to be switched to off while taking in the sun occasionally.
No idea why but it used to work.
Maybe the owner blew the battery by it being constantly charged or discharging to empty too often.

You can buy a whole new one for under £30 if they would fit

WIAWSNB

twopenny said:

Wonder if it's like some solar lights?
They need to be switched to off while taking in the sun occasionally.
No idea why but it used to work.
Maybe the owner blew the battery by it being constantly charged or discharging to empty too often.
You can buy a whole new one for under £30 if they would fit.

Good point.
With solar lights, there is an additional sensor (or perhaps it uses the PV's output when it falls below a certain point? Curious. Anyone know?) to turn the lights on when it's dark enough. They then either run on a timer, or more usually until the charge is simply exhausted.
This allows max daytime charging, without the lights being on and pinching some of the generated power.
What is meant to happen with the water feature? Clearly you'd want this operating during the day when you can see it! Or does it also have a wee light feature?
So I presume that much larger panel is meant to be powerful enough to run the pump and provide a charge to keep it running for some time after the sun has gone down. In ideal sunny conditions, at least.
I'm further going to assume that the PV will charge the batteries regardless of whether the pump is switched on or not?
Can you confirm?

QrizB

WIAWSNB said:

With solar lights, there is an additional sensor (or perhaps it uses the PV's output when it falls below a certain point? Curious. Anyone know?) to turn the lights on when it's dark enough.

I've seen it done either way. Some lights have a sensor, others use the PV panel.