Solar Pumps

Well I have no personal experience of solar pumps other than some idiot young farmer rigged 1 up in the field next door to pump water out of the burn into a big container for his cattle. He is renting the field from our neighbouring farmer.
After the cattle (lots and all with new calves) had been in the field for about 2 days all hell broke loose. The cows were bringing the place down, bellowing. There are usually peace and quiet with cow and their calves so there had to be something wrong. Yes there was something wrong alright. The stupid Joderall Bank arrangement wasn't working so the cows had no water and suckling cows need A LOT OF water.
I rushed and phoned the neighbouring farmer to get him to contact the cattle owner so he could do something PDQ. Too late the cattle barged through electric fencing and post and wire stuff went for a burton too so the cows and calves could get to the burn. Mayhem ensued as 2 calves get tangled up in the electric fence and their mothers were panicking.
Eventually the idiot appeared and sorted things out. 1 calf had a nasty cut as did 1 of the cows. All this was caused because the lazy farmer couldn't be bothered to construct a place for the cattle to drink out of the burn without them actually standing in it which I think is prohibited (laws on polluting watercourses) I think
He is now doing what he should have done in the 1st place but I was amazed that he would just presume his pump idea would work without coming to check it regularly. The farmer probably needed a solar panel arrangement like the 1 above @HarryS to pump enough water for his cattle!

 

With the current weather that would probably just about power a few lights in our garden!

That sounds particularly idiotic, hope the cows and calves were all ok in the end

 

Well its due to arrive tomorrow, as is the sun, so will soon find out. As somebody mentioned earlier I think fountains require a lot less power, but glad somebody at least has had a good experience with one!

 

I do hope it does what you want it to , having a timer is good if your just having it running on nice days while your out in the garden it should be ok , please keep us informed a friend has some lights and the work very well even on dull days they get a little charge.

 

Well the pump arrived today. The battery needs an 8 hour charge before I can run it properly but I dipped it in a bucket to test the flow and was pleasantly surprised that it squirted like a hosepipe even when I held it above my head. Remains to see how long the battery runs for or how/if it performs on overcast days, but first impressions are very good.