Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

System · April 2005

Does anyone know the voltage ranges for a 12VDC Shurflow 2088 pump. Does it have to be run off a battery or can it be wired directly to panel?

Thanks,

Jay

System2 · July 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

Well I didn't get any answers, even from NAWS, so I went and bought one and have been experimenting with it for over a month now.

Here is my setup:

Shurflo 2088-443-144
5 inch heat sink for 2088
Inline filter 1/2 pipe
1/2 pipe to 3/4 garden hose adapter (2x)
Solarex MSX-64 panels (2x) wired in parallel

I have 25 feet of garden hose that runs to the river in front of my house and either 50 feet or 200 feet of garden hose running to a single sprinkler.

When running the 50 foot section of hose the voltage is in the 11 volt range. When it is pushing the 200 foot of hose the voltage drops to the 8 volt range.

In both scenarios I get enough water to adequately sprinkle the respective gardens. I have to clean the filter daily and that is the only maintenace with the system. The Solarex panels really die with even a cirus cloud overhead, but they are 10 years old. Though we have had almost 6 weeks of 90F weather the garden looks great. In our area the field corn is curling up due to the heat and drought.

Jay

System2 · July 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

I quess I forgot to mention but the panels are wired directly to the pump.

Jay

niel · July 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

you should have some sort of regulation on there jay as motors can't take running higher voltage for too long. any cheap one will do as long as it can handle the current.
niel

System2 · July 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

Thanks for the advice Niel.

It seems like the current draw is lowering the voltage to within the operating range of 13 volts max. I am wondering if one is required. The motor does get quite hot though.

Real Goods has a PV Direct Pump Controller that actually MPPTs the input for best output. The 7a version is $106 and the 10a version is $135. I am wondering if this would be worth the cost of more output and safer operation. Does any place else sell them? Real Goods always tends to be too pricey for their products.

What else would be a good choice for limiting the voltage?

Thanks,

Jay

niel · July 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

you could do a google search or maybe somebody could chime in here with advice on which way to go with it and from who as i don't have a pump yet myself. the mpp would afford you longer pumping times like early morning and late evening when there's less power coming from the pvs. even on cloudy days it'll give it a little extra kick and sometimes that's all that's needed to keep it going. it's your choice and decision to make.
niel

System2 · July 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

For about $100 you could buy a charge regulator and a battery.

That would eliminate any over voltage problem.

But then you would have new problems. You would probably run the battery flat if you irrigated long enough.

Maybe the most economical way would be to continue as you have been.

It would probably be cheaper to rebuild your 2088 if you cook it than buying the equipment to protect it.

System2 · July 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

Can you replace that inline filter with something larger than 1/2"? Depending on how fine the mesh is, the pump may have to work hard just to push water through it, especially when the mesh gets partially clogged. And of course, a harder-working pump is a hotter pump, which is not good.

How about deleting the filter between the pump and the garden hose entirely, and instead, using a BIG filter on the intake end of the hose you dip into the river? Seems to me I have seen some filters that are as big as a football or more. They would have much less resistance to water flow. As side advantages, a filter on the inlet would keep grit out of the pump, a good thing - and you would have to clean it much less often. Maybe this is a win-win-win situation.

Going a little further with the idea, is the river water really so gritty that you need a filter? If you can keep the intake a couple feet off the river bottom, you may find that the water is clean enough that you don't need a filter at all. That is what I do for the water at my camp in Maine, though I admit I am drawing water from a clear clean lake, not a river.

Finally, a harder-working pump draws more current, which may account for some of the BIG voltage drop you are seeing. Running a 12-volt pump on 8 volts doesn't seem wise to me. Your problem doesn't seem to be overvoltage, but rather undervoltage.

Bill

System2 · July 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

TCurran and Bill,

Thanks for your feedback. I have been away on vacation so I am just reading it now.

I am wondering if the MPPT pump adapter will protect it that much. A $90 pump isn't that expensive, unless I burn one up a season.

I think the larger filter at the river makes a lot of sense. I will probably do that plus keep the smaller one at the pump. The inlet is at the bottom of the river and it definitely needs to be filtered. Most of what are in the filter are midge larvea but small stones and such do get the the filter.

I try to pump to the further garden as little as possible cause the 8 volts does bother me. I am no EE so your feedback is welcomed.

Thanks again,

Jay

niel · July 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

try to raise the filter up a bit more from the bottom because even a larger filter will clog with debri from the very bottom.
niel

System2 · July 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

Jay,

At our cabin we pump from a river. We use a combination of an anchor (well, cement blocks) and a mooring buoy to hold our inlet the right distance above the bottom so that we don't get stones, silt, etc. It works quite well, plus the buoy helps keep anyone in a boat from running a prop over our water line.

--Tad

Brock · July 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

We also use bay water for watering. I made up a section of pipes that form a "T" on the bottom, one is the outlet and the other two are just sealed. A 4th goes straight up about 2 feet to an inlet filter. The whole setup is in about 6 to 7 feet of water. It is amazing how much just two feet off the bottom makes. I used to clean the filter ever two to three weeks. I haven't had to clean it yet this year.

I would also strongly recommend the filter on the inlet side. That is the only filter I have on mine. I use 1.5 inch inlets to the pump and regular 3/4 inch garden hose after that.

System2 · August 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

Thanks for all the great feedback.

I will definitely be adding a filter to the river end of the system. I wish the river was deeper, but it is only about 2 foot at the moment, so suspending it will be a trick. The 3 gpm pump shouldn't suck up too many stones as it doesn't have the velocity over a large filter to pick up stones.

Did y'all make your filters or did you buy them?

Thanks again,

Jay

Brock · August 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

Not exactly what is was meant for but check out
http://www.zeestop.com/

System2 · August 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

Jay wrote:

I wish the river was deeper, but it is only about 2 foot at the moment, so suspending it will be a trick.

Jay -

Get a couple cement blocks - the ones with two openings (webs?). Set one on its side in the river, about 6 feet shoreward from the intake location. Set the other one on end in the river at the location of the intake. Pass the intake hose through one opening in the first block, through the upper opening in the second block, and let the end protrude a foot or so beyond the second block. This will hold it firmly and reliably about 12-14" above the river bottom.

Works for me, using 1-3/4" black plastic water hose with a metal footvalve/strainer on the end.

Bill

Brock · August 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

Here is another larger, less expensive filter I ran across.

http://www.kleen-flo.net/

I am going to have to go get one to see how it compares to the one I have.

System2 · August 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

Jay,

We made our filter. We used a 5 gallon pickle tub (the white plastic kind with the impossible-to-open lids)--drilled 1/2" holes all around it and coverted it with food-grade plastic mesh. We installed a threaded coupling through the lid with the footer valve on the inside and out water line on the outside. When we had the intake in shallower water, we just put a large rock in the bottom before closing and it sat on the bottom and kept the inlet about 1' off the bottom. We've moved the water system to the other side of the island now to get into deeper water and just leave out the rock...using the cinder block/mooring buoy I mentioned above to hold it at the desired depth.

--Tad

System2 · September 2005

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions.

Irrigating the garden is done for the season, but I will let you know what I use next year.

Jay

System2 · March 2006

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

Have you considered using a short length of the pvc wellpoint with the thin slits in it. Should keep out the sand. Here in Florida people buy plastic ducks to float their sprinkler intakes off the bottom, don't know where they get them.

Rex

System2 · July 2006

Re: Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

What if you had a shurflo 2088 pump in 24 volts rather than 12 volts? Wouldn't this alleviate some of the overheating issues, due to lower amperages? Since you have a pair of 64 watt panels, couldn't these be wired to deliver 24 volts nominally, rather than 12?

Voltage ranges for Shurflow 2088

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