Apologies if this doesn’t fit the community

I’ve been helping my neighbor replace his lawn with a garden - last summer our project was building a terraced raised bed thing with secondhand soil and secondhand cinder blocks, and some new pavers in the front. I’d very much like to set up a water feature on that raised bed. He spends most days sitting on his porch, reading scifi novels and talking to folks walking by, so he could hear it while he’s out there. I know it’s kind of a silly luxury so I’m trying to use used components and I’d really like to set it up using a solar panel to power the pump.

I can handle the wiring and electronics with some guidance, but I know very little about pumps and solar panels for finding something that’ll fit our use case. I think ideally it’d be a secondhand panel a few feet in size and a pump that can handle a varying amount of power based on the time of day. I’d like to move more than a trickle of water, and I’ll make sure there’s some shade plants so we don’t lose much water to evaporation, though we don’t get many droughts where we are.

  • jadero@slrpnk.net
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    7 months ago

    Yes.

    Most passenger vehicles have 12v electrical systems to run everything of note. Even fully electric vehicles typically have a 12v system separate from the transport battery to run things like wipers and lights.

    There may be some components that run at 3 or 5 volts because they contain computer chips. Most of the fun stuff, like pumps and motors, run directly off 12v.

    You don’t have to buy new, either, as there are surely wrecking/salvage yards nearby.