Pasture Watering

[Ben H]

The thing that caught my eye about the airlift (just read about them, don't have one) is that it's simply an air compressor with a turbine, you put your well in the best place and the tower in the best place. An air hose goes from the compressor to your well and you use a pneumatic pump. At the top of the well on the air line you have an air fitting. If for some reason the water supply fails to remain filled due to a lack of wind, you use an air compressor with a generator or something to pump your water.

 

[kolanuraven]

The day the creeks go dry is the day I don't own cows in this country.

Same here!


I'm down to just a handful of cows now......but they water from the creeks

 

[Denny]

We have stream's,pond's and small lakes to water from. Two pastures have a corral area with a stock tank set up. My favorite is a stream about 16" deep with a gravel bottom it keeps them watered just fine. Water has'nt been much of an issue here but with the tree hugger's I bet it will be someday..

 

[ecofarmer]

The lorentz pumps are nice.


Big Muddy rancher
How often are you going though batteries? Something is not set right or sized right in your system. 3 things kill batteries; heat, cold, and deep cycling but most of the time it's the depth of cycle that kills people where I live at.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

The lorentz pumps are nice.


Big Muddy rancher
How often are you going though batteries? Something is not set right or sized right in your system. 3 things kill batteries; heat, cold, and deep cycling but most of the time it's the depth of cycle that kills people where I live at.

I have three systems 2 are 2 battery and 1 is a one battery system. Seems like I replace a set every year. They are used basically real hard 2 months of the year. Some times longer but not with heat or cattle load of july and August.

 

[per]

One of my systems has 8, 8 volt golf cart batteries in a 32 volt system. We are working on year 14. Maintaining batteries is harder during the down months than when using them.

 

[ecofarmer]

Our house and shop both got two 48 volt forklift packs. Our watering system got a remanufactured 48 volt battery pack.

We replaced all the caps on the batteries and use gravity fed watering system. No more pulling the caps off the batteries every week to top them off. Now we just take off the top of the jugs and add in a gallon or two of distilled water.

 

[per]

Our house and shop both got two 48 volt forklift packs. Our watering system got a remanufactured 48 volt battery pack.

We replaced all the caps on the batteries and use gravity fed watering system. No more pulling the caps off the batteries every week to top them off. Now we just take off the top of the jugs and add in a gallon or two of distilled water.

Is that a homemade deal or commercially available? Sounds like a great idea.

 

[ecofarmer]

Per you left that one question a little open.

I don't think you're asking about the forklift batteries but if you are they come in 12, 24, 36, and 48 volt configurations. I think 24 and 36 volts are the most common but the 48 volt packs are used in huge factories. They come in a nice steal box that you can lift with some chains and front end loader.

I think your asking about the battery caps for keeping the batteries toped off. There have been a few systems on the market for a few years that has a quick clasp to them on a garden hose for a fem minutes to fill them up. I'm using the "fillwatch watering battery system" for the battery caps. I have a 2 gallon jug about a foot above the top of the battery and use clear tubing for the connecting hoses between the caps and the jug.

http://www.forklifttrainingsystem.com/products/battery/fillwatch.htm

 

[per]

thanks eco. I use those caps that hold what boils out and drains back in when cool. Your system looks better. We deal with some mighty cold here sometimes so keeping the reservoir from freezing could be a challenge. The forklift batteries sound interesting too. Do you heat water with solar for you house?

 

[ecofarmer]

I tried some caps like you were talking about but I did not like them. We don't get near the freezing you'll do up north.

We have an indoor wood boiler for the winter and use soil water heaters during the summer for all of our heating needs.

The forklift batteries are the best. They come in a nice steal box that you can move with a engine lift, all the interconnects are solid metal so you don't have all the wire terminations to worry about coming apart, there made for more abuse then what we can give them, and you know you got all your batteries out of one run (batch).

 

[sandhiller]

2 new batteries for my one solar system set me back $300 today. I might need another pair yet this year. :?

Now why would you be using batteries in a system to pump water? javascript:emoticon(':???:') I guess I may be naive, please explain to me why you have batteries in a solar water pumping system.

Get a bigger tank to store the water and set up your system to pump when the sun shines.

A tank is way more efficient than a battery at storing water.

 

[per]

2 new batteries for my one solar system set me back $300 today. I might need another pair yet this year. :?

Now why would you be using batteries in a system to pump water? javascript:emoticon(':???:') I guess I may be naive, please explain to me why you have batteries in a solar water pumping system.

Get a bigger tank to store the water and set up your system to pump when the sun shines.

A tank is way more efficient than a battery at storing water.

That is all great in a place where the water doesn't freeze and you are right it is way more efficient and effective. I can't speak for BMR but my cows get water all winter and keeping large volumes of water at 10-40 below takes lots of energy. Pumping on demand is more efficient in that situation. Anything down to -10, storing water is doable.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

2 new batteries for my one solar system set me back $300 today. I might need another pair yet this year. :?

Now why would you be using batteries in a system to pump water? javascript:emoticon(':???:') I guess I may be naive, please explain to me why you have batteries in a solar water pumping system.

Get a bigger tank to store the water and set up your system to pump when the sun shines.

A tank is way more efficient than a battery at storing water.

That is all great in a place where the water doesn't freeze and you are right it is way more efficient and effective. I can't speak for BMR but my cows get water all winter and keeping large volumes of water at 10-40 below takes lots of energy. Pumping on demand is more efficient in that situation. Anything down to -10, storing water is doable.

I guess that's the way my system came. Two panels and two batteries. I use 1000 gallon tanks. Maybe more panels and tanks would work but if my batteries are low my pump doesn't work,

 

[sandhiller]

Now why would you be using batteries in a system to pump water? javascript:emoticon(':???:') I guess I may be naive, please explain to me why you have batteries in a solar water pumping system.

Get a bigger tank to store the water and set up your system to pump when the sun shines.

A tank is way more efficient than a battery at storing water.

That is all great in a place where the water doesn't freeze and you are right it is way more efficient and effective. I can't speak for BMR but my cows get water all winter and keeping large volumes of water at 10-40 below takes lots of energy. Pumping on demand is more efficient in that situation. Anything down to -10, storing water is doable.

I guess that's the way my system came. Two panels and two batteries. I use 1000 gallon tanks. Maybe more panels and tanks would work but if my batteries are low my pump doesn't work,

Bigger tank and not wasting the inefficiency of charging batteries will get you more water per day.
How deep is your water level?
What kind of pump are you using?
Does your pump controller have a low voltage disconnect that you could raise the voltage on?
possibly you need a different kind of pump or a current booster to run the pump without batteries.

 

[sandhiller]

2 new batteries for my one solar system set me back $300 today. I might need another pair yet this year. :?

Now why would you be using batteries in a system to pump water? javascript:emoticon(':???:') I guess I may be naive, please explain to me why you have batteries in a solar water pumping system.

Get a bigger tank to store the water and set up your system to pump when the sun shines.

A tank is way more efficient than a battery at storing water.

That is all great in a place where the water doesn't freeze and you are right it is way more efficient and effective. I can't speak for BMR but my cows get water all winter and keeping large volumes of water at 10-40 below takes lots of energy. Pumping on demand is more efficient in that situation. Anything down to -10, storing water is doable.

So how do you do that, I would think keeping batteries warm enough to hold much charge would be harder than storing water in a insulated tank. I wouldn't think starting a engine would be much fun every day either, would you run one nonstop all winter?

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

That is all great in a place where the water doesn't freeze and you are right it is way more efficient and effective. I can't speak for BMR but my cows get water all winter and keeping large volumes of water at 10-40 below takes lots of energy. Pumping on demand is more efficient in that situation. Anything down to -10, storing water is doable.

I guess that's the way my system came. Two panels and two batteries. I use 1000 gallon tanks. Maybe more panels and tanks would work but if my batteries are low my pump doesn't work,

Bigger tank and not wasting the inefficiency of charging batteries will get you more water per day.
How deep is your water level?
What kind of pump are you using?
Does your pump controller have a low voltage disconnect that you could raise the voltage on?
possibly you need a different kind of pump or a current booster to run the pump without batteries.

It's a basic Cap Solar system using a M20 sun motor pump. It;'s going into it's 10th season. I'm not much of a electrical engineer.

 

[per]

Easier to insulate a battery box and trough than keep a large volume of water from freezing. An underground tank could work in the right location. Batteries work in the cold especially when cycled and insulated. I use a wind charger as well. As far as starting an engine, I only use this option when the wind and sun are not working for me and keep my generator in the shop. I imagine there are lots of ways to keep one out in the field, start every four hours, keep in an insulated hut or something only limited to your imagination and necessity. Heat tube and panels could be used to heat water or huts. Not ruling out your premise. I use several different kinds of pumps but in a bore well I like the multi AC DV grundfos unit. It takes any type of voltage and adapts to it so as long as it has some sort of power it will pump until the float shuts it off. I don't use a low voltage shut off as the trough is not unreasonably big.