Dual RPS 800 Solar Pump Systems for Orchard Irrigation

This system was installed by one of our customers in Southern California for a remote off-grid orchard.

He came to us looking to pump water out of an existing well from a depth of 160 feet, to a tank 175 feet above and 1700 feet away from the well head.  This is no small feat for a solar powered system, but we were up for the challenge of helping him out with a low cost, high reliability system.

The water is needed to irrigate an orchard, so quite a bit of water is needed each day.  At least several thousand gallons.  At a total head of 335 feet, the RPS 800 will produce about 1.5 GPM, although we do not recommend it, as it is beyond our specification pressures.

In this case, we recommended he use two pumps, one to pump water from the well into a tank located at the well head and another to pump from the tank to a secondary tank 175 feet above the well head.

He ended up going with this suggestion, plus several extra solar panels in order to maximize water production each day.  In total he ended up installing two RPS 800 solar pumps and 1880 watts of our mono-crystalline solar panels.

Since the water is used for an orchard, he also installed a backup gas powered option for cloudy days.  This system consists of a 2000w Honda generator and two 48V converters.  If the sun is blocked for a few days, he is able to turn on the generator to produce extra water.

As much as I like to write about our customers installations, I think he sums it up best:

“Thanks again!!  All set up and running… Final set up…two controllers, one in well pumping with twelve 90W panels. (230 feet down – water at 160 feet) Second pump in 3000 gallon tank pumping up 175 feet and 1700 feet to 5000 gallon tank (eight 100 watt panels). Both controllers are connected to four 12 volt deep cycle 110 amp batteries.  When needed with one 2000 w Honda generator and two 110AC to 48 volt converters with one gallon of gas, I get 5 hours of pumping!!!”

This is the feedback we like to hear!  From our smallest 200 watt installations, to much larger multi-kilowatt installations, we are here to help.  Just let us know what you need.

As always feel free to give us a call at 888-637-4493.