Solar Well Pump / how to splice into secondary power system?

[daniel.smith]

Hey guys, new to this forum and I'm very new to the solar game... any help or advice is welcome Currently, I'm getting a new homestead setup with the aspirations of being entirely green/off-grid one day. Right now, my solar experience is solely on my well pump, which isn't much.

Today, I've got an RPS 800 solar powered well pump. It's an 800 watt system with it's own controller, pretty much a turn-key solution. What I'm trying to figure out is how to make sure of the rest of the system while the pump isn't doing anything. The pump, depending on the day, could fill up my water cistern anywhere between 2-5 hours. That leaves the rest of the day when the system is just sitting idle, and I'd love to tap into the possibility of running a sprinkler/pump system for my garden, or even tools.

I borrowed from Google and did my own paint additions (probably very poorly) but figured a picture might more easily explain what I mean. The solar pump system is basically this type of setup.

The other kicker that I've got is that the pump REALLY can't contend with other devices using the electricity. It really needs the 800 watts to ensure it run effectively. So, is there a way to "splice" or "inject" this type of solution into the mix, but make the system smart enough that when the pump turns off, any/all additions to the system get turned off entirely, and then turned back on when said pump is done doing it's job? Not sure how difficult this would be, or even how to accomplish it. I assume there's a switch that could do it, but it might take someone much smarter than me to do it.

 

[MichaelK]

Solar is getting so cheap now that it might be easier for you to just build a second system side by side with it. I just picked up some REC 260W panels on Friday for 65$ each, so that's just 195$ to more or less equal what you already have.

A 24V system with six of those panels would give you 3+kWh of power in December, and 6+ kWh of power in summer. Close to double that if you put the panels on a rotating array like what I pic below. Four 6V golf-cart batteries in series would give you that 3.0kWh, though your night-time useage will be lower, depending on what you've got running. Throw in a controller, and a 4000W inverter, and you have a system that would provide you with a comfortable 21'st century lifestyle.

One option you might look at is increasing the watts going into your well-pump. Can you provide the specifications? It runs at what voltage, wattage, gallons per day, ect? One possibility is wiring a second 800W array side by side to the first one, but have the first one pointed SE, while the second faces SW. That will broaden out your pump curve without exceeding the amperage limit of your pump. Again, details about the pump first before anything gets changed.

 

[Wellbuilt]

I was looking at the r p s solar pump system .
It looked good but I could only pump to 500 feet with it , my well pump is down 700’
i ended up buying a grundfus SQF pump because it can run on any type of power .
I did not go the solar wrought because it seamed like a wast of solar power to have 1800 watts of solar panels just sitting all day , my pump can pump 6g a min 180 g in half an hour so it fills a water tank at around 12 noon and runs off my out back 3600 watt inverter and uses 700watts of power .
It’s easy enough to just put a tee in the water line and divert the water to the garden .