Buadhai Builds A Pond

[buad hai]

^But then you'd be able to see the piranhas....

[DrAndy]

quite

[jumbo]

Very nice BH I envy your artistic flare.

[buad hai]

The solar panel, pump and battery finally arrived yesterday.



We tested it out today and it seems to work fine, although the pump is no powerhouse. All made in China, natch. Duty was 300 baht.

I have to go to Immigration to get an extension of stay this morning, but we plan to buy some flexible plastic tubing while we're out and install the pump later on this afternoon.

Ironic that Thailand's largest solar panel manufacturer is located here in Korat but it was easier and cheaper to order a complete kit made in China from a online retailer in Singapore.

[Jet Gorgon]

Oh, this will be fun. Take lots of snaps, BH. That rock cover looks like a petrified brain.

[buad hai]

That rock cover looks like a petrified brain.

Ah, right. Too funny.

Not exactly "realistic" is it....

[ChiangMai noon]

^
I have to say that your projects seem to develop rather more quickly and successfully than mine.

I'll be going up the new place later to finally start some work on my bamboo hut.

[a. boozer]

That rock cover looks like a petrified brain.

Jet, That reminds me of a regular customer at one business that I had, to this day, I still maintain that he was the world's first surviving brain transplant donor!

[buad hai]

^^Well, I am retired....

[lom]

I'll be going up the new place later to finally start some work on my bamboo hut.

Now, when was it you were gonna move in there?

Octoberish ....

[a. boozer]

^^Well, I am retired....

BH. Are you sure about that? You seem to manage to put plenty into each and every day, sometimes I even feel a tinge of guilt, when I see what you have achieved! Notice I did only say a tinge, certainly never much more than that!

BH. Have just remembered what I haven't done, sorry! (put it down to advancing years), will send later on today.

[Jet Gorgon]

^
I have to say that your projects seem to develop rather more quickly and successfully than mine.

I'll be going up the new place later to finally start some work on my bamboo hut.

Did you take the meow-faces up there?
Maybe you could borrow Mrs B for awhile to help out.

[buad hai]

You seem to manage to put plenty into each and every day

Still stuck with that Puritan ethic. I'm happiest when I'm busy and active and feel that I've accomplished something. No telling what will happen when the garden is overflowing.....

[Lily]

No telling what will happen when the garden is overflowing.....

Then you will just have to watch it from a shady vantage point with a nice cold gin and tonic in your hand.

[a. boozer]

Then you will just have to watch it from a shady vantage point with a nice cold gin and tonic in your hand.[/quote]


Now, that sounds like an excellent idea!

[buad hai]

More Bad Luck - It appears that the solar panel that came with the pump kit is defective. I'll take my DC voltmeter over today to make sure. But, it won't power the pump. However, the pump did work with the residual charge left in the battery.


Putting the pump in the pond.


This terra cotta elephant, named Bai Fern, will serve as the fountain. I drilled a hole in the brick pedestal on which she sits and routed the plastic tubing through there and up to her mouth.


If I ever get a working solar panel I'll mount it up on the wall. This is just temporary.


Looks kind of goofy.


The fountain works. The battery powered the pump for quite some time. It was still going when I left last night and had been pumping for about two hours.

[The_Dude]

BH,
Looks great! Any excessive spraying from the fountain as you where concerned about this before?

[buad hai]

As I suspected, the solar panel is dead. Even in full sun like this, zero output:

Any excessive spraying from the fountain as you where concerned about this before?

No, it's just right. A little splash on the surrounding rocks and plants, but that's what I was aiming for.

[Butterfly]

Made in China, what did you expect ?

[Jet Gorgon]

The fountain works. The battery powered the pump for quite some time. It was still going when I left last night and had been pumping for about two hours.

Cool, BH! I think the water flow would be a better conversation piece if it was coming out of the chang's winkie, but just MHO. Hope you can replace the solar panel, but maybe it just needs to energise for a few days, like new rechargable batteries.

[Thetyim]

What do the instructions say.

Don't you have to leave it set up with the pump off for a couple of days


How many minutes a day are you expecting to run the pump ?
Have you done the calculation.

[Butterfly]

but maybe it just needs to energise for a few days, like new rechargable batteries.

good point, it might as well take 2 or 3 days of sunlight to recharge the battery

[buad hai]

The battery came pre-charged. It ran the pump by itself for two hours. The instructions say you can connect the panel directly to the pump, bypassing the battery. (In fact, they sell kits without batteries.) But, there is no electrical output from the panel. I measured with a meter. Zero. I connected the pump directly to the panel, per the instructions. Nothing. The panel is dead.

The idea is that the pump runs off the panel all day while the battery is also trickle charging. When the sun goes down the battery powers the pump for a couple of hours into the evening.

If you want to run the pump off battery for longer in the evening, then you turn the pump off (switch on battery) and let the panel just charge the battery all day. Then you get several extra hours off the battery at night.

[Jet Gorgon]

^ oh...can you exchange it? Or is it off to the other guy in Korat?

[buad hai]

^I'm sure I'll have to send it back and they'll send another one. One year guarantee on the pump, three years on the panel.