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The pipe fittings did not fit the
pump assembly, so I had to improvise. This seems to be common for many products
imported from China these days. We leveled the bath and filled it with water.
When I finished, the sun was nearly directly overhead, so the pump motor sprang to
life and did indeed produce a nice spray of water. Later that afternoon, I
noticed that the thing had stopped. I went out and looked at it. I quickly
spotted the problem. The shadow of the center nozzle had bisected one of the 16
solar cells. This shadow killed the electrical power output from the solar panel
and thus killed power to the pump motor. A better solution would have been to move
the solar panel to a separate assembly, which could then be mounted facing the sun.
In our Colorado location a due south direction at a 45 degree angle collects the most
sunlight. My wide decided to leave the standing water in the birdbath and forgo
this fountain feature until I could buy a suitable solar panel. I will then
rewire the fountain pump using that panel as the power source. |
