You caught the water, now move it; or let the sun do it for you.
You've collected the water in rain barrels, but now you need to move the water. Under its own power, water only moves downhill. Use a pump to move it in any other direction. A solar pump provides electricity to move the water. Pipes or hoses make a channel from the water's source to its destination. The electric pump forces the water through the channel. The pump is powered by a portable photovoltaic cell. For pumping in the dark, you need to add a battery to store the electricity converted from the sunlight. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Attach a hose to your rain barrel spigot. Make sure the spigot is closed. Attach the hose to the inflow valve on the 12-volt DC pump. Attach a second hose to the outflow valve of the pump. Put the open end of the outflow hose at the location that you want to apply your water.
2. Cut and end-strip the black wire, and attach it the negative electrical post on the pump. Attach the other end to the negative post on the 12-volt battery.
3. Cut the red piece of wire in half. Strip all four ends. Attach your toggle switch between the two pieces of wire, and cover the attachments with electrical tape.
4. Attach the remaining open ends of the red wire to the positive post on the 12-volt battery and the positive lead on the pump. If the pump begins to run, switch off the toggle to cut the circuit.
5. Connect the portable solar cell to the battery. It has positive and negative leads like jumper cables, which attach likewise to the positive and negative posts of the battery.
6. Bypass the battery, if you like. The solar cell alone will power the pump. The battery just gives you more flexibility on weather and time of day.
Tags: 12-volt battery, Attach hose, battery positive, move water, positive negative