What is solar pump controller? How does solar pump controller work?

Solar pump controller also named solar pump inverter, solar pump drive, solar water pump controller, or VFD solar inverter, it is one of the key components in the solar pumping system. The function of the solar pump controller for the solar pumping system is like a “heart” for humans.

Solar pump controller can run water pump with solar. When there is enough sunshine, it can convert DC from solar panels to AC to drive the water pump to get the water, from water sources to the places where need water.

It is built based on MPPT Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technology, which can maximize the output efficiency of solar panels, and make full use of solar energy to create AC electricity.

What features does solar pump controller have?

• No need batteries or other power staters, it is cost effective choice in long term
• It can work in a lowest cost way both in day time and dark time
• Solar pump inverter is durable and reliable for end users, can be widely accepted by many markets and clients
• Easily install and use

What advantages/benefits does solar water pump controller have?

• It can be easily installed and widely used to get water for drinking and irrigation, friendly to human
• It needs much less cost compare with traditional diesel generator pump system
• Friendly to environment with zero emission of greenhouse gases
• No need for human to maintain, it can automatically start to run when there is sunshine, and stop to run when there is no sunshine, or when sunshine is weak

What is solar pumping system? How does solar pumping system work?

Solar pumping systems mainly consists of solar panels, solar pump controller, solar water pump and cables.

The function of solar pump system is when sunshine is strong enough, this system can get energy from the sunshine by solar panels, then it drives the pump to get the water from the water sources (like well, river, and so on).

Solar pumping systems can be widely used in many different areas, like drinking water for humans or animals, agricultural irrigation, desert control, forestry irrigation, pond management, and industrial use such as wastewater treatment, etc.

Solar pump system is friendly to the environment and human, it also has good ROI (Return On Investment), widely accepted by worldwide markets.

What kinds of solar panels can work with solar water pump controller?

For most of solar water pump controllers in the market, both mono crystal solar panels and poly crystal solar panels can work with solar water controller.

What kinds of solar pump controllers there are in the most of worldwide market?

There are two main kinds solar pump inverters.

The first one is solar dc pump inverter, it is used with dc pump. It is mainly for small power of solar pump, most are less than 0.75kw.

The second one is solar ac pump inverter, it is used with ac pump, including surfaced pump and submersible pump, mainly for large pumps which power is over 1.5kw. The popular power of solar ac pump inverters in the market are from 2.2 to 110kw.

By the way, both the surface pump and submersible pump can work with solar pump controller.

What kind of solar pump controller is more popular in most markets? Solar DC pump controller or solar ac pump controller?

Compare with solar dc pump system and solar ac pump system, the solar ac pump system has larger demand in most the markets, because it is more stable and have a longer lifetime. What’s more, solar ac pump system can be used in more different situations, especially for larger projects which need more water flower.

Which kind of solar pump controller is better? Solar ac pump inverter or solar dc pump inverter is better?

It depends on your project demands, if your need a small water flower at a certain time, especially if the pump power in your solar pumping system is less than 0.75kw, then solar dc pump inverter is more suitable for you. Because it can help you reduce less cost. But if your need more water and need to use large power pump in your project, then solar ac pump inverter and solar ac pump system is the better choice for you.

Can I use solar ac pump inverter to connect and work with solar dc pump?

No, solar ac pump inverter can only work with solar ac pump, solar dc pump inverter can only work with solar dc pump.

Besides, the specification of output from inverter should be same as input of pump. For example, three phase 380vac output solar ac pump inverter, only can work with three phase 380vac input solar ac pump.

What kinds of solar ac pump inverter are popular in most markets?

There are mainly three types of solar ac pump inverters in most markets, they are:

• Solar pump inverter with single phase 220-240vac output
• Solar pump inverter with three phase 220-240vac output
• Solar pump inverter with three phase 380-460vac output

What is single phase solar pump controller?

Normally, when we call single phase solar pump controller, it is with single phase,220vac output, it can be used for single phase pump, which need single phase 220vac input.

What is 3 phase solar pump controller?

Normally, when we mention 3 phase solar pump controllers, they consist of two types of 3 phase solar pump controllers. One is 3 phase 220vac output, the other is 3 phase 380vac output.

These 2 different types of 3 phase solar pump controllers have to work with different types of ac input solar pumps, 3 phases, 220vac output solar pump controller must work with 3 phase 220vac input pump, 3 phase 380/460vac solar pump controller must work with 3 phase 380/460vac input pump.

Most of large solar pump system request using 3 phase 380vac output solar pump controllers in the word to get large water flower from the solar pumps.

Whether solar pump controller only can work with solar energy? Can it work with AC grid power? Or generator?

Take VOKEK VOK200 Series Solar pump controller as an example, it can work with AC grid (single phase 220vac input/ three phase 220vac input/ three phase 380vac or 460vac input), Generator, and solar arrays.

When sunshine is strong enough, it works with solar panels only. When sunshine is not strong enough, it can get power from AC grid or generator.

Besides, it also has hybrid function, when the sunshine is not strong enough (there still having sunshine), it can connect with both solar arrays and AC grid power at the same time, and get the power from AC grid power and solar arrays at the same time. Very convenient for end-users and save cost intelligently.

How can I make solar pump system perform well? What affects the performance of solar pump system?

Solar pump system consists of solar panels, solar pump, solar pump inverter solar cables, relative switches, solar bracket.

For most solar pump system project cases, the performance of solar pump system many related with the following three aspects:

• The quality of solar panels
• The quality of pump
• The quality and adjustment (or installation skill) of solar pumping inverter
• Whether the cable type and quality are good and suitable for your solar pump system

How many solar panels does it take to power a water pump? How many solar panels do I need to run a water pump?

Different brands of solar pump controllers have different answers to this question. Normally, If you are using VOKEK solar water pumping controller, we suggest the input of total power from the solar panels should be total power of solar arrays input should be large than 1.3 to 1.5 times of rated power of pumps, and the rated power of inverter should be same or larger than the rated power of pumps.

What is a good solar water pumping controller?

A good solar water pumping controller has to be high quality with good long term stable and high-efficiency performance.

What’s more, this kind of product need to do some setting during installation, and it has 12/18 months warranty normally, you’d better buy from reliable solar water pumping controller supplier. If you want to import solar pumping controller from reliable and professional China supplier, you could contact VOKEK, this is a professional and reliable solar water pumping supplier with over 15 years of industry experience, its solar pumping controllers are hot selling in worldwide markets with great client feedback.

What is an excellent solar water pump controller supplier? How can I start solar pump controller or solar pump system business? Any tips for starting solar pump system business?

When you are selecting suppliers, it means you are selecting people (supports + services) and their products.

For product, quality and performance are the most important parts. Almost all the suppliers/sellers around the world will tell you that their products are good. You can ask your solar water pump controller supplier, whether they can offer you their client feedback to check, it is a good way for you to refer to.

Whether only have good client feedback from the seller, then it means he is a good and right person to work with? The answer is definitely NOT.

Most Chinese solar pump controller suppliers offering 12 months or 18 months warranty for the buyer, since your goods shipped from the suppliers’ companies. VOKEK is professional and reliable solar water pump controller supplier in China, normally VOKEK offers 18 months warranty for clients since your goods shipped from the company.

Only having the warranty is not enough, when you communicate with the suppliers, you can feel that whether they are reliable and trustworthy from what they said and what they have done for you. It is normal for the buyers to have some product questions, especially you never work with the new supplier or just start to work with your new supplier. It is a test for suppliers whether they can offer the right answers for you.

Besides, it is also a test for your supplier when you meet after-sales problems. After-sales problems might be caused by many reasons (like whether the installer installs and adjust the inverter in the right way, whether the quality of other components is good or suitable enough for the inverter, etc.). If it is the problem with the product itself and within the warranty period, after you offered the details to your supplier, it is a test for the supplier whether they can act as they promised you before.

Some sellers only want to do short term business and earn “quick money” from the buyers and markets, but some sellers are good and really want to do long term business and support their partners to expand more business together, so you need to have good judgment on this matter by yourself, make the right decision to work with reliable partners, it can help you a lot to expand your solar water pump controller much easier.

If you are finding a reliable long-term solar manufacturer partner from China in your solar water pump controller business, you can try to work with VOKEK, this company is professional and competitive enough, it can support you to make your solar water pump controller business to be competitive in your market.

What’s more, for the buyers who want to import goods from China directly, whether your supplier has enough international business experience to arrange to send out your goods to your seaport is also important, after all, to send goods from China to your seaport related with many international business details.

What is the business opportunity trend of solar water pump inverter and solar pumping system business in the future?

Human, animal, and crops all need lots of water, it means there are huge demands for water, not only there are still many places especially remote places without electricity, but also have huge demands for water. Compare with many other ways to get water from water sources, solar water pumping system is one of the most convenient ways to choose.

Besides, about the total cost of the solar water pumping system, its cost is mainly focusing on solar panels, from the below chart, we can see the cost of solar panels in the past recent years were keeping going down, it makes many world wide end users can accept installing solar water pump systems.

Chart showing the historical levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) from solar power in China. Source: Yan et al. (2019).

Therefore, we deeply believing the future market demands of solar water pump controllers and solar water pumping systems will become larger and larger. Welcome to contact VOKEK to try to start or optimize your successful solar pump controller business.