Customer Reviews

3 Watt Solar Powered Water Fountain Pump

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is a very good pump for a small fountain or pond. I replaced a AC pump in a small ceramic fountain, lowest flow settings works great.

The user manual (5-page pamphlet) does not have good parts list and very limited instructions. There are no installation instructions for the solar panel. The is no information concerning the flow adjustment. Very good information about setting the time and battery life.

The pump was not powerful enough for our fountain. It would be better for a very small water feature. The water just trickled out of the hose. The company was very helpful and is processing the return quickly. I will order from them again.

Product works fine. The pump is not powerful but is enough to carry water from the bottom of my 2 foot pre-formed turtle pond to the top of the small faux rock fountain that is atop of it. I bought some clear tubing at Home Depot (am not using the fountain heads for my application) and it worked fine after leaving it to charge the battery in the Florida sun for a day. I leave it on auto and it turns off after dark when the battery runs low and starts back up in the sun the following day. I will look for a stronger solar system to run a small filter for the pond.

Edit 4/30/2011: In looking for my review to update it, I noticed my review is being used under at least two different fountain pump kits. The two pump kits I found have the exact same ASIN number (ASIN: B00279QCZE) but are different in the pictures. I don't know what to tell everyone. As it shows right now, the image under BlueMall is the kit I bought and has the house-shaped electronics box. The image under Importer520 is a similar but different kit with a square/box-shaped electronics box. They might be the same but I can't guarantee that.

I bought my kit from Importer520 but it isn't the kit they are now showing in the product image.

I came back to edit this review to note that the pump fired right up after sitting unused over the winter. I was pleased. The battery, electronics, and pump took the down time apparently unscathed. I did keep the electronics module indoors over the winder and dried the fountain out and covered it with a plastic weather shield.

Original Review:

I have had this pump running for almost a month now. I found a clay pot on sale and cobbled together a really nice fountain with rocks in the top and a built-in reservoir. At night, the LEDs light the spray up and it's just really nice.

I had to open up the spray head holes a little so they wouldn't spray out of the top of the pot and would make a little more water noise. I needed to let more volume flow so the pressure would be lower and not spray the water too far. I also didn't use the solar panel included in the kit. Instead I substituted a HQRP 12W (Size of 10 Watt / 10W) Mono-crystalline Solar Panel 12 Watt 12 Volt in Anodized Aluminum Frame and have had no underpowered issues at all.

In fact, during the day the battery gets enough charge for the fountain to run all night long - with the light. I have yet to have the fountain stop so it can recharge. 24/7 fountain. Nice.

The instructions aren't the best but this thing is so simple that you don't need them. It's obvious how it all fits together. About the only caution I would give is I can see how someone jamming the segments together might overstress and crack them. Just be gentle.

For those that go with the timed selection, that is really ingenious how they set that up. It is just on a 24 hour timer and whenever you turn it on, it will run for the time you specify and just start back up the same time the next day. I don't use that but do appreciate the utility.

All in all this is a great pump kit. I decided to swap for a different solar panel from the get go due to the comments about it being underpowered. I'm glad I did. Like I said, it runs 24 hours a day now with nothing but solar power. All I do is enjoy it. So do the birds. They have spotted the fountain and now come to play in it.

Using this pump kit and the other solar panel, I built a fountain that would have cost much more had I bought it already built. It's gotten comments and is just really nice and a nice addition to my back yard.

The 3W solar powered water pump was exactly what I was looking for, for a small pond in the back yard that I didn't want to run electricity to. I didn't use the kit as a "spraying fountain" but connected the output to a plastic tube I bought which runs up and around back of rocks surrounding the pond, arranged to allow water to cascade over rocks and into the pond. My only complaint is that the plastic tubes provided with the kit to extend the water discharge port are rather brittle. I've broken 3 of the 4 extensions rather easily, so just dont press them in too hard. Otherwise the pump operates nicely and has some useful operational features.

I love this thing. I have only had it for 2 weeks, so if it breaks before the end of summer I will update review, but so far, so good. My water feature is only small (less than 12 inch depth), but this works perfectly. I particularly love the water flow control and the timer settings. I hadn't noticed an LED pond light was part of the package and it was a lovely surprise. It makes the feature so pretty at night. My only issue is that if I want to have the feature going during the day, the battery won't charge enough to run it for very long in the evening. I would actually love to buy another solar panel so that I can hook the fountain up directly to it during the day, and let the other panel charge the battery so I could swap to that as a power source in the evening. Although really it's only a problem on the weekend when i'm home more and want to run it all the time. I highly recommend this product. perfect solution for a water feature placed no-where near a power outlet.

This fountain is almost exactly what I wanted, and I love it. As others have said, once it charges it runs well past dark and works OK on a cloudy day at least for a while.

There are things to be cautious of. The fountain came with no packing slip or other paperwork in the box, so I don't see how it would have been possible to return it. The instructions are useless, so be prepared to figure out how to assemble it and run it. (That wasn't too difficult.)

It's also difficult to tell how large the fountain is from the online description and pictures, and that turned out to be a small problem. I have only a half barrel for a water feature, so it's quite small. Even on the lowest power setting, the upward spouting fountain heads shoot the water up over 2 feet, and it arcs outside of the barrel - obviously not good because the barrel would run dry in a short time. I have to use the head that directs the water slightly downward to keep the spray directed back into the barrel, which was a bit disappointing because I prefer the look of the upward spray. It's still a nice addition to my mini-pond, and I'm pleased enough. For a slightly larger mini-pond or small pond, it would be a good size.

I have been building pools and waterfalls for 30 years. You can never have enough water ! This little system is great. It is my first solar water feature. After having looked into Pumps, Batteries, timers, lights, controlers, calculated amps and gph and storage. This system is awesome they have done all the homework and handed you a usable product at a great pice. I bought the 3 watt modell and am happy. Of course i need more water flo so I just ordered the 8 watt model. Buy the system first see how much water it puts out and then design your water feature to scale. Have fun
Dan

I ordered this item because of the backup battery. When it arrived, it looked OK, but obviously the usual low quality Chinese product, so don't expect a long life span. I have not been able to put it into operation because the solar panel was shattered. I emailed the vendor, importer520, who demanded a digital photo of the damage, which I sent immediately. Since then, importer520 will not respond to multiple requests for replacement or refund, so I have had to start an Amazon complaint. If you buy this item, be careful about which Amazon external vendor you select.

The pump works well and, so far, is just what I was looking for. It provides plenty of power for different settings of water lift for a 4ft rock fountain. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because the cable could have been longer. It is 10ft. Would be nice if it was at least 20ft. I now have to spend more and purchase an extension cable to move the solar panel 10 more feet to be in sun the most it can be for the area, which will avoid having to take a day to recharge after running out of power. All in all, the pump works great, and the battery backup is nice to keep it running through the evening. I researched many solar water pumps and the various features. I think this is a good pump, and it seems to be in the price range for not-too-little/not-too-much of what is needed for a small to medium size fountain.