The Week of December 11-15

Hello everyone,

This week, my objectives were:

1. Collect more data for my solar panel.

2. Getting my prototype working in terms of water.

I have met objective number 1. I collected sufficient data for my solar panel and found that it worked best in bright sun to slightly cloudy weather. It had up to 18.5-19.5/20 volts in sunny weather, and 19-21/200 volts in slightly cloudy weather. If I clock the power just right, I think I can make the pump work for at least ten minutes a day.

I did not meet objective 2, but I am close. 

Aligning and getting water to flow exactly right is very difficult. My main problems are leaking at the end of the top tube, the bottom one not filling up, and overflowing on the top tube. I am not entirely sure what I will do to fix it in the future, but so far I have made a much bigger draining hole on the top tube, eliminated suction from the pump, removed my peat moss experiment, unclogged the drain, added an ending onto the drain to make it more precise, and even drilled a hole into the pump's tube to make it output less water.

All of this has gotten me so close, but not exactly to where I want to be. Luckily, since this is a prototype, once I fix this, I can apply what I learn to the final.

Thank you for reading,
Ben