1.25m Solar Fountain Pond Pump with Battery Backup - Floating Pump Kit for Large Garden Pond, Water Feature by PK Green

I was a bit aprehensive after reading the guy from Spain's review as I live in Portugal, but, as it seemed the best i had looked at, I decided to give it a go. It was easy to assemble and after about 10 minutes I had the solar panel in position & the pump in my pebble pond. 10 minutes later, working like a dream, it has been running now for 2 weeks and apart from the fact that the battery life is not too long, it does what it says. It obviously wont run for long on the battery but is great during the day. Only 4 stars because of limited battery time

The pump works fine and at the moment is working from mains power through a transformer. We live in sunny Spain and so I thought the solar collector with the battery would be a good idea. The most it has ever powered the pump for has been around 6 minutes then it stops even after being left to charge up and not being used for a week or so.

Have not set this up yet, but so far, am impressed with the package. There are clear instructions, both for setting up the pump, and for connecting the battery the first time, which are on a separate sheet, and the battery is clearly marked so you know it needs to be connected before use. Everything arrived in the actual product box with a label stuck on the outside, unusually for Amazon fulfilled items, not another, bigger box around it, but all the items inside were separately packed and well wrapped and arrived in excellent condition. You get (listed in the order of the photos) the float pad, clear tubing (1.2 m), nozzle pack, two-part stand for the solar panel (30 cm long), the adaptor for the battery pack, which has a 3-pin British plug and a 2-pin continental plug, easily exchanged and securely fitting, with a 1.4 m long power cable, the pump with a 5 m cable, the battery pack, which measures 14 x 11 x 8 cm, with a 3 m cable and the solar panel, which measures 25.5 x 16.5 x 5.5 cm. This last measurement is the depth including the back bit where the rotating ball of the stand connects, without this it would only be about 2 cm thick. The back looks a bit home-made where the plastic fixture backing has been attached, but that won't be visible anyway, and it's not badly connected, just not very neatly done. I would've preferred it if it came with some means of fastening the solar panel to a wall - not all gardens have ground space that receives a lot of sun, the only place in my garden where a solar panel can charge for more than a few hours per days is up on the south-facing house wall, higher than the garden wall. A lot of urban gardens are enclosed and small, so won't have much sunlight on the ground, but this is a failing of all solar powered devices, they all assume you will be mounting the panel in the ground. Not everyone even has ground to insert the spike into, it's no good for patios, unless you stick it into a flower pot. Anyway, this is minor and I am sure I will be able to rig something to mount the solar panel on the wall. The solar panel connection has a rotating ball so the angle can be changed, but the depth of the angle is limited and quite shallow, around 20-25 degrees, I would guess, but it's enough to tilt the panel to catch the sun in a normal position. The connectors are all the type that screw together, rather than just push-fit ones, so offer good moisture protection. I only have a tiny water feature at the moment, but wanted the option to have a bigger one, maybe a wall fountain, and I wanted a solar powered pump that has a battery back-up, and this also offers the flexibility to charge either the power pack, or the pump directly, from the mains. I think this is almost essential in British weather, as pumps that only operate in direct (bright) sun-light, as came with my current water feature, mean you've got days where the pump doesn't operate at all, and the water is not moved, so you get mosquito larvae breeding within a few days of no sun-light. Unless you want to put up with a mozzie infestation, or keep treating or changing the water whenever it's not sunny, you really need a water pump that will not only operate in direct sunlight (I don't know how water features without movement handle this, have always wondered?). The battery pack contains a lead acid battery (haven't actually checked this, but the seller says so), not one of the other types, which I would've preferred (can never remember those letters), as they have a longer life, but if I have a wall fountain, I will need the 1.2 m lift of this one. There is a pump with the battery back-up and re-charge feature available from this supplier, with one of the better batteries, for the same price as this, but it only lifts 75 cm, and some suggested, with both pumps, that with full lift length, the water supply was very weak, so wanted this one with the 1.2 m lift, assuming it'll be sufficient for at least around 1 m of decent lift of water. Don't know the shape and size of the battery yet, but looked and saw numerous types of DC lead acid batteries with the correct voltage are available, as they're used for all sorts of applications, so should the battery need replacing before anything else fails, I should be able to get one that fits with a bit of luck... I won't describe all the features of the pump, as they're covered in the product description, but will try to update this with a few pics of it working in situ once have tried it out and can maybe comment on how well the features seem to work. As you can't save reviews without posting them, or I don't know how to, will post this now, although it says nothing about how well the pump actually works and come back to it later to update it.

Pump well built and well made but unfortunately had the ejaculative power of a dehydrated pensioner.

it doesnt produce a strong flow for a fall but the fountain is good and works well in the sunlight but the fully charged panel only lasts a few hours

I am using this pump kit to feed an aquaponic growbed using water from my ducks' pond. The pump is powerful enough to pump up about 1m and trickle feed the growbed. I just have set on the timer and not at max flow rate. The solar panel has coped with keeping running on sunny days but I'll need to charge the battery on mains occasionally and frequently in the winter I expect. All in all a low cost solution for what I needed and good value. Only four stars as I think I'll need to buy a spare battery to keep it running while I'm charging on mains.

The pump is too weak for 1,25 !! even in the max !!I would like to have a stronger one !?Please inform me what to do !RegardsHenrique ferra

Powerful, easy to set up (just remember to Connect the wire inside the unit). I have previously bought another less powerful fountain, and it is much better than that. I am very pleased with it.The solar panel does need full sun - no shadows from plant, flowers - otherwise it will keep switching off while it tops up the charge (at least, that is what it seems like). I have attached it to a longer pole and that issue has gone away.