Water pump
I have a small water pump to water my flowers. To control it, I want to know how much power is used. So I put it in a jar and powered it on.
I connect the pump to my bench power supply and test:
Voltage | Amps | Watts | Remark |
---|---|---|---|
3.3 | 0.33 | 1.1 | Slow, but working |
5 | 0.43 | 2.1 | Already ok |
6.6 | 0.57 | 3.8 | Good flow |
8.4 | 0.77 | 6.4 | Even more flow |
10 | 0.97 | 9.7 | Strong flow |
12 | 1.25 | 15.0 | Very strong flow |
The flow seems to increase exponentially with the voltage and is corresponding with the Wattage. Since my project uses li-ion batteries which can provide 6.6 to 8.4 volts with 2 batteries the flow is ok, but not too strong. Maybe another battery would be an idea to increase the voltage to 9.9-12.6 volts.
On the other hand my batteries are solar powered and should therefore have enough power when the weather is nice and more water is needed.
I will use a IRLD024 mosfet which can switch 1.8 amps to control the pump since the relay was not reliable enough and drained too much power.