I have a 12V DC pond circulation pump that I'd like to slow down. It runs off about 350W of solar, a solar controller, and a 12V LiFePO4 battery.
When running off 12V (actually between 13.2 and 13.8V) it draws approx 14 Amps.
In order to slow it down, I was thinking of dropping the voltage down to 8-10V, but have some questions:
1-The pump is completely submerged - will lowering the voltage like this damage the pump?
2-If I drop the voltage, will that also drop the current (reducing the overall power requirement)?
3-Now the big question: Assuming the answers to 1 and 2 are favorable, how can I drop the voltage without wasting much power (I know I could add a high wattage resistor, but that wastes a lot power). I'm looking for a simple circuit - doesn't need to be very efficient, but needs to be better than just dissipating power through a resistor.
I know I could also gate down the flow, but that also wastes a lot of power - perhaps even more than a resistor.
Thanks in advance.
When running off 12V (actually between 13.2 and 13.8V) it draws approx 14 Amps.
In order to slow it down, I was thinking of dropping the voltage down to 8-10V, but have some questions:
1-The pump is completely submerged - will lowering the voltage like this damage the pump?
2-If I drop the voltage, will that also drop the current (reducing the overall power requirement)?
3-Now the big question: Assuming the answers to 1 and 2 are favorable, how can I drop the voltage without wasting much power (I know I could add a high wattage resistor, but that wastes a lot power). I'm looking for a simple circuit - doesn't need to be very efficient, but needs to be better than just dissipating power through a resistor.
I know I could also gate down the flow, but that also wastes a lot of power - perhaps even more than a resistor.
Thanks in advance.