Ive got a lease place for cattle. The area is cross fenced into 3 different pastures. The water source is a big 3-4 acre pond. When it is full, it is accessible to all three areas. Now that the rain has quit, the water level is dropping. and only accessible to one of the pastures.

I want to set up a 12 volt submersible pump into the pond hooked to a deep cycle battery and a solar charger. I would like to have this feed into a 600 gallon tank i have on a trailer to be used for a reserve. This tank would feed a 150 gallon trough with a simple float valve.

What i need help with is I would like to have a couple of floats in the tank. One about 1/2 or 5/8 full to turn the pump on when it gets to that level, then another at the full mark to shut the pump back off.

Im pretty good at rigging things up to make them work, but i have never done anything like this and do not know what to buy.

This is a lease place, so setting up a permanent source is not really an option at the moment, trying to keep it cheap.

just off the top of my head, pointed as it may be.

take a float switch and put it on enough wire to drop to the 1/2 level, put it on a float that has a limiting non electrical wire that will allow allow it to move with the water level but limit it to within a foot or so of the top of tank.

float assembly will drop and then switch float will activate pump, tank fills, float assembly raises to top and switch float rises separate to shut pump off.

use the type float switch they use in aerobic septic systems for the power, a foam float to hang switch float off of, weighted stainless 1/8" cable with brick etc. to take cable to bottom, limited to where it has to be to let switch shut off at full level. I would use some sort of stop for the top 1/2 level on the cable and attach to top of tank so it can be pulled if needed, hole in a round float with plastic sleeve to allow it to ride up and down on the cable.

hope that made sense.

quick sketch of what I mean. be sure the float switch has room at top to float up when suspension float stops so pump shuts off. I think a septic float switch will work going off how ours is set up here.


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