Poposoap Solar Fountain

About a year ago, I did a project where I created a solar tracking, battery-backed fountain. Then I had a lot of fun developing the electronics for the tracking system. Earlier this year, a company called Poposoap (if I’m saying that right) reached out to me. They asked if I would do an open-box video about one of their products, which you see here. And I said sure, but I'll take a while to get around to it.

Initial Impressions and Unboxing

At the time they sent it to me, the ground was frozen, the water was frozen, and it took me a while to get around to this. But now I've popped this open and looked at everything, and I'm quite delighted with this, so let me get into it with you. As I told them, I don’t really do open box videos. But through the magic of video, I can get through it—and here we are. It's open. There's the solar panel with a battery mounted to the back. As you can see right there, that big module is the battery. It stores power so the fountain can keep running when the sun goes down or shadows pass over it.

Component Overview

That's the mounting post for the solar panel, and this, let's see, this probably plugs onto that like that to hold the solar panel. Sure, yeah, that looks good. And so here are some pipes that go onto the pump. That doesn't go in like that, it goes in like that, and then that plugs onto that. So now I have an extension and a nozzle. Uh, this is the lily pad floating pad, so you can float the pump, just like many other solar fountains.

Nozzles and Accessories

And these are all the different heads that you can get, so they just plug right in. Uh, not quite like that, let's see. Oh, that one does, no, wait a minute, that one does, yeah, so then you can change the heads out onto those extender tubes. Apparently looks good. The plastic tube lets you connect a hose directly to the pump. Then you can route the hose out through something like a stone frog’s mouth or another architectural detail. A lot of different nozzles here. I'm going to have to try all of these out. Some are really interesting looking from the pictures I've looked at. Yeah, there's a little tiny nozzle there, it shoots straight up.

Adjusting the Solar Panel

Now this looks like the clip that goes onto the solar panel, and it's adjustable angle. I didn't loosen it enough, there we go. Right, so you can set it to different angles. It looks like it should just slide and snap into place—let me see. I probably wasn’t pushing hard enough… yeah, there it is. Okay, so then you can set that angle and lock it in. You want the solar panel pointing directly at the sun, so you need to adjust that angle basically to your latitude. So if you're at 45 degrees latitude, you want to tilt it to 45 degrees.

Connections and Instructions

That’s a nice waterproof connector with a locking ring that links the panel to the pump. And there’s plenty of wire here. I think there's 12 ft of wire. That's excellent. Off to the right there you see the instructions, which are actually quite well written.

Testing the Fountain

So I want to start by just using one of the nozzles, and I'm particularly intrigued by this nozzle. It creates a weird glass-dome effect. It also has an adjustment, so you can tighten it to change the shape. Loosen it and the spray gets smaller, and loosen it even more to make it smaller still. So I find that kind of intriguing. I like that. And of course, this is using the lily pad floating feature for the pump.

Performance and Features

Now I’ve got the pump stuck to the bottom of my tub with the little suction feet. Of course, if it’s too far below the surface, it can’t spray. But the moment it gets up near the water level, it starts, and you can see it just sitting there burbling. Um, if I pick it up and take it all the way out though, you see it automatically shuts off so it won't run dry and ruin the pump. Now I have to jiggle it there to get the start for some reason, but I think it would normally start by itself. I don't know, that's the idea. So there it is. Yeah, I give it a bump there and it's running.

Experimenting with Hoses and Nozzles

So now I'm trying with the hose there to see if I could get it to come out and maybe square it across from the side, and it's not starting for some reason. I've got the power cord connected, everything seems okay there. Oh, maybe it's because the pump is sitting on its side, let's see. Uh, yeah—maybe the pump has some kind of automatic shutoff if it tips over. I’m not sure, but it’s putting out a nice flow there. So if you routed that through say a little frog mouth or something like that, that would work nicely.

Different Spray Patterns

Now I’ve connected the pump to a thin nozzle with four or five little holes in it. That spray shoots up really high—around 2.5 to 3 feet. That looks cute. Now this is no nozzle basically, so it's just coming straight out on the extension tubes and I've got it raised up on a brick to get it high. This is another higher smaller nozzle that comes up way high, I had to actually move the camera up. One of the spray nozzles here, that looks great, comes up pretty high as you can see.

Suitability and Water Loss

I’m worried it would overspray and eventually lose water out of the fountain. So neither of these nozzles is really suitable for my little tub, but they’d be great in a larger pond. So with this, this is beautiful, look at that nice little thin spray and back to the little glass dome effect there.

Battery Performance

Now I'm showing you here that if I shadow this solar panel, it doesn't shut off right away because it's running on the battery. So throughout the day if clouds go by, whatever, dusk into the dusk, it'll keep going for well into the evening.

Final Thoughts and Recommendation

This one’s my favorite, so I’m going to stick with it. I think it’s a great fit for my little tub. Larger fountains, larger ponds all worked well. Um, it particularly has a very good flow. I'm pretty pleased with that. I’m pretty impressed by how many parts came with this kit. The wire between the panel and the pump is long, and the other accessories are a nice touch too. This is a very well-thought out kit and the instructions are well written.

Potential Drawbacks

The only downside I’d mention is that the battery on the solar panel isn’t removable or replaceable. If someone tossed it, it could end up in a landfill. That would be a bad idea, because lithium batteries shouldn’t be disposed of that way. But other than that, everything is great.