The Solar Rain Director® traps daylight energy and drives a very high performance 12v pump to deliver rainwater to the smart header tank. Like other Rain Director® models, the control panel directs the rainwater to the appliances from the water stored in the header tank. If you are concerned about using 1 kilowatt per hour of electrical energy in your rainwater harvesting system, this is the ideal low carbon footprint solution.

A small solar panel, a submersible 12 volt pump and a battery ensure rainwater can be pumped to the header tank without any use of mains electricity. The control panel is also powered by the battery and solar power. Our tests have shown that even on a cloudy day, this state-of-the-art amorphous solar panel with blocking diode delivers 6 times the charge (watt-hours) than would be necessary for a normal 4-person home's rainwater use.

Technical Specification:

1) Smart header tank: Exactly the same unit as for the RD-01 and RD-02. 91 litre tank for the roof space feeds rainwater to the appliances by gravity. Level sensors ensure control panel functions including flushing rainwater back to storage tank when occupants away, filling header with mains water, to avoid bacterial activity and discoloured water on return. The level sensors are heavy duty 120 watt rated so that they can take the surge from the 12 volt battery and pump without damage. All other functional features are as the Rain Director® RD-02. Further product info including the technical specs. above can be downloaded here

2) Solar (Photo Voltaic) Panel N31CX

• Amorphous solar panel charger. Charges even in overcast weather.Blocking diode prevents reverse charging and protects battery discharge.
• Optimum Output current 580 milliAmps. We tend to get more like 350 milliamps on the test bench in real conditions.
• Charging power: 12 watts nominal power. We have measured it over time at an effective 8 watts when charging a car-type lead-acid battery.
• This panel, in typical UK conditions, even cloudy, generates 6 times the amount of power needed by the Rain Director of a 4 person home (toliets and washing machine)
• External dimensions 98(L) x 34(W) x 1.5(D) cm

3) Rain Director Control panel: similar in looks to the WRAS-approved RD-01 Rain Director with indicator lights and user-controllable feature. For detailed information about this component visit http://www.raindirector.co.uk/.

4) Charge Director: The mains charger has been specially developed for environmentally-friendly products and provides zero-trickle-current mains electric backup. Where normal chargers draw some residual mains current even when the appliance is off or on standby, the Charge Director only calls for mains power when the battery is flat. Clever. This item is available on its own for other applications; please contact us.

• The Charge Director gives four indications from its 3 coloured lights...
• Green: battery is OK.
  
• Yellow: primary (the solar panel) is charging.
  
• Red: Charging from mains.
  
• Flashing red: mains switched off or system error.
• Mains input 230 Volts AC. Output 18 volts DC nominal, corrected to battery or pump voltage as required.
• Solar (Photo Voltaic) panel voltage corrected from 22 volts down to 13.8 Volts DC for battery charging
• Pulse-switched zero-trickle PSU (Mains charger)

5) Diaphragm Pump: The indoor pump housing should be placed in a convenient place near to the Rain Director’s control panel. The battery (optional purchase) should also be very close to minimise electrical losses. The indoor pump is a small, quiet 12 V DC pump that pumps the water from the water supplied to it from the submersible pump up, through the control box, into the header tank. This pump is encased in a sound proofed box using a top quality acoustic foam lining. The pump has been fully wired and simply needs plugging in as shown on the schematic wiring diagram in the manual.

• 12V DC Geo-Duplo-Inline-Plus made by Comet Pumps in Germany
• Self-priming and fully submersible pump left in the water permanently.
• Flow rate: 17 litres/min
• Head: 1.9 bar at 19 metres high (manufacturer's nominal). We measure about 1 bar at 12 metres above pump with bends in the pipe etc.
• Power consumption: 65-80 watts
• Dimensions: 270 (L) x 42 (diameter) mm.
• Dual pump option if the header tank is more than 12 metres above the base of the underground storage tank.

What comes with this Management System?

The Solar Rain Director full colour brochure is also available for download here

Please order online or by phone...01733 405100 or email us at sales@rainwaterharvesting.co.uk to signal your interest.