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I am currently moving to a location for work that has a 110v electrical connection but no water connection. I was attempting to use an RV water pump in order to create a plumbing system for my sink but my pumps run on 12V DC current (I have them for use with a future build I'm working on and would rather not get AC pumps at this time if possible). The maximum rating for the pumps is 7.5a, which comes out to 90 watts.

I have come across the possibility of using a 12v battery but I'll only be in this location for a few months so having to purchase a battery as well as a charger that will stay inside seems like overkill for what I'm trying to do, especially because I will not have a use for that battery for any projects in the near future and would rather it not go to waste.

I've also thought about using a transformer to convert from 110V AC to 12V DC but was having trouble understanding the specifications and which one I should get. When looking at batteries, it seemed to me that hooking the pump directly to the battery would be fine as long as there was a fuse between the battery and the pump (either 7.5 or 10 amp?), but that doesn't seem to be the case when using the transformer.

Is this because the pump will just draw however many amps it needs from the battery while something like an LED controller is actively pushing power toward the machine, or am I totally off base here? Is using an LED controller a viable option for controlling the pump as long as I get a 90w controller, or is there a maximum controller wattage that would be safe?

Explanations or resources are also welcome, I'm definitely interested in deep-diving into this subject but currently have no idea what I don't know so I'm not sure where to start. Thanks!

bailey2092
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  • Sounds like you need an 90+ W off the shelf power supply big enough to overcome the inrush current of your pump. Have you tried a normal salvaged ATX computer power supply? That and/or a soft start for your pump if it trips it at startup. – winny May 04 '20 at 21:25
  • This is easily obtained off-the-shelf, being the most popular DC voltage and often used in this kind of quantity. How much research did you do? – Harper - Reinstate Monica May 04 '20 at 22:31
  • @winny It does answer my question, thank you! Just to make sure I'm correct, I'm reading there that a higher current doesn't matter as long as you have the proper voltage, so if I wanted to get a 100amp transformer to be used in the future (probably overkill, but just an example) that would not damage the pump because the pump will only draw 7.5 amps? – bailey2092 May 05 '20 at 01:53

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