Smartgarden – Solar Powered Bird Bath Fountain Kit

I bought several of these bird bath pumps and they work great. You need a basin that is at least 20 inches wide and 3 inches deep. Fill it with water. Place a few smaller flat stones around the base to prevent the base from moving. On a sunny day you will have a great little fountain. On a cloudy day the fountain does not work because it is powered by sun. I rinse the fountain every 2 days in a clean water to keep it clean and exchange the water in the basin too. My basin is light ceramic blue bowl so it is easy to maintain. If your basin is not wide enough the water will splash outside of the basin and your pump engine will burn out. The wider the basin (20 inches or wider) and at least 3 inches deep the better the fountain works. Smaller bowls will not work. I tried several sizes and the 20" or wider bowls x 3 inches in depth work best with this type of pump. I don't have video to show but will make one and post it in the spring. Highly recommend!

This inexpensive product is nice for a birdbath that offers a surface for the product to stick to. I have one concrete bath with decoration in the base and it did not stick well. Not because of the fountain but due to the surface of the bath. The second I used it in was a bowl style, which it floated in and offered a great results. The pump clogged easily with debris that ended up in the birdbath so keeping an eye on the flow helps you know when it needs to be cleared. I pulled the tube part off the top, as wind blew away the water coming off the fountain top as it came out. For the price, it was nice to convert a standard bath into a fountain and kept the water moving nicely.

My new Ankway Solar Bird bath Fountain just arrived and installed within minutes. After attempting to weigh down the Ankway Solar Bird bath Fountain with some small polished rocks, I ended up removing the circular foam layer which was attached to the bottom of the device and now the fountain remains submerged and does not float to the surface. Even though the fountain is submerged the integrated solar panel collects enough of the sun’s energy to drive the device’s tiny pump. Three tiny suction cups are cleverly located at the bottom of the device which helps the device to stay firmly in place. The water jets spray gently upward approximately eleven inches, which allows the water to stay inside the birdbath and not splash out. From a short distance away you can’t see the circular solar panel which powers the tiny pump. The Ankway Solar Bird bath Fountain is very well constructed and I can tell that it will last for many years to come. I’m sitting here in my study; approximately 10 feet away from the birdbath, and the sound of the water cascading gently back to the surface of the bird bath’s surface is absolutely soothing. Surprisingly enough, earlier today when it was grey and overcast, the solar panel collected enough of the sun’s energy to drive the tiny pump. Pumps that run without a minimum amount of water will eventually fail so do as the manufacturer recommended and make sure that the water in your bird bath remains at a level that keeps the device’s pump submerged. This Ankway Solar Bird Fountain should make a wonderful addition to any bird bath. Buy with confidence and enjoy!

I wasn't sure what to expect, especially after reading several negative reviews. I am glad I purchased this little pump nevertheless. I bout it together with a birdbath to use as a little water feature. As soon as I took the protective foil off the item it started up. Inside the house, no direct sunlight. As soon as I stepped outside I had to actually turn it upside down because I didn't want the pump to drun dry/without water. The second I put it in water, the pump worked. It worked so well I had to take the nozzle off because the water was shooting up too high and outside the water bath. (Without the attachment nozzle water comes up a couple of inches and is perfect for the birdbath).

I actually bought this product before I bought the fountain. I was drawn to the availability of different nozzles for effect and the solar power feature. The only con part of the review is that the suction cups on the bottom of the unit are so small they never hold the unit under water. I ended up using the larger suction cup provided and attached it with a very, very short piece of the filament (also provided). It still manages to just float but as long as the pump underneath is under water it is just fine. It would be great if Ankway could figure out how to put a more weighted system underneath. The unit works as long as there is sun on it just as described. The pump stopped working one day and it was super easy to turn the unit over and clean the pump intake filter. The ends of the pump pop off and are idiot proof for how to put them back on. If your birdbath is anywhere near a tree, bush, or bird feeder it will inevitably get things sucked up to the filter. Make sure you position the pump to where the filter end has the most exposure to the open side underneath. I currently have a ceramic bird bath that is 2 1/2" deep and 20" diameter. I can only use the basic, bubble-out tip instead of one of the nice spray tips because it is so shallow. I would recommend this product to anyone who has a birdbath that is in a mostly sunny area. I will buy another one when I get the deeper birdbath.

Very pleased with this product! I purchased this for use with a "Best Choice Products Pedestal Quality Bird Bath" and it works perfectly. I removed the spray pieces completely, as others have mentioned, so that it simply creates a small bubbling in the fountain, which is what I was looking for. You can have it spray a beautiful fountain spray, but for a small bird bath, the water tends to blow out of the fountain, thus making it necessary to keep the water filled more often. We basically just wanted the water to be aerated and to move to help keep mosquitos from using the bath as well as to attract the birds to the fountain. As a solar unit, it works exactly as it should. With little to no sun, you should not expect the pump to be operating. If it is overcast, it bubbles in short spurts (still enough to accomplish all the needs I listed above). With full sun, it bubbles away and is perfect. As a side note, we ended up buying a second bird bath and decided to add another Solar Bird bath Fountain Pump. We bought something that looked very similar from SOONHUA instead of Ankway and the lack of quality in packaging and materials was noticeable. The Ankway arrived in a sturdy box with instructions and the other was packaged in a very flimsy cardboard with absolutely no instructions. There seem to be a number of companies carrying this item, but Ankway is the better choice!

Just got this today for our birdbath and it works beautifully. The fountain was shooting too high for the diameter of our birdbath (the breeze was blowing the water over the side before it landed back in the bowl), so I used a small nail to enlarge the holes in one of the wider nozzle caps which were included. The bigger holes keep the fountain spray at about a 4 - 5 inch height in full sun rather than 12-14 inches as it was the original cap.

This thing is so cool! I put this into a normal sized bird bath. It was floating around and the suction cups would not stick to the bird bath so I just stuck it on a small plate to weigh it down. I love it!!! What a great idea. There are so many creative things you could do with it.

It works much better than I expected. In fact in some respects it works too well. It took me a while to figure out how to use it in the bird bath as it was powerful enough to put the water more than a foot upwards. the wind would blow and the water sprayed over the edge so that it emptied the bath in a matter of minutes. I now use it with out the attachments and this way it's fine. I bought a deep tub and use the attachment in it and it makes a wonderful spray. The best part is the motor turns off if there is no water or th inlet gets clogged. I highly recommend this product.

Just plopped it into the bird bath and it started running right away. Only used it yesterday and have tried only one of the nozzles so far. The one negative to report at this moment is that it really sucks a lot of water. The nozzle I used shot the water up but a breeze blew the stream out of the bird bath so the water drained faster than I imagined. I will try the other nozzles to see if one sends the stream a little lower so it doesn't over shoot the bowl. If it was smaller I thought it would be fun for my cats/rabbits water bowl.