Biling Solar Bird Bath Fountain With 2.5W Pump and 800 mAh Battery Backup - Free Standing Water Feature for Garden, Pond, Pool, Outdoor

This unit’s attachments solved my problem: how to keep the water in our small birdbath so the pump and birdbath don’t quickly run dry. This unit comes with an attachment that you put on top of a taller spray piece that directs the water back down. That avoids the tall spray that sends much of the water over the edge of the birdbath. The first solar fountain pump I bought would empty the fountain within less than a half hour. It sent the water out of the birdbath even more quickly if there was wind. That first pump had more power, and if you have a bigger pond or bath - and if you manage to fix it in place so it won’t float to the edge - you could enjoy a nice high spray with that more powerful unit. That first unit was highly rated, but it didn’t have an attachment that would direct the spray downward before it goes high and out of the bird bath. It would likely work ok in a large pool or koi pond. This less powerful pump does just fine for us as it creates the splash that brings our birds, and it also keeps the water in the bird bath so it doesn’t run dry quickly. This would seem to be a no-brainer. The little attachment that sends the water back down into the fountain makes all the difference! If I want more power, I could probably get the more powerful pump, but use the crucial little deflector attachment that comes with this little pump.

This fountain is great while it works. About a week or so after I got it, it stopped working on it's own. It's in a deep, large capacity bird bath in full, direct sun, and fully cleaned several times a week. At first I would have to go out, flip it over and splash some water on it everyday in order for it to start working. Annoying, as I bought it to keep the water circulating, but at least I could get it to go. Then, about 3 months after I bought it, it has stopped working all together. I contacted the company and they gave me some tips (clean it, shake it, etc.) and none of them worked. Super disappointed, and of course the return window has closed.

I have been using the Biling solar birdbath fountain for a couple of weeks now and am generally satisfied with its operation. A couple of things to keep in mind: First, it took a day or two for it to settle down in its operation. The day after its first day of use it did not seem to restart in the morning. I had to go and "play" with it for a little while to get it to restart. As the meager instructions specify, you have to keep it completely in the dark for a couple of minutes, then expose it to the sun. The small pump motor should then automatically start, and you need to put it in the water to get it to start pumping. The pump motor will turn off after a couple of seconds so you have to be quick to get it in the water. Also, the pump makes very little noise or vibration so it is difficult to tell when it is on, so I had to play with it a few times before I got it in the water and pumping. Since its first day or two, the pump has started when sunlight starts without any intervention on my part. Next, the pump is almost too efficient. The birdbath I am using is small (only about 12 inches in diameter) and it has a 6 or 7 inch deeper area in the middle where the fountain unit would sit. However, when the fountain is pumping, it would pump out the water in the deeper area and would come to rest on the surrounding shallower part. The pump was so strong that it would create a suction that would clamp the outer diameter of the fountain down on the shallow part of the birdbath, with the result that it would pump out all the water in the middle and turn the motor off for lack of water. There were three tiny "legs" on the pump which presumably would keep the unit up off the floor of the birdbath enough to allow water to flow, but the "legs" weren't nearly tall enough. I removed the legs and glued three plastic bottle caps (using aquarium silicon cement) to the outer perimeter of the fountain unit to lift it far enough off the floor of the birdbath to keep the water flowing. Another thing I've observed is that the intake of the pump does require fairly frequent cleaning, perhaps every third day. I use an old tooth brush to scrape off the filter intake, and the pump has been operating smoothly. I wonder if these three items above, or perhaps a combination of them, has contributed to the several reviews here that have complained about the pumps operation. As I've said, once I was aware of the above, I've had no problems in the several weeks I've had the solar fountain so far. One last thing to keep in mind is that this is a small unit. If you're looking for something that would squirt water more than a few inches up in the air, this is not the unit for you. We live in an arid climate, and there is lots of evaporation and wind. I've been using the pump without any of its nozzles to cut down on the evaporation. Without any nozzles it shoots a solid column of water (maybe a quarter-inch in diameter) up about 2 to 3 inches above the outlet. On completely calm days I do sometimes put on the nozzle to give more of a spray, but I don't use it too long due to lots of evaporation. If there is any wind at all there is a great tendency for the spray to be blown beyond the edge of the birdbath, greatly increasing the water loss rate. We have had a couple of birds use the bird bath over the past several weeks (which is near a set of well-visited bird feeders) and believe the usage will increase.

It was ok out of the package. Started working right away. The spray is not as strong as shown in picture and as soon as it was shadowed by daylight it stops working so I was not able to enjoy in the early evening hours. It has been 2 weeks and it has stopped working completely. I tried the dark cloth for 5 min. and that worked... once. unhappy with this product. Will most likely send back for a replacement. If the new one works better I will update review.

I love this little thing so much I bought another one. I wanted a small fountain to float in a bowl or other container that wouldn't require running a cord. So many solar lights I have tried barely seem to work, so I was a bit wary if a fountain would keep enough power to pump awhile. This thing is great. I have it floating in a large ceramic bowl to use as a birdbath. It works well and even runs some in low light. I love that it shuts off if the water gets low to save the pump. Sometimes in the Summer, the water runs down faster than I expect, and it's dry. A little rinse and refill, and it starts right back up. Perfect for what I needed. The birds like it so much they sit on the fence and wait when they see me rinsing it off so they can use it again. It also has a nice assortment of fountain heads so you can choose the one that works best for you. The only suggestion I have is to have suction cups that stick better. I had to use a lower flow fountain head, because mine comes unstuck from the bottom of the bowl and floats around. So I had to use a head that was more of a "bubbler" so it wouldn't spray water out of the bowl if it floated close to the edge. It works fine this way, though.