The product is a Irrigation controller. Solar power is used in places where AC power is inaccessible. The product was designed to be ultra efficient and draws about 1 mA from the solar module quiescently, but often short pulses of upwards of 1 A are needed throughout the day to drive DC latching solenoids which activate the hydraulic valves. I'm sorry but off the top of my head I don't remember the max current that the solar module can supply. As for future research potential, there is a lot of interest in solar power. I know of one project that my company is involved in. The main motivation for developing solar options is to get rid of wiring, which often is a large cost of a irrigation system. Solar power can solve the wiring problem, though there are other technologies we've looked at (which I can't divulge
) being developed for alternative power.