Solar Power for Coop

jenniemig

Songster
5 Years
Jan 28, 2014
675
83
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Jacksonville, Florida
I found a solar kit at my local BJ's and am considering adding it to my chicken/duck/garden area as a source of power. My area is about 300' from the closest electrical panel that i could tie into. I have gotten estimates to run electricity and install a 4 outlet gfi. The least expensive was around $2k, way out of budget.
I would like to be able to power a motion security light, a light in the coop and future shed (for occasional use not on all night), electric fence, and a small pond pump.
I have zero experience with solar power and have no idea if this unit would provide what I need. The unit is $149.99, and includes everything except the 12v battery.
Any and all input would be greatly appreciated!
https://m.bjs.com/product?url=/nature-power-72w-solar-power-kit.product.233628?dimId=
 
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They sell solar motion security lights at home depot it might lessen the load on the panels, I think a light and electric fence would be ok but a pond pump might be a little to much drawing on the system. I have no experience with solar but it seems like a great idea if it works.
 
They sell solar motion security lights at home depot it might lessen the load on the panels, I think a light and electric fence would be ok but a pond pump might be a little to much drawing on the system. I have no experience with solar but it seems like a great idea if it works.
Thanks jetdog. I have ready many of your posts and agree with a lot of the advice you've given.

I do have a solar motion light and a solar shed light it the area now. The motion light is just OK, I bought it off of amazon, but that may be user error. The manual was missing so I have been trying to figure out the 3 dials, so far it doesn't come on with motion. The shed light I bought at Harbor Freight is junk. It does light up, but no where near what I need to be able to see in the coop. I was considering a solar fence, and a solar pond pump but when you add it all up it's a lot more than going with a single solar charging station and regular electrical pieces like the lights and pump.
I suppose I would have to put the pond pump on a timer so that it would come on to circulate periodically. I have a few battery operated outdoor timers already that I use for my drip irrigation, and others for outside lights at home.

Not to sound too crunchy, but I do like the idea of using the Florida sunshine to power anything that I can. In a perfect world I'd put up a windmill and try to use that as well. I am trying to move towards being as self sufficient as I can with my birds and garden, but there is still a budget to follow.
 
You can get a separate solar fence charger - that way you won't be loading that onto the solar system you set up for the rest of it. We use a solar charger on our horse fence and will be tapping into that for a hot wire round the run (to keep the horses' big butts off the run)
 
You can get a separate solar fence charger - that way you won't be loading that onto the solar system you set up for the rest of it. We use a solar charger on our horse fence and will be tapping into that for a hot wire round the run (to keep the horses' big butts off the run)
I have shopped for the solar fence charger. I can get a cheap one from Harbor Freight, but I have never had much luck with tools or electrical stuff that I have bought from them. The better quality ones at TSC are about the same price as the solar panel system that I was looking at last night. I was hoping that I could get that to run all of the other stuff, rather than buying them individually. Just looking for a way to have all of the things I need and save some cash;-)
 
That actually is a good deal. I would suggest your inside lights to be LED. At some point you may want it to be on all the time, or accidently forget and leave it on. If a battery is pulled all the way down then it has a hard time coming back. Ebay has them cheap you just have to make sure they are the correct screw in base. I believe in America we use e-26 screw in bases. Compact fluorescents can be trouble in cold weather, they are just very dim when it's cold out. Going with efficient indoor lights would leave that much more for a security light, 2 mile fence charger and pond pump.

The biggest battery you can get would allow for extended rainy days and such. It's actually very good to try golf courses to see if they have any golf cart batteries they need rid of. The capacity on one that is no longer useable for them is much higher than an automobile battery has in it. My battery bank in the house used to be comprised of them and they went 10 years after they were of no use to the golf course. They were free then, since they had to pay to have them recycled. I have no idea if they still have to pay to recycle them or not. I have heard that some golf courses are going to lease agreements with the batteries from the manufacturers though.
Good luck.
 

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