Solar Powered Ventilation

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CalgaryFarmer

CalgaryFarmer

Songster
5 Years
Oct 13, 2014
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Just outside Calgary, Alberta
I used a 25 watt solar panel with some computer fans. The solar panel was $100 and the fans were $10 each. The fans are 120 mm. Look for quiet ones. They will generally run slower. The ones I got are two speed fans. The system works quite well even in low light.






 
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Do you need to run some type of inverter to be able to run AC stuff? New to solar stuff, but want to use it for my coop.
 
No inverter needed. This solar panel comes with a controller, which regulates the voltage. This will work without a contoller but the life span of the fans will likely be shorten as the voltage will be too high when it is really sunny.

The solar panel/contoller put out 12 volts and the fans use 12 volts.
 
If you want to run 120 volt a/c you will need an inverter. As well, you will likely need batteries to store the electicity and you will need significantly larger and more solar panels. I price a system like that out and you are looking at about $2000 for a 500 watt system. That was for good components that would permit expansion. That was without an inverter, which can be really expensive.
 
CalgaryFarmer said:
No inverter needed. This solar panel comes with a controller, which regulates the voltage. This will work without a contoller but the life span of the fans will likely be shorten as the voltage will be too high when it is really sunny.

The solar panel/contoller put out 12 volts and the fans use 12 volts.
Click to expand...

OK, I was mistakenly assuming those were ac type fans. After doing a little research, it seems that you can get most of the necessary dc items a person would need for a coop. Definitely looks like solar is in my future.
 
It is funny you should mention dust as I really only noticed it last week when I was installing the solar system. The fans are outside the coop and blow air in, so I do not think they will get exposed to too much dust.

If your question is whether the system will blow the dust out of the coop, my answer is no. The fans will blow in the equivelant amount of air contained in the coop every 5 minutes. The fans are not particularly strong. The real intent is to move the air through when it is hot and sunny.

I am more concerned with rain and cold as the fans are meant for indoor use. We will see how they hold up.

Thanks for the nice comments on my coop. Details are here.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/lair-of-the-layers
 

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