Solar panel

[SowdersHomestead]

Has anyone ever ran their brooder off of solar power? We have a building on our property that has no power and is 150 yds from the house and pole building. I'm comparing the cost of using solar rather than running electric. If any of you have used a panel what size was it in order to keep the battery charged?

Thnaks

 

[justbugged]

At this point I don't know enough to help you with that. A dealer of solar panels may be able to give better answers. I do know that at some point I am planning to ad solar lighting to some of the dark places around my home. It does seem to be your only option thought, given that there isn't any other source of power on your property yet. If you are going to put on the grid power in anyway. I would spend the money doing that first. On the other hand if you plan to live of the grid, I would put the money into the biggest solar panels that you can afford to get. You are going to use it one way or another.

 

[urban escapee]

you can get a 4x4 foot solar panel from Harbor Freight for about 200.00 (last time I looked)

 

[Hammond Egger]

a $200.00 solar panel from Harbor Freight will operate about a half a light bulb. Unless you want to spend around a hundred grand forget solar for anything but a warm glow from a path light.

 

[Life is Good!]

If you're interested in running electric out there - talk with some contractors to see what needs to be done, and what you can do yourselves.

We 'helped' our electrician by digging the trench to his specs, laying all the conduit he provided (hubby knows how) and having it go basically to where he needed it to go. Electrician came in, added two bends (one on each end of the run to tie into panels), hubby helped pull the wire (or was he pushing? Can't recall), electrician did all the connections and tada! We've got power! We significantly lowered the costs by digging our own trench and laying all the conduit out. Can't recall what the inspectors did - I recall we couldn't backfill the trench until after final inspection - that was a pain, as we had toddlers at the time (oh, lookie!, a big hole with something shiny in the bottom!!! Oh, wait, mud!).

From what I recall, there's a 'sub panel' out in the barn. It's got two circuit breakers - one for outlets, one for lights. It attaches in our main panel in the house like your electric stove or electric clothes dryer would connect. So if a circuit gets tripped out there, I have to check the panel out there and the one in the house. Hasn't ever happened. But, I know how.

Hope this helps!

 

[geoff40]

I've never done it, but i have been looking in to it very seriously. You can build solar panels a lot cheaper than buying them, about 1/10th the cost. You need basic construction knowledge (build a frame to hold your panel together), and you'll have to solider the solar cells together (the most time consuming part, but its not difficult) in line, so that the power your cell generates is compiled together.
The problems for this are battery related, here where I am it gets cold enough to freeze a battery. How about you, how cold does it get there? I've been tossing around combining solar with a wind turbine (if I can find one cheap) to create a "green" coop. But I am not sure any of this is really feasible, mostly because of the battery issue.

 

[SowdersHomestead]

Geoff, I'm bout a 25 miles north of Georgia. It gets in the 20's then will warm up as soon as the sun rises. I can handle the construction work. I have a certification in HVAC, I used to buy and rehab houses and now own a preventive maintenance company for diesel fleet vehicles. Are there kits available? From where?

Thanks

 

[geoff40]

Google is your friend! " how to build a solar panel", there are some good video tutorials on you tube. Also use eBay for solar cells to build a panel with. There're some great deals there, the cells with small edge chips work just fine according to everything I am finding out.

 

[rufus]

Just how much power do you need out there?

http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucalsrh/

I have to wonder why the Federal Government is dumping these things? Wasn't green energy supposed to be the salvation of mankind?

Rufus

 

[SowdersHomestead]

I only want to run a couple brooders.