Solar powered LED lights for chicken coop?

[dimaprok]

Hello Folks,

I think I figured it out, it works awesome and does not break the bank. Here is how you do it:

1) Find a 12v battery, deep cycle (like an old RV battery or a boat battery)
2) Get a cheap 12 v inverter, these are the ones that plug into your cigarette lighter in the car, they put 120v out. I found one for 8$
3) Get a light fixture for regular bulbs 2$
4) Get a 120v LED bulb. I use a 2w LED ceiling fan bulb, it was 12$ and puts out the equivalent of 40w
5) Get a cheap timer 4$
6) Get a solar panel, can be a small one anywhere from 20$-100$

Setup:
Solar panel charges car battery.
car battery feeds 12v to inverter.
timer sits on inverter plug and controls the early morning light.
inverter feeds 120v to Light bulb.

It has been very reliable for me and because the bulb only consumes 2w and is only on from 4 am - 9 am or so, the power consumption is very small and the solar panel can easily replenish the power.

The most expensive piece is the battery and the solar panel. but for the whole installation you can get away with well under 100$.

Don't understand why do you run lights from 4am to 9am? Doesn't it get bright around 6 am anyway and why not have the lights run let's say from 9-10 pm till 4-5 am?

As far as your lighting setup goes, although it works you actually don't need 110v inverter, you're just wasting energy up converting, your inverter might be only 60% efficient. You just need LEDs that run in the 12v range or buy some 3.7v led's and connect them in series to create 12v. I have flashlights with LEDs that run off a single battery that are blinding bright, 1 LED would be actually enough to lit up the whole coop.

But you can actually go a lot cheaper route and just buy a prepackaged "garden" lights, they even have these 13 dollar light on amazon that have 2 modes, one is bright when it detects motion and 2nd mode is dim and they have a sensor where they light automatically turns on and off from dusk to dawn.

 

[WVDoug]

I have upgraded my solar to a 35AH sealed deep cycle battery and a 15W solar panel for summer, and 3 X 15W panels for winter (more LED lighting used, less sunlight available). I could probably get away with using 2 panels, but I have 4 anyway, so....

Still need to get some more/brighter LEDs for inside the coop.

 

[UtePassChickens]

we presently have the orange extension cord, for the deicer to keep their water in liquid form! I actually will be putting underground thru a pvc to make future replacement easy when i actually run power down there. I am looking at some cheap small solar shed lights i found, but am wondering if they will produce the light needed to trigger laying? I recently learned the light to trigger egg laying is absorbed through the skull and red light works best. i will buy one soon and let ya'll know what i find out, but before I do, if anyone has a recommendation - i am all ears! this is one i am looking at on amazon - ROXY-G2 Solar Outdoor/ Indoor Lighting Kit with Lithium Battery, Photo Sensor for Auto On/ Off, 3-Level Brightness Control, 15ft Cable, for Garage / Workshop / Cabin / Yard / Shed Light or here the adress https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017ECP3H6/ref=ox_sc_mini_detail?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1UF0G2AASOV0Q

 

[UtePassChickens]

okay looking at the https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015U8ND96/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3AXVEWXQCC82V it show to be 5600 - 6000 kelvin which would be what i use in my garden to mimic summer so i believe will work well for the chickens ...i am going for it let ya know if it works or is a waste of money!

 

[copper2]

Let us know!

 

[UtePassChickens]

okay got the two light option and up and running - so hopefully the eggs return in the next 4-5 weeks i guessin...

 

[sweetrootfarm]

Thanks for all the comments and information. Please keep in mind that the light you are considering, is on all night and that research shows that chickens still need 6-8 hours of darkness for a healthy immune system. For our young flock of about 100 birds, I'm using two LED lights in our mobile 400 square foot coop. They are run with a long extension cord.

Soon, however, we are moving our coop to a paddock without power. I experimented with ordering some 12 V Christmas lights, but I don't think they are bright enough and they are harder to connect to our basic solar setup that includes a 50 watt panel, a simple charge controller ($10, amazon), 12 volt LCD timer (also from Amazon), and the lights. Since our mobile coop is about 20x22 feet, I decided to go with the more expensive 1 watt 12 volt lights so they can be placed in all the roosting areas of our coop. I solicited advice from numerous farmers about the light needs of layers and the best advice I found was about 60 watts equivalent incandescent for each 200 sq foot. This is how I arrived at purchasing 12 lights, a total of 120 watt equivalent.

In December in Montana, we need about 4 hours of extra light to get to the required 14 hours of daylight, so that means, after all the math and a good deep cycle battery, our 50 watt solar panel, purchased for $80, is more than enough for our needs. I should say that the entire system is 12 volts; we don't need an inverter.

I researched LED lights substantially, and I have purchased these:
https://www.amazon.com/1-5-inch-Lig...811&sr=8-4&keywords=12+volt+led+lights+1+watt

I went with this model since it's easy to work with the simple wires and I can change the arrangement. Since there is 2x4 metal to protect the chickens from breaking into insulation about the rafters in our mobile barn, there are multiple mounting possibilities. I will probably hang them and clip the wires directly to our metal wire.

I hope this helps. I'll be wiring up our lights and solar panel this week. With the insulation in the mobile coop, and the deep bending, are coop temperatures are about 12-20 degrees warmer than the outside temperature. This is with gable vents (open all the time) and an automatic door that's open during daylight hours. With this setup, we hope to only have to string extension cords to the mobile barn for a few weeks a year for the 100 watt (also on a thermo-controller) water deicer. This is how we do it now, but I'm always looking at ways to improve and simply our system as we scale our laying flock to about 200 hens.

In my research, I did find a nice LCD 12 volt timer available in the UK, but it was expensive and it didn't have the flexibility we wanted. I'd love to have a timer that just made sure we had 14 hours of daylight inside the mobile barn all the time, but I haven't been able to find one. At some point, I may consider upgrading our system, since at 200 layers, we can justify some continued infrastructure investments and improvements. If anyone makes a timer, or has a solution for this challenge, I'd love to hear about it.

Happy winter,
Noah

 

[UtePassChickens]

Gratz! and thankyou! I did consider this so to compensate i have the solar panel in it's third location now, trying to balance shade and light during the day and right now it only gets enough a charge to last about 3 hrs. I just moved it again today to see if i can get another couple out of it, but yes the day i got it i charged it up at the house in sunny spot and the chickens had a full night of light the first day!

 

[WVDoug]

I use one of these for my coop lighting. The timer itself is run by two AA batteries, so draws no current from the 12V system. All it does is slide a plate up and down, which moves the wall switch (wired to 12VDC) to the "ON" or "OFF" position.

https://www.amazon.com/Autochron-Programmable-Light-Switch-Timer/dp/B007914RBG

I WAS using one of these, but it seems the switch is actually a solenoid, which uses quite a bit of current to keep the circuit closed. It was killing a 35AH SLA battery in 4-5 hours, and it was only running a 7W 12VDC light. I'll probably use it on the automatic door, because I can program it to run for a minute at a time, twice a day.

https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Digital-Power-Programmable-Switch/dp/B008999RYY

 

[UtePassChickens]

another egg today! no for sure which chicken though! I am guessing it is the blue laced red wyndotte (sp) or goose is wht our 2 yr old named her!