Does anyone use alternative energy for their coop?

[The Chicken Lady]

Do you have solar/wind-powered light or heat for your coop? If so, I would be interested in pics and explanation of your set-up.

 

[Lilredhippie]

I don't have pictures, but here is what we have.
My nephew makes LED lights for autos, so he made 6 white back up lights for us. My husband wired them to a battery which is hooked up to a solar charger. The battery is a 12 volt UPS battery and the LED lights are also 12 volt. We got the solar charger from Harbor Freight. We also use solar power to keep the batteries for our electric sheep net fencing charged.
LED lights use very little electricity but put out a very bright light.
Hope this helps.

 

[smilingcat]

Will be designing solar heater for my birds. Solar powered lights using white LED is a really good idea. using 6 LEDs not sure what current it requires, some only need 20mA to ones needing around 300mA. LED puts out about 10 times the light of equivalent powered incandescent bulb. One thing to keep in mind is that LED light source is really small so it can get hot if not careful. 2W out of pencil head eraser size can get pretty hot.

Harbor Freight charger is not a MPPT type so its not as efficient but it is much cheaper. It should have over charge/voltage protection on the battery side. and make sure your solar panel has blocking diodes. Battery should be rated for deep discharge. typically these will be marine type battery, gel battery or UPS rated battery. Regular car battery will not do! Deep discharge damages the plate of regular car battery.

These are my next project after I fit my coop with insulation boards (R value of only 7.5 or so) Also FREEBIE!!!

 

[Beekissed]

I use passive solar heat in the winter and the heat generated by deep litter method to insulate my floors, does that count? My south facing wall is all windows with a double layering of plastic to capture the heat between the layers.