Lights inside coop Powered by Solar panel?

[Wise Woman]

Does anyone know if there is such a thing as a solar heat light? I want to install a heat lamp in my coop for winter, but would love to do solar. We will be putting one of the solar motion detector lights on the outside for sure.

 

[AussieAcres]

Quote:
Yes it is possible, but you'd likely have to piece together a panel, storage (batteries) and charger. This would be determined by how many lights you would use and the energy draw when weighed against the time period needed.
I am building a coop now and will be wiring it in first year, second year (next spring) it will go totally solar. Not 100% that heat lamps are the most efficient way to go, so i will be doing some trial runs on solar heating was well.

 

[Donner]

Quote:
Going from Solar to Electricity to Heat is extremely inefficient. A better method would be to use a solar hot water collector and store the heated water in a tank in the coop, or circulate the heated water through something else with a large thermal mass. The idea is to store the heat as heat, not electricity.

 

[Celtic Chick]

Quote:
You are correct on the lighting for egg production being added in the morning.
I think we are all talking on this thread about ambient light so we can see, not for egg production.
ChooksChick said "Definitely the way to go, as you can circle them around the inner perimeter of the coop for good ambient light".
And the light I mentioned that I got at Menards was a solar-powered security light with a motion detector that goes off when it senses movement. So if we have to go out to the coop in the dark, it will turn on. No flashlight required.

 

[Celtic Chick]

Quote:
I don't know for sure. I would check on the solar fixtures box to see what the maximum wattage bulb it was made to handle. Heat bulbs are usually 250 W, I think?

 

[savilcr]

Sorry forgot to clarify but I have a dual light setup in my coop for egg production, they come on at 9pm and go off at 6am. you can tell a BIG difference in Egg production when their on vs off.

 

[KansasBoy]

I've been considering placing a solar panel on the roof of the coop to make it self sufficient (why not, already building the coop from reclaimed woods)... We are in a rental and it would be easiest (ofcourse the cost is higher at first... But the savings in the end seems worthwhile)... Plus whenever we decide to move hopefully we could move everything easily with no downtime because of "re-installation" at a new location!