Solar coop lights

[jcm55]

I've had backyard chickens for 2+ years now, and I was introduced to the idea of supplementing light in the winter to increase egg production at my son's science fair of all places. One of his classmates measured egg production with and without light -- pretty interesting!

So, our first winter, I ran an extension cord (a series of extension cords actually) from the nearest outlet several hundred feet away, put a clamp light inside the coop, and a timer at the house end. Worked great, but didn't look great having an extension cord running across the yard. And I was worried about those exposed extension cord connections getting wet during our rainy Northern California winters.

Last winter I got lazy and didn't do anything, and we didn't get any eggs at all Nov - Feb or so.

So, going into our 3rd chicken winter, I decided to build solar powered coop lights. I know several past threads have asked about this, so here's what I did:

1. Two 12-volt, 5-watt LED landscape lights, one in the coop, one outside in the run. $17 for the pair.
2. 12-volt programmable timer. $10
3. 100 watt solar panel kit with wiring, mounting brackets and charge controller. $185
4. 50 amp-hour 12-volt deep cycle battery. $107
5. Misc wire, screws, wire nuts, spade terminals

Here's an Amazon shopping list with items 1 - 4: http://a.co/7Gv1JVD

The wiring is pretty straightforward. The charge controller has +/- terminals for the solar panel, battery, and load. Timer switch terminals are wired in series with the load terminals on the charge controller, and the two landscape lights are wired in parallel with that. I set the timer to turn the lights on 4 am - 7 am every day.

The roof of my run is corrugated fiberglass, and there wasn't an easy way to mount the solar panel to it, so I just screwed a couple of 2x4s together in a "T" shape, attached the top of the T to the edge of the solar panel with the included brackets, and made a kind of stand that props the solar panel up facing south.

My solar panel and battery are substantially oversized because my coop & run are in a shady spot in the corner of the yard which doesn't get a lot of direct sun. If your coop is in full sun, or you only want 1 light, you could go with a much smaller panel and battery and cut the cost by a lot. There's a good calculator here:

https://www.altestore.com/store/calculators/off_grid_calculator/

For the "watt hours per day" field at the top, just multiply the total wattage of lights you're going to use by the number of hours per day you're going to run them.

I'll try to post some photos if folks are interested.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

I've had backyard chickens for 2+ years now, and I was introduced to the idea of supplementing light in the winter to increase egg production at my son's science fair of all places. One of his classmates measured egg production with and without light -- pretty interesting!

So, our first winter, I ran an extension cord (a series of extension cords actually) from the nearest outlet several hundred feet away, put a clamp light inside the coop, and a timer at the house end. Worked great, but didn't look great having an extension cord running across the yard. And I was worried about those exposed extension cord connections getting wet during our rainy Northern California winters.

Last winter I got lazy and didn't do anything, and we didn't get any eggs at all Nov - Feb or so.

So, going into our 3rd chicken winter, I decided to build solar powered coop lights. I know several past threads have asked about this, so here's what I did:

1. Two 12-volt, 5-watt LED landscape lights, one in the coop, one outside in the run. $17 for the pair.
2. 12-volt programmable timer. $10
3. 100 watt solar panel kit with wiring, mounting brackets and charge controller. $185
4. 50 amp-hour 12-volt deep cycle battery. $107
5. Misc wire, screws, wire nuts, spade terminals

Here's an Amazon shopping list with items 1 - 4: http://a.co/7Gv1JVD

The wiring is pretty straightforward. The charge controller has +/- terminals for the solar panel, battery, and load. Timer switch terminals are wired in series with the load terminals on the charge controller, and the two landscape lights are wired in parallel with that. I set the timer to turn the lights on 4 am - 7 am every day.

The roof of my run is corrugated fiberglass, and there wasn't an easy way to mount the solar panel to it, so I just screwed a couple of 2x4s together in a "T" shape, attached the top of the T to the edge of the solar panel with the included brackets, and made a kind of stand that props the solar panel up facing south.

My solar panel and battery are substantially oversized because my coop & run are in a shady spot in the corner of the yard which doesn't get a lot of direct sun. If your coop is in full sun, or you only want 1 light, you could go with a much smaller panel and battery and cut the cost by a lot. There's a good calculator here:

https://www.altestore.com/store/calculators/off_grid_calculator/

For the "watt hours per day" field at the top, just multiply the total wattage of lights you're going to use by the number of hours per day you're going to run them.

I'll try to post some photos if folks are interested.

It really works! We have lights on a timer in our egg house always. It comes on around 5:30 am. It wakes up the ladies, get them active and laying their eggs early. They start clucking before the roosters start crowing. We vary the shut off time at night. We don't try to extend the production time as much as manipulation of an early start.
Good topic... Good thread! Thx

 

[aart]

Great post!!

Would love to see pics of install and updates on operation as you go along this winter.

 

[Pstock44]

I'm thinking about doing the same thing. I already have a solar system for my automatic doors so adding lights and a timer should be easy. Egg production did drop last winter and I noticed a drop during the hottest part of the summer this year too so we've increased our flock size a little also.

Thanks for the reminder, with daylight getting shorter now I need to get this project moving.

 

[Storybook Farm]

I've been thinking about this, too. At Home Depot the other day, I found a set of four lights for $20 that are meant to light stairways outdoors. Our hoop coops have a clear panel that lets in daylight. I'm thinking of mounting these lights outside them. I'm thinking that, since they are automatic, they'll light up at dusk (which in winter will be like 4 PM here) and extend the day. In previous years we've always had electric lights come on at 4 AM instead; hoping that it doesn't matter which end of the day you extend. Thoughts?

 

[aart]

Thoughts?

Just the automatic solar lights for landscaping isn't going to cut it.
A timer is key, as is capacity to generate and store the needed power to keep lighting at a consistent duration each and every day...which @jcm55 has accounted for.

Doesn't take much of a drastic change(like knocking 2 hours of light off for a couple days) to throw a big wrench in the supplemental lighting for winter laying machine.

 

[Pstock44]

I've been thinking about this, too. At Home Depot the other day, I found a set of four lights for $20 that are meant to light stairways outdoors. Our hoop coops have a clear panel that lets in daylight. I'm thinking of mounting these lights outside them. I'm thinking that, since they are automatic, they'll light up at dusk (which in winter will be like 4 PM here) and extend the day. In previous years we've always had electric lights come on at 4 AM instead; hoping that it doesn't matter which end of the day you extend. Thoughts?

I found a timer and 2 differnet lights on Ebay. The lights are a 4.2w and a 3w LED light used in boats. I think I'm going to go with the 4.2w light since I think my solar system can handle it. I'll monitor voltage for awhile to be sure tho. I'm also going to try running the light In the evening instead of the morning, my thought is that it'll simulate the day starting later so maybe they'll lay later and I'll get home to gather the eggs before they freeze during our really cold part of the winter.

 

[CakeOil]

I did not consider the solar landscape lights or something like it. I'll be trying this soon, thank you, everyone!

 

[qtALPs]

I've had backyard chickens for 2+ years now, and I was introduced to the idea of supplementing light in the winter to increase egg production at my son's science fair of all places. One of his classmates measured egg production with and without light -- pretty interesting!

So, our first winter, I ran an extension cord (a series of extension cords actually) from the nearest outlet several hundred feet away, put a clamp light inside the coop, and a timer at the house end. Worked great, but didn't look great having an extension cord running across the yard. And I was worried about those exposed extension cord connections getting wet during our rainy Northern California winters.

Last winter I got lazy and didn't do anything, and we didn't get any eggs at all Nov - Feb or so.

So, going into our 3rd chicken winter, I decided to build solar powered coop lights. I know several past threads have asked about this, so here's what I did:

1. Two 12-volt, 5-watt LED landscape lights, one in the coop, one outside in the run. $17 for the pair.
2. 12-volt programmable timer. $10
3. 100 watt solar panel kit with wiring, mounting brackets and charge controller. $185
4. 50 amp-hour 12-volt deep cycle battery. $107
5. Misc wire, screws, wire nuts, spade terminals

Here's an Amazon shopping list with items 1 - 4: http://a.co/7Gv1JVD

The wiring is pretty straightforward. The charge controller has +/- terminals for the solar panel, battery, and load. Timer switch terminals are wired in series with the load terminals on the charge controller, and the two landscape lights are wired in parallel with that. I set the timer to turn the lights on 4 am - 7 am every day.

The roof of my run is corrugated fiberglass, and there wasn't an easy way to mount the solar panel to it, so I just screwed a couple of 2x4s together in a "T" shape, attached the top of the T to the edge of the solar panel with the included brackets, and made a kind of stand that props the solar panel up facing south.

My solar panel and battery are substantially oversized because my coop & run are in a shady spot in the corner of the yard which doesn't get a lot of direct sun. If your coop is in full sun, or you only want 1 light, you could go with a much smaller panel and battery and cut the cost by a lot. There's a good calculator here:

https://www.altestore.com/store/calculators/off_grid_calculator/

For the "watt hours per day" field at the top, just multiply the total wattage of lights you're going to use by the number of hours per day you're going to run them.

I'll try to post some photos if folks are interested.

HELP! Your Amazon list link no longer works.

 

[MarkJr]

Chickendoors.com has one about that price range. They're sponsors of BYC I believe.