Solar Power in the Chicken House

[Scott]

Quote:
Got a link to instructions?

 

[cutlass1972]

I looked around a little, I cannot quickly find any detailed instructions but otherpower had this ab out tape drive motors
http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_experiments_tapedrivemotors.html

If you look around a bit on their site I think you can come up with some ideas on the rest of the assembly. I watched a show the other day (planet mechanics) where they built a water pumping windmill. They cut a steel drum into slices and welded the slices at appropriate angles onto a hub and mad a big fan out of it. I suspect that if you found an appropriately sized DC motor to use as a generator you could use a big fan blade out of a junk floor fan or something.

You will get tons more opwer out of a small windmill for a lot less money than you will a solar panel. The only trick is you have to have wind. Another plus is you will even get power at night. IF you get wind or solar either one you could also add on the other, just make sure you get a charge controller that can take the extra power and use some big diodes to block the current from the other device (or you will end up with a solar powered fan on top of your coop).

 

[Scott]

Quote:
That's interesting information to know. I may look into wind power eventually. For now, I think I'm going to stick with solar.

 

[NorthernOntario]

Scott,

Have you considered solar hot-water? You can either buy premade panels, or make them yourself.

This sort of setup would probably be too large for the coop... would need a smaller storage tank, and smaller panel.
DIY Solar hot water heater

Basic concept is that the panel is fed by a 12v pump, connected to a large insulated tank. When the panel outside is warmer than the water in the tank, the pump turns on, forcing water through the panel... heated water returns to the tank. Pump doesn`t draw huge amounts of power, so it can be powered by a smaller solar panel and battery. When the pump shuts off, the water drains out of the panel (gravity drain), so there is no risk of freezing.

Now you've got a large insulated tank of hot water (not potable); simply put your water dish ontop to keep it warm (skimp on the insulation around where you plan to put the water dish). or you could put a coil of pipe in there, run it to a heat exchanger, and have a pump on a timer/thermostat.

Solar hot water is much more efficient than solar electricity.

 

[Chieftain]

Great plan Scott, and I will be very interested to see what you come up with on this. The math works well, and as long as you have enough sunny days you should be just fine.

You should have no problem running a couple of DC pancake fans either as they usually draw mAmps. You can also look into LED lighting too. It's low draw and lights in the henhouse could be handy.

Please keep us updated, and I hope to see some pictures of what your final design looks like. Projects like this can go viral once someone comes up with a good inexpensive design...

Press on!

 

[cutlass1972]

Quote:
Good idea!, I just did some research on solar water heating. look up an elsid pump. They are a pump that only has one moving part, the impeller, which is spun by a rotating magnetic field at VERY low power consumption. You can build a heat collector box around a car radiator painted black on the roof, and plumb the water down into another car radiator inside the coop (or some coils of copper tubing inside water supply. Use a smallish solar panel to run the elsid pump and to charge your battery, you may even have enough power to run some sort of a tiny heater on a thermostat after dark to keep the water from freezing.

I wonder if you just got a big heat sinked resistor and sunk it in your water dish and put a thermostat on it to apply current when the temp drops below 40ish if that would be enought to keep it from freezing? You would not have to worry about a power inverter, and it would work right off your 12v battery. According to Ohms law a 50 ohm resistor at 12v should create just under a 3 watt load, you could put a 5 or 6 watt resistor in there and it would generate a little heat. You would have to play with your load a little to see if it would work, but I think the resistor would work better for you than an inverter and 110 fish tank heater.

 

[Scott]

Quote:
Good idea!, I just did some research on solar water heating. look up an elsid pump. They are a pump that only has one moving part, the impeller, which is spun by a rotating magnetic field at VERY low power consumption. You can build a heat collector box around a car radiator painted black on the roof, and plumb the water down into another car radiator inside the coop (or some coils of copper tubing inside water supply. Use a smallish solar panel to run the elsid pump and to charge your battery, you may even have enough power to run some sort of a tiny heater on a thermostat after dark to keep the water from freezing.

I wonder if you just got a big heat sinked resistor and sunk it in your water dish and put a thermostat on it to apply current when the temp drops below 40ish if that would be enought to keep it from freezing? You would not have to worry about a power inverter, and it would work right off your 12v battery. According to Ohms law a 50 ohm resistor at 12v should create just under a 3 watt load, you could put a 5 or 6 watt resistor in there and it would generate a little heat. You would have to play with your load a little to see if it would work, but I think the resistor would work better for you than an inverter and 110 fish tank heater.

heat sinked resistor? what exactly is that? Is it something low wattage? If so, that might not be a bad idea. I'd ideally prefer to ditch the inverter if possible because it would use some of the power up converting.

 

[cutlass1972]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistor

A resistor is a very basic common electrical component that typically consists of a wire of metal called nichrome, nichrome conducts electricity but adds a degree of resistance so that the current flow is restriced. By applying a current to a resistor you are effectively creating a short with some resistance. If you have ever dead shorted a set of battery cables or some other source of electricity you will know that a LOT of heat is generated, by bringing the resistor into the equation you are introducing some resistance which limits the ammount of current that can flow so it doesnt just burn up. The ammount of heat generated depends on the amount of current that is used, the amount of current that is used is directly proportionate to the amount of voltage present and the amount of resistance. This can be figured out using ohms law and goes like this

voltage / resistance = current

the results will be the amount of amps. So

12v / 50ohms = .24 amps

to calculate wattage you use this formula

volts * amps = watts

so

12v * .24 amps = 2.88 watts

You will have to play with your resistance values to get your power right so that it will generate enough heat but use as little power as possible but my first stab would be a 50 ohm resistor.

Something to be aware of is that resistors have a maximum wattage rating, if you exceed it the resistor will burn up. So as I sated before I would go with at least a 5 watt 50 ohm resistor, or a 10 watt one like this one.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062292

 

[Scott]

Quote:
You're getting techincal on me again.

Like I said, if I need to save on power, I can ditch the inverter. If what I have in mind doesn't work, I may look into this. I'm thinking I may get two 12v batteries and hook them up parallel. Time will tell. I plan to get started rigging it up later this week or weekend.

 

[cutlass1972]

I GOT IT! I found EXACTLY what you need! Man I may think about this myself

http://www.mcmaster.com/#7945t52/

it is a 1" X 2" flexable silicone heat strip. I bet if you stuck a piece of this to the bottom of your waterer and put a themostat in the water it would keep your water from freezing and in toly draws 10 watts at 12v. No inverter needed, no lost power for the inversion process!