Solar power

[JohnBob]

I was wondering if anyone had or is using solar powered ventilation fans or lights on coops? I'm just designing my coop and have heard that the ventilation fans work pretty good. Co-worker has one tied in with a 12 volt marine battery that runs the fan and lights during the day and trickle charges the marine battery. At night a thermostat turns the fan on at 85 and off at 70, running off the battery. If he needs lights, he can get about 4 hours of continuous use with a 12 volt, 50 watt LED light set. My only hold up is the costs: marine battery is about $150, the ventilator fan with the solar panel attached is about $250, and the light is about $100. I can do the wiring and installing so no problem there. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone is using this kind of set up and, if so, have you had any problems with it and how long has it lasted you. Thanks.

 

[ColoredEggHome]

I'm a mere newbie but solar powered fans and lights sound like an excellent idea!!

 

[timdog]

I don't know where you are living, but if it gets hot in the summer that fan will be running alot and the battery won't have time to charge. Perhaps if you had a panel big enough, but that would be getting costly.

How far is the run to your coop? Couldn't you run some buried wire (in conduit) from an exterior outlet to the coop? Solar is good, but can get very costly without careful planning. I am contemplating issue...but it may end up cheaper running the wiring.

Let us know if you proceed how it works out for you.

Tim

 

[gryeyes]

I have a very simple little solar powered shed light in my coop, with the collector outside. It's adequate for night-time visits in the dark.

I've also purchased a solar-powered "attic fan" unit, which will be installed after my coop has been painted. I'm sure it won't continue to run after dark, but I figure ANY air movement during the hottest time of the day will be good.

 

[GhostRider65]

I bought a solar hanging light from Northern tools for 49.99 for in my coop, comes with the panel and should be ok for a night light if I need it, I'm also going to buy a few solar yard lights to put around the pen to help keep critters away, maybe a motion light. They are out there, but can't remember the price right off hand, it wasn't no 100 bucks though.
as per fan I don't know about that one, I would think depending on your hot summer temps, it may not be charged enough to run all night if need be?? here in Wi. in July/ Aug our night temps stay in the 78 to 80 degree range with heavy humidity, so If you use this system let us know how it works I would be very interested in the results. Kim
here's a link to the solar page. mine is the hanging light,
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...=mode+matchallpartial&Dx=mode+matchallpartial

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:

Wow you can find a marine battery for $150 Sounds like some decent pricing. How many cubic feet of air will the fan move? Do you have a place in mind to store the battery Batteries like that work best if they are kept at a pretty constant temperature. If I remember correctly Marine batteries are lead acid therefore they will outgass a little hydrogen over time so the battery containment needs to be ventilated as well.

You might also look into passive ventilation using convection to move the hot air out. Im in the desert so my coops are little more than chicken wire lined chainlink panels with a roof one wall for the wind and another wall for the sun. the rest is open. During the day it can be 110 degrees out, yet under the coop shade it will be at least 95. Not good for chickens I know but we only get a week or two of this per year.

 

[sammin71]

you could also run UF wire underground without conduit.. You need to run on the load side of a GFI outlet so if there is a problem with the wire or henhouse the GFI will trip. You only need to bury the wire 12". This is what i did on my coop.

 

[TN_BIRD]

How big of a coop are you building? Is a large, marine battery necessary? Might be able to get away with a smaller battery. Just make sure it is not a cranking-type battery (like the lawnmower or motorcycle types). You can find inexpensive, smaller ones all over (little tykes power wheels, deer feeders, etc.). I've seen some with 7 amp hours that cost about $20.

Question: if you can do the wiring, why go the route with the batteries and such?

 

[elmo]

I think if you do a search here on the subject of fans for the chicken coop you'll find discussions about some serious drawbacks. First of all, there's the dust. Chickens produce an amazing amound of feather dust, and then added to that is whatever particles produced by the bedding you use. Unless your fan is one of those expensive agricultural models, the fan motor can quickly get clogged with dust and burn out. You'd need to be cleaning the dust out of the motor very frequently (daily?) in order to avoid this problem.

Secondly, a chicken coop needs a lot more ventilation than most people think. A small vent fan just isn't going to do it. It's easier and cheaper just to build adequate passive ventilation. Here's the best discussion of the subject that I know of:


https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

Lastly, a solar powered vent fan probably wouldn't run all night.

Solar lights are a different matter, though. Plenty of people use those and they work fine.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
You can do that, but you know what works even better and is way cheaper? Just designing good passive ventilation into your coop structure

And the great thing about large open (hardwarecloth) areas of wall is that they are foolproof, they do not catch fire (fans periodically do, especially if they are household not barn-type fans and good luck finding barn-type fans small enough for a small coop) and they do not sometimes conk out and leave your chickens hot (fans and their power systems do).

Truly, unless you live somewhere so hot that during the day the chickens need a breeze even when they are in a good large pool of deep shade, I see NO purpose whatsoever for fans in the coop. There are just much BETTER ways of achieving the goal.

That said, sure, you can do it if you want - but, it is expensive, a fire hazard and will sometimes break. <shrug>

Good luck, have fun,

Pat