Solar powered LED lights for chicken coop?

[hexabob]

I have my kids old powerwheels battery in my coop (4x4x4) with 3 individual white led's inside and 3 flashing reds outside. Paid maybe $5 for the lights on ebay, and have a cheap solar panel hooked up to it. I don't know if it's bright enough to promote laying, mine are still little, but it does provide some break from the darkness. The flashing red led's on the outside can be seen from pretty far and still scare me half the time.

 

[Cindy in PA]

I have the three light spotlight set with separate solar panel from Lowes. The lights have 3 LED bulbs per light & it was $30. Bought it for a 4 by 6 coop when I got bantams. I know in the winter they would go in & eat & move around for awhile using that light. I'm not sure if they laid more eggs or not, as it was my first time with bantams. I just got new batteries for it after 4 years & replaced the old NiCad with more powerful NiMh. My battery contacts have rusted some from moisture & it wasn't always going on or charging fully. Just bought a $10 Duracell charger & charged up the batteries & it spooked the guineas last night. It was brighter than it has been in a year and still has charge this morning. These lights are dusk to dawn. I think they still sell them & they might work if your coop isn't too big or if you get lots of them.

 

[solarlightguy]

I've been in the solar biz for 10+ years and have built a solution using a very bright LED light fixture, integrated battery, solar panel, timer/controller. Cost is $325 plus shipping. [email protected]

 

[liz4green]

We are looking for a solar-powered (or solar charged) light with a timer to use in the chicken coop to enhance laying in the winter months, but don't have $300+ to spend. Has anyone found something cheaper that's not lighted all night like simple solar yard lights? We are just trying to reach the recommended 14 hours a day, hence the request for a timer. Thanks!

 

[Clucky Me]

Our area was affected by Sandy pretty bad and we were without power on my block for only about 4 or 5 days (Surprisingly) but it was pretty chilly and the kids were starting to really get cranky. Anyway, after about a day of candles and OLD solar lights, my hubby and I ran to Home Depot and bought a pack of beautiful solar lights for 60 bucks. We splurged because these looked like really good construction and they promised bright light. The kit included two spotlights and four square tower lights that could stand up on a flat surface if you didn't attach the stakes! They did deliver!

During the day we put them on the windowsill and at night, they would come on and last strong for quite a while. They didn't start to fade until about 1:30am! Best part was WE COULD SEE! In the walkway between the front and back of the house, which the living room is situated in, we have a large mirror hanging on the wall so I came up with the "bright idea" of situating the spotlight on that mirror to reflect the light throughout the walkway as well as light up the living room! Maybe some type of outdoor mirrors could be utilized with these types of lights in a coup??

Anyway, this is the second season of using these lights and they are still shining bright, most even still have the same rechargeable battery from the day we bought them! It is worth getting the more expensive kind, especially if you don't want the expense of electrical work being done.

Good luck!

 

[Clucky Me]

Oh my! Lookie here at what I just found!

Not to mention, the LED lights that we purchased JUST LAST YEAR for $60 are now $100!

 

[elkfriend]

Hello Folks,

I think I figured it out, it works awesome and does not break the bank. Here is how you do it:

1) Find a 12v battery, deep cycle (like an old RV battery or a boat battery)
2) Get a cheap 12 v inverter, these are the ones that plug into your cigarette lighter in the car, they put 120v out. I found one for 8$
3) Get a light fixture for regular bulbs 2$
4) Get a 120v LED bulb. I use a 2w LED ceiling fan bulb, it was 12$ and puts out the equivalent of 40w
5) Get a cheap timer 4$
6) Get a solar panel, can be a small one anywhere from 20$-100$

Setup:
Solar panel charges car battery.
car battery feeds 12v to inverter.
timer sits on inverter plug and controls the early morning light.
inverter feeds 120v to Light bulb.

It has been very reliable for me and because the bulb only consumes 2w and is only on from 4 am - 9 am or so, the power consumption is very small and the solar panel can easily replenish the power.

The most expensive piece is the battery and the solar panel. but for the whole installation you can get away with well under 100$.

GOOD LUCK!


Note:
My set up works so well, that I hooked up a second battery and will start feeding a small heat lamp in the winter time to keep the water from freezing. Mind you, I got a pretty large solar panel (150w). But for light only, you can get away with a 10w panel.

 

[shani29]

Thanks! Great idea!
Do you need a charge controller for this? How did you connect the solar panel to the inexpensive inverter?

I have a solar panel that I use to charge our RV battery.. so wondering if I can make this work in the coop. Where did you put all the electronics?

Thanks!
Shani

 

[Sweepy]

Showing this one to hubs. He wanted to run on of those bright orange extension cords across the length of our front yard. I'm from a small town in Tennessee and find myself very sensitive to anything I perceive as "redneck". Thanks Elkfriend for possibly saving our marriage!

 

[elkfriend]

Hey, a charge controller is good to have, especially if your panel is larger or if your climate is sunny - it prevents the battery from overcharging and also indicates low battery status. There are a ton of websites about this topic.

For just the light with low wattage and a small panel, I started without a charge controller, it worked just fine. (but now I have one, because I upgraded the panel to 150w and expanded my setup to now include a battery bank to also run a heat lamp and christmas lights).

The car inverter will have the cigarette lighter male end, which screws open and you can jam a wire in the tip. THE TIP OF THE CIGARETTE PLUG IS THE POSITIVE END + and connects to the positive battery lead.

The sidewalls are negative (ground) and connect to the minus pole of your battery. You can just bend a wire around it and connect to the negative.

Recommendation: try and really isolate those wires, using electrical tape, soldering or what have you, since a short circuit between battery poles can heat up quickly and let the sparks fly.

In my initial setup, I did not have any fuses and monitored it very closely. Since then (in my involved version), I have added some resettable fuses in all the positive lines, for safety reasons.


Note: theoretically, another (simpler) way to make this whole thing work, without the inverter, is to just get 12v LED lights (or LED car lighting chain), however I could not find 12v timers anywhere (to me the timer was important, to control the light), which is why I went the 120v route (with the benefit that I now have extra power outlets for other things).


Another question was where I have all the stuff. Initially, I took a big rubbermaid box and put it all in there, with lid on top, just a few wires coming out. Since then, this has evolved too and its now in my garage, with the added benefit that the batteries are not out in the cold (decreases battery efficiency).

good luck!

If you are interested in the solar topic, I highly recommend some googling.

I really like jeffrey yagos solar 101 series, it starts here http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago87.html