Solar powered LED lights for chicken coop?

[copper2]

Let us know!

 

[UtePassChickens]

okay got the two light option and up and running - so hopefully the eggs return in the next 4-5 weeks i guessin...

 

[sweetrootfarm]

Thanks for all the comments and information. Please keep in mind that the light you are considering, is on all night and that research shows that chickens still need 6-8 hours of darkness for a healthy immune system. For our young flock of about 100 birds, I'm using two LED lights in our mobile 400 square foot coop. They are run with a long extension cord.

Soon, however, we are moving our coop to a paddock without power. I experimented with ordering some 12 V Christmas lights, but I don't think they are bright enough and they are harder to connect to our basic solar setup that includes a 50 watt panel, a simple charge controller ($10, amazon), 12 volt LCD timer (also from Amazon), and the lights. Since our mobile coop is about 20x22 feet, I decided to go with the more expensive 1 watt 12 volt lights so they can be placed in all the roosting areas of our coop. I solicited advice from numerous farmers about the light needs of layers and the best advice I found was about 60 watts equivalent incandescent for each 200 sq foot. This is how I arrived at purchasing 12 lights, a total of 120 watt equivalent.

In December in Montana, we need about 4 hours of extra light to get to the required 14 hours of daylight, so that means, after all the math and a good deep cycle battery, our 50 watt solar panel, purchased for $80, is more than enough for our needs. I should say that the entire system is 12 volts; we don't need an inverter.

I researched LED lights substantially, and I have purchased these:
https://www.amazon.com/1-5-inch-Lig...811&sr=8-4&keywords=12+volt+led+lights+1+watt

I went with this model since it's easy to work with the simple wires and I can change the arrangement. Since there is 2x4 metal to protect the chickens from breaking into insulation about the rafters in our mobile barn, there are multiple mounting possibilities. I will probably hang them and clip the wires directly to our metal wire.

I hope this helps. I'll be wiring up our lights and solar panel this week. With the insulation in the mobile coop, and the deep bending, are coop temperatures are about 12-20 degrees warmer than the outside temperature. This is with gable vents (open all the time) and an automatic door that's open during daylight hours. With this setup, we hope to only have to string extension cords to the mobile barn for a few weeks a year for the 100 watt (also on a thermo-controller) water deicer. This is how we do it now, but I'm always looking at ways to improve and simply our system as we scale our laying flock to about 200 hens.

In my research, I did find a nice LCD 12 volt timer available in the UK, but it was expensive and it didn't have the flexibility we wanted. I'd love to have a timer that just made sure we had 14 hours of daylight inside the mobile barn all the time, but I haven't been able to find one. At some point, I may consider upgrading our system, since at 200 layers, we can justify some continued infrastructure investments and improvements. If anyone makes a timer, or has a solution for this challenge, I'd love to hear about it.

Happy winter,
Noah

 

[UtePassChickens]

Gratz! and thankyou! I did consider this so to compensate i have the solar panel in it's third location now, trying to balance shade and light during the day and right now it only gets enough a charge to last about 3 hrs. I just moved it again today to see if i can get another couple out of it, but yes the day i got it i charged it up at the house in sunny spot and the chickens had a full night of light the first day!

 

[WVDoug]

I use one of these for my coop lighting. The timer itself is run by two AA batteries, so draws no current from the 12V system. All it does is slide a plate up and down, which moves the wall switch (wired to 12VDC) to the "ON" or "OFF" position.

https://www.amazon.com/Autochron-Programmable-Light-Switch-Timer/dp/B007914RBG

I WAS using one of these, but it seems the switch is actually a solenoid, which uses quite a bit of current to keep the circuit closed. It was killing a 35AH SLA battery in 4-5 hours, and it was only running a 7W 12VDC light. I'll probably use it on the automatic door, because I can program it to run for a minute at a time, twice a day.

https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Digital-Power-Programmable-Switch/dp/B008999RYY

 

[UtePassChickens]

okay plugged in solar lights just about a month ago and we got our first frozen winter egg yesterday!....so back to the daily routine of egg collecting I do hope!. I ended up having to place the solar panel between 2 large pine trees, in order to block the sun light most of the day, so lights would only stay on for about 4hrs before flickering out!

 

[UtePassChickens]

another egg today! no for sure which chicken though! I am guessing it is the blue laced red wyndotte (sp) or goose is wht our 2 yr old named her!

 

[UtePassChickens]

well been happy with my solar lights, all my chickens are back to laying! Now the lack of having a timer for the solar lights, I had to attach the solar panel in between two trees, so it only collects the solar energy for a couple hours in the morning. They kick on as soon as it gets dark outside and run out of power by 830pm.

 

[Maxor]

Bought a set of solar powered chicken coop lights the other day after reading some reviews on them at https://renewitsource.com/best-solar-powered-light-chicken-coop-reviews/, they seem to work great for my coop so far anyway!

 

[Rob Tof]

I bought three sets of solar lights at harbor freight 12.96$ per. Not super bright but enough light to extend there light to keep them laying. Birds stop laying in winter because the days shorten if your lights go on and stay on a few hours your golden. I also bought a solar panel from harbor freight and hooked it to battery's to a inverter for my fan. My coop is green