Solar (water) heating in coop?

[ladyearth]

you must be in a warmer climate.... what panels did you use...? brand etc. what it all cost you???? you didnt show your battery or batteries....Please tell more
Thank you

 

[2-hen]

Weather is north east usa
2 deep cycle batteries 99$, each at Walmart
2 100 watt solar panels the type doesn't matter
Morningstar 400w inverter
I recently followed recommendations from someone in MN on horizontal nipples, 5 gal bucket on wood with the birdbath heater. This yr Overall less freezing, and dripping with 0 Fahrenheit weather for 3 nights. My old setup shown is on its second year started to drip early winter likely due to the nipples and not the water freezing.

 

[ladyearth]

so what exactly are you doing with the solar? for the coop? didnt you say you are using AC to heat I mean keep wtr from freezing for the chickens....? maybe I didnt read correctly. Just wanna understand.... saw that can...alumcan framed htr. years ago on solar sites....be nice to do that... Just wish my new coop didnt have slightly tinted windows... on the south side...
thank you

 

[2-hen]

The fixed position solar panels are powering a 12v battery system, two batteries, attached to a 400w DC to AC inverter. In all it powers an automatic chicken coop door, a light, and the water heater.

The chicken coop door power needs are from a 12 v battery so it does not work off of the power inverter.

The power inverter is a relatively efficient inverter near 96%. It powers a 4w LED light that is on timer (2, 4, 8 or dusk to dawn setting), and a 50 w birdbath heater in a 5 gal. bucket (filled with water) that uses horizontal nipples. There is no insulation at this time on the bucket. The bucket rests on a 8 inch wood platform.

Some small freezing has occurred when the water heater depleted the batteries after a several day snow storm. Overall using a 24 v system is more efficient to power the inverter which may be my next step since it is free to change.

I had considered going to a all 12v or 24 v system without an inverter. This would help improve efficiency but the cost is stopping me (100 dollars). If I started this project again I would skip the inverter and use a 12 or 24 v system.

 

[tbcorum]

I don't have a solar system but it uses 2 electrical outlets and is the combination of muti systems I have seen online! I tried to make life easy for me! I can't build anything but a friend helps me when he can so I have to review plans ,study ideas & look at what will work here & talk to him!!

What we came up with is a nipple system from pvc pipe with a return using a small pump and to prevent prevent freezing use Multi-Use Utility De-Icer 250 watts in a clay pot to prevent melting of a lg plastic cooler! We put cooler on East side so morning sun would be on cooler and on outside of coop so chickens would not roost on cooler and could be filled easier with water hose and if any spillage it would be outside coop vs inside!

 

[CapricornFarm]

I built a solar heater in my run but the weather has not been cold enough to test it yet. Details under the Random Ramblings section in the thread Are you Ready for Winter. Or Get ready for Winter, i forget.
And i put skylights in the coop, two shower doors so the coop will get some solar heat that way.