Solar

[Eyeheartmydogs]

Does anyone know if 1 or 2 heat lights will work with solar? Ohio gets pretty cold in winter. I want to have at least one heat light, maybe two, and a water heater to keep their water from freezing. Any advice, or thoughts. Thank you so much

 

[elorraine52]

Pretty sure heat lamps draw too much power to use with a solar set-up, however, i'm far from an expert. There are many posts on here and elsewhere advising against using heat for chickens in winter, they don't need it in general, and as long as your coop has adequate ventilation they should be fine. Any farm store will have base heaters for chicken waterers for winter, or there are heated nipple waterers also that plug in, i'm not sure if those are going to be compatible with solar either.

 

[Finchbreeder]

You need to know the Kilowattage output of your solar unit.
Also the wattage draw of your lights to answer that question.
Because the answer is both no - not if the 1st is less than the 2nd - and yes - if the 1st is greater than the 2nd.
Yep - hubby is an electrician and has done solar instalation calculations.

 

[Knobby]

I have 2 200 watt solar panels charging 2 12.8V 100Ah LifePO4 batteries, with hopes that it would be sufficient enough to accomplish what you have in mind...it doesn't. I tested it with a heated waterer and it didn't last but about an hour before the batteries were fully drained. Am still trying out different setups to see what will work.

 

[Debbie292d]

I would call a couple of electricians or handymen and see what the cost would be to run power out to your coop. Hubby is one of each and ran it to ours. We use a low-wattage oil-filled radiant heater in an insulated coop to keep it to 40°F. There's a cozy coop radiant heater behind the 5-gallon nipple bucket, as when the polar vortex hits, the water still gets ice on top. Eggs don't freeze though!

 

[AntiqueB]

To efficiently use 2 solar panels to keep water from freezing, you can't use conventional heaters. The draw is way too big. I also have 2 200 watt panels, charging 3 marine batteries. I use 12v temperature switches so that the heating elements are only on when necessary. The heating elements are 12v pads which I put in water-filled jars with silicone lids. By setting the switches to go on at around 34° and off at around 38°, I can keep my 2 waterers working. Bear in mind that winters in NYC are not as harsh as yours. You may need more batteries, or an extra panel.

 

[Theurbanhomestead]

I have 2 200 watt solar panels charging 2 12.8V 100Ah LifePO4 batteries, with hopes that it would be sufficient enough to accomplish what you have in mind...it doesn't. I tested it with a heated waterer and it didn't last but about an hour before the batteries were fully drained. Am still trying out different setups to see what will work.

I saw that it was mentioned above but would like to reiterate that it really depends on the heater you are using. There is a lot going into if it will work or not. For example I have 500watts of solar going into my work shop that connects to a few batteries. I can easily run a few things at more than 500w for a few hours.
Like someone else said you probably don't need to run the heaters full time. Also are you running it through an inverter to get it up to 120V or is the heater a 12 volt heater? Depending on what kind of setup you have there your efficacy can drop quite a bit.
Something else to keep in mind is that LiFePO4 batteries really do not like the cold. Like unless they have some sort of specialized BMS (battery maintenance system) many of them will get messed up when they try to charge at or below 0C. I know they can discharge at a little below that but I can not remember the temp.

 

[AntiqueB]

I got rid of my inverter in favor of 12v heaters. The inverter drew too much power. Temperature switches are also a must.