thoughts on this fence charger?

[DickMidnight]

i don’t have electric at my coop, so i’ve gotta go with a solar powered charger. does anyone have experience with this one?

so far, this is the most powerful i’ve found. supposedly it pushes 3.1 joules over 30 miles of fence.

my enclosure is 50x50, so i’m hoping this delivers a serious shock.

https://parmakusa.com/product/magnum-solar-pak-12/

 

[cmom]

That is a good charger. BYC member Howard E uses a DC charger made by Parmak but sold under a different name, Herdsman. My charger is also a Parmak but AC. Works great.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-treatise-on-electric-fencing.1117877/

 

[HumbleAmerican]

I find that I don’t have enough good light to keep up with the small panel. (I use that model for my temporary fence in summer) 43rd parallel to give you an idea how far north I am.

For my entire property I use a Patriot p30, 100w panel and controller to a large deep cycle battery. 2 years now and have had zero mornings under 12 volts. The p30 is an ac/dc unit.

 

[DickMidnight]

I find that I don’t have enough good light to keep up with the small panel. (I use that model for my temporary fence in summer) 43rd parallel to give you an idea how far north I am.

For my entire property I use a Patriot p30, 100w panel and controller to a large deep cycle battery. 2 years now and have had zero mornings under 12 volts. The p30 is an ac/dc unit.

does a setup like this need to be kept out of the weather?

being in CT has me a little
worried about keeping the battery charged all the time using solar.

 

[HumbleAmerican]

I do not have the cold temps that you do.... BUT... I use the panel for shelter if that makes sense. I will see if I can dig up a photo.

 

[HumbleAmerican]

This was my first setup. The battery I have pictured was one from a small trolling motor for a kayak. I now have a full size deep cycle in its place.

The P30 is designed to hang on a fence, all weather. You can see it hanging behind the right leg. The battery and controller on the bottom never get wet. It seems to work fairly well.

 

[DickMidnight]

so that big ass panel keeps the battery charged up?

are you saying the panel on the charger i linked is too small?

 

[HumbleAmerican]

so that big ass panel keeps the battery charged up?

are you saying the panel on the charger i linked is too small?

I found the panel on the charger you linked does NOT keep the battery charged after end of September until April at my longitude. I was having to charge every 3-4 days.

Mind you I have fog daily that doesn't burn off until 11-12 a lot of the days, and there's some days that it doesn't burn off at all.

 

[DickMidnight]

I found the panel on the charger you linked does NOT keep the battery charged after end of September until April at my longitude. I was having to charge every 3-4 days.

Mind you I have fog daily that doesn't burn off until 11-12 a lot of the days, and there's some days that it doesn't burn off at all.

hmmm

ok, potentially back to the drawing board.

could i use the charger and swap the panel out for something larger? or would this require a new setup altogether?

 

[HumbleAmerican]

I also use this huge panel because the cost was only 15 bucks or so more to build my own this way vs building a 30-50 watt array. I will in future set up my pole building with LED lights that will run off a second battery that this panel has the capacity to charge.

I tend to over build.