solar chicken coop

[cindynsg]

I,m also building a chicken coop and may or may not be using a light but I will be using a fan.

May I ask, is the light used for heat? How much experience do you have with chickens? You may want to think about insulation first. If you add a layer of bubble wrap( the kind that has the foil in it) you can find it at Lowes or Home Depot. This stuff really works.

Also, if you have 8 or 10 chickens that should be enough for them to survive off of their own ambient heat as long as they're not too young. Chickens don't die so often from cold as they do if there is a draft, another reason to insulate and use bubble wrap for stopping the drafts. I live in western Massachusetts in the Berkshires and raise chicks in awful weather.

If you still want to use a light for additional heat then you would need about a 200 watt panel, because you need to account for inefficiencies and you need to be able to charge the battery in the amount of time the sun would hit the panel directly. I'm assuming you get about 4 hours of daylight strong enough to charge the battery.Better to overestimate than to undercharge the battery, unless you like buy batteries.Now you need to choose a panel or combination of them and find a charge controller for it.

i am not familiar with technical works. however, i just would like to give my idea. i think you should use one bigger panel instead couple small panels, maybe that would save some money. in addition, you may choose suitable inverter according to the load power you use( bulb, fan). i wish this can help you.

[phmezz]

Can you all help me with the math? I'm planning an off the grid chicken coop. I want to power a least a 60 watt light bulb for up to 10 hours per day. I will need the light bulb for lighting as well as heat during the winter.

my plan so far:


4 20-watt solar panels (12v)
A charge controller (not sure about the size (amps)
2 6v golf cart batteries in a series or 1 12v deep cycle marine battery (I will buy more if needed).
400 watt inverter

My problem is this is only a guess. As you can tell, I'm a novice and don't really know what I'm doing. I want to keep this project under $500.

My goal is to power at least a 60 watt light bulb to generate heat and light for my small chicken coop (4-6 hens). It is critical that I have 8-10 hours per day operation for proper egg production during the winter. I also want to run a small fan during the summer. However, to keep the costs down I could switch to a 15 watt LED bulb if this project is cost prohibitive. Although, I would lose the heat benefit.

Any suggestions are appreciated. I'm certainly flexible and want to make this project work. Any suggestions for retail sellers would also be welcome.