Small solar setup to power chicken coop light, etc...

[Chris_NH]

Hi,
Looking for some input on this idea:

I have a small chicken coop that's quite a ways from power. From October until May, while there's less than 14 daylight hours of light, I need to provide the dozen hens supplementary to make them think the daylight lasts 14 hours so they continue laying. Last year I ran a 100' extension cord from the garage to the coop - this year I want to power the light(s), and maybe the device that keeps their water from freezing, by solar panel/battery instead.

Here's what I'm thinking...
Solar panels that I have that I could use: 1) 6 watt amorphous 2) 30 watt polychrystaline 3) 50 watt polychrystaline
Batteries that I have available: 1) Two 17ah 12 volt batteries from jump starters that I was given that are currently connected in parallel and used to power (hooked to the 6 watt panel) an electric fence during summer. 2) 70ah battery marine/starting battery.
Charge controller: thinking of buying the Morningstar Sunguard 4.5amp controller for around $25.

For the light I'm looking at a couple of small LED spotlights to put out around 40 watts of total light, likely using 5 or 6 actual watts of power. These lights will need to be on from roughly 2am until 7am, so 5 hours total per day.

The water heater element only comes on when temp is under 35 deg. We get lots of cold weather, but it'll be in the coop and the element would run approximately 4 hours per night during the coldest months. The element is 100 watts. I'd plug this into a small inverter.

So, is there a combination of these batteries/panel that would be optimal for this setup? Or do I have some more purchasing to do?

Thanks for any input.

[Sunking]

If the lights on consume 6 watts total, it is doable at 30 watt hours per day. The heater is out of the question at 400 watt hours/day. Just to run the heater alone where you are at will require 300 watt panel and a 12 volt 170 AH battery.

[inetdog]

If the lights on consume 6 watts total, it is doable at 30 watt hours per day. The heater is out of the question at 400 watt hours/day. Just to run the heater alone where you are at will require 300 watt panel and a 12 volt 170 AH battery.

In terms of economics of power production and off-grid solar, if you can run a 100' extension cord, then you are not "quite a long ways from power". Put the money you would spend on panels, batteries and inverter into burying a permanent AC feed line instead. You will get more flexibility and reliability and lower power cost.