OT: Solar Charging 12V Car Battery

You haven't disclosed the size of the chicken coop. Judging by the amount of light you can get out of a car battery, it might not be all that big.

What's it cost to move the chicken coop?

What's the cost of 5 miles of wire? Assuming you own the land between. Maybe there's a fence you could run the wire along. Run 48VDC with some kind of GFI-type breaker. Available power might enable other improvements.

I can think of only two ways solar can win.

1) if you can get some other taxpayer to pay for it. 2) there ain't no other way.

Can you import some endangered species and convince the government to require the utility to extend the reach of electrical power to prevent extinction?

Solar power doesn't have to be photovoltaic. In Arizona, you might have enough thermal differential to use a small reflector and a stirling engine.

Reply to
mike
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"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Estimate daily energy required at 200 watthours. Average solar insolation in the SW USA is about 18 megajoules per square meter per day averaged over the year. A 100 watt panel is about 1 square meter. At 10 percent electric conversion efficiency you will average about

1.8 megajoules electric per day. Thats 500 watthours. But you will only net about 300 watthours/day in the months of December/January. Lead acid battery will cost you about 40 percent. Charge controller another 10 percent. One panel rated at 100 watts should be adequate for a 200 watthour/day load.
Reply to
bw

Jim check this out ...light made with 2litter plastic bottles just a thought

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com... OT: Solar Charging 12V Car Battery...

My son, Aaron, software engineer turned farmer, has acreage in the San Tan Valley with no source of electric power.

He'd like some artificial light for his chicken coop to increase the egg output.

Lighting and timers are easy to find off-the-shelf, but I need some pointers toward finding a good quality solar panel that can charge a

12V car battery.

Thanks in advance.

...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
buddy

Sorry forgot to add the link here it is

formatting link

My son, Aaron, software engineer turned farmer, has acreage in the San Tan Valley with no source of electric power.

He'd like some artificial light for his chicken coop to increase the egg output.

Lighting and timers are easy to find off-the-shelf, but I need some pointers toward finding a good quality solar panel that can charge a

12V car battery.

Thanks in advance.

...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
buddy

plus a Richard Simmons fitness DVD - he is almost frantic enough for the chickens to follow!

Or Bio gas. Chicken shit is great for producing methane, but seriously adding more chickens means savings on a solar panel, controller, battery lighting and maintenance. Thats not chicken feed (pun?) and should the need to downscale happens there is no waste in investment capital (yummy!)

Practically the increased yield from a system so small that it can realistically consider car batteries is very likely to be disappointing. On the small scale it is almost always more economical to co-opt as much of nature as possible hence I bet the maths shows adding a few chickens is an outright winner in terms of economics.

Reply to
David Eather

(...)

the utility to extend the reach of

Can I suggest _Engineerus Hardwarus_.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

the utility to extend the reach of

;-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

He needs to crossbreed lightning bugs with his chickens, so they provide their own light. ;-)

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You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

We don't have lightning bugs here, at least in this part of Arizona. My kids were astonished upon their first trip back East. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Either that or add a little phosphor and radium to the feed mix.

Reply to
flipper

They were so deprived. :) How about Dragon flies?

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You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

And an EPA permit to dispose of their manure. :)

--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

(...)

We know them as "Fukushima Lightbulbs."

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"I saw it first but I couldn't move. You understand? It's-wait-a-minute-time when you see something like that, a light coming out of the dog dish, you follow what I'm saying? It's wait a minute time when you see something like that," says John Fairley, who first saw the bones glow.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

I think I've seen them here. I think what limits certain of those bugs is lack of moisture/humidity. But I've seem wasps here that were bigger than dragonflies ;-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

I hope your owls consider them delicacies!

I would think you'd have some bats around as well... they'd probably like to eat a wasp...

Reply to
Joel Koltner

Around end-of-July into August, when the humidity goes up, the gnats appear, followed by the bats... they're fun to watch ;-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

I've seen Dragon flies with a 12" wingspan when I was working in Destin, Florida. They get to a 4" wingspan around here, if the birds don't get them. They are supposed to eat their weight each day in Mosquitoes.

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You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

My son, Aaron, software engineer turned farmer, has acreage in the San Tan Valley with no source of electric power.

He'd like some artificial light for his chicken coop to increase the egg output.

Lighting and timers are easy to find off-the-shelf, but I need some pointers toward finding a good quality solar panel that can charge a

12V car battery.

Thanks in advance.

...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
buddy

They already regulate chicken sh... uh, manure.

Maybe you could convince them that makes it 'self sterilizing'.

naaaaaaaaaaaaa.

I bet glow in the dark Easter Eggs would be a big hit, though.

Reply to
flipper

From radioactive chickens? :)

There was a story in a '70s issue of Mother Earth News about a pig farm that used all their crap in a digester to produce methane, which powered the whole farm. It was used to run a small car engine, that drove a PTO generator. What was left in the digester was clean fertilizer.

Midnight egg hunts? ;-)

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You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

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