OT: Solar Charging 12V Car Battery

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

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

And waste all that free methane from the chicken shit?

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

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

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

(...)

We know them as "Fukushima Lightbulbs."

"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

I'm showing my age, and your youth... "M-G set" = motor-generator set :-) ...Jim Thompson

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

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...

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

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.

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

Thanks in advance.

...Jim Thompson

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.

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? ;-)

How about tiltable mirrors ?

As soon as the sun gets up in the morning, a high illumination level is available immediately. In the evening, nearly full illumination levels are available until the sun sets. At noon, the mirrors could even be used as shields against the hot sun :-).

Thus, the solar power would only be required to turn the mirrors during the day, instead of illuminating the chickens.

Do you have any information, which wavelength would best stimulate egg laying ? If in the yellow band, low pressure sodium could be used to extend the light period, if in the blue range, blue LEDs would be the most economical way.

Jim Thompson wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I liked your pic of that big lizard.

For some reason I can't remember what that post was called and locate the photo. ...Jim Thompson

wrote=20

San

=20

=20

=20

Something i learned not so long ago is that L-A batteries do much better when "conditioned" new before being placed in service. "Conditioning" amounts to fully charging and discharging down to 40 % remaining capacity or so for 4 to 6 cycles. Total capacity improvement is on the order of=20

?-)