Solar Powered Poultry Lighting
Solar Powered Poultry Lighting
Put together a solar system to power poultry lighting - increase winter egg production
solar | electric circuit | general | electronicsIf we received 1p every time someone emailed us about
solar powered poultry lighting we would have earned 23p during September (2006). Therefore we have compiled the information in the following article to assist those people, and anyone else who requires timer controlled lighting where
mains electricity is not available.
NEW - in addition to the detailed information in this article we recommend you read our new article
REUK Poultry Lighting System. There we have taken our last two years of experience and put together all the information you'll need to put together a tried and tested reliable solar (or otherwise)
poultry lighting system based around our newly launched economical REUK
poultry lighting controller.
Poultry Lighting
One of the most important factors in
egg production by
poultry is the length of the day. During the summer months when days are long, hens and other poultry lay merrily. But in the winter when the days are short (and often dull) egg production can slow or even stop. Therefore
artificial poultry lighting on a timer is often used to
trick the poultry into believing the days are longer while still maintaining the necessary 9-10 hours of dark
roosting time.
The Timer
Key to any artificial poultry lighting system is a
programmable timer. While 240 VAC mains electricity programmable timers are available for just a couple of pounds, unfortunately the same is not true of 12 Volt DC timers. In our article
12 Volt Programmable Timer Switch we looked at some of the commercial products available. A reader of our site
then made the excellent recommendation that a cheap battery powered
programmable thermostat can be used as a timer. You simply need to set the timer to be on from say 4:00am until 7:00pm every day.
NEW We are now selling the
programmable thermostat pictured above in the
REUK Shop. Click here to purchase this
battery powered timer thermostat.
Choosing Lights
Poultry lighting by definition is used during the months when there is little sunlight. Therefore everything needs to be done to keep the power used by the artificial lights to an absolute minimum since the amount of
solar electricity which can be generated is small - typically just a couple of hours per day. Fortunately the latest 12 Volt DC
LED spotlight technology uses very little power - our
LED Spotlights (available in the
REUK Shop) use just
1 Watt of 12 Volt DC electricity.
These spotlights (pictured above) can be used to light spaces as well as being excellent
spotlights. For general lighting in a small space it may be better to direct the bulbs * onto a reflective surface (e.g. mirrored card) on the roof of the
poultry house so that the light reaching the poultry is not too bright and to reduce shadows.
*
The number of bulbs required will depend on the number of poultry and the size of their accommodation.
Automatic Light Switch Off in Daylight
A cheap way to save power (and therefore to reduce the overall costs of the system) is to use a small
light dependent resistor circuit to automatically switch off the artificial lights when the natural
daylight outside the poultry house is sufficiently bright to render them unnecessary. Typically this would result in the lights being
off from around 9:00am until 4:00pm in the Midlands of England saving seven hours of power.
NEW The one disadvantage of using this
thermostat timer is that only one
ON and one
OFF can be programmed per day - therefore necessitating the above described daylight detector to reduce power consumption. Click here to read our new article
Convert Digital Mains Timer to Low Voltage in which we describe how a supermarket bought mains powered
programmable timer (with
multiple ON/OFFs per day) can be modified and a relay board added so that it can be used in this application - for example, ON from 4am to 8am and then again from 4pm to 7pm, and therefore OFF at night and from 8am-4pm.
The Solar Panel and Battery
Since the
PV solar panel will only be generating its rated amount of power for a couple of hours per day at most, the panel has to be sized to ensure that sufficient electricity is sent to the
battery. Therefore if a 1 Watt bulb is to be powered for 10 hours per day, a solar panel of at least 5 Watts would be required and a 10 Watt panel would be preferable.
The
battery needs to hold sufficient charge to get through a week of zero sunshine without being damaged (i.e. not discharged below around 40-50% of capacity). Therefore a standard sized 85 to 110Ah
deep cycle leisure battery is easily sufficient for 4 or 5 Watts of bulbs. Using such a battery with a
solar panel of less than 20-30 Watts will typically render a
solar charge controller an unnecessary expense (during late autumn, winter, and early spring), although using one with a solar panel over 20 Watts will increase the life expectancy of the batteries a little and a suitable
solar controller should be used in the summer months.
Total System Costs
The most basic system of one
1 Watt LED spotlight bulb (and
bulb holder) could be powered by a couple of our
12 Volt 3 Watt Solar Panels (connected in parallel for 6 Watts power output) for under £50. The
programmable thermostat,
battery,
light/dark sensor circuit, and
cables and connectors could be purchased again for under £50 providing a complete robust system for
under £100.
Connecting The System
Above is a basic schematic diagram of a solar powered poultry lighting system comprising one
solar panel, one
LED spotlight bulb, a modified thermostat
timer, and a
light detector.
Below is the schematic for the more advanced system based around a modified
programmable timer with voltage regulator (to supply the necessary 1.2V to the timer from the main 12V battery) and
relay board (to switch the lights on and off).
If a second
solar panel is required to keep the
battery topped up, it should be connected in
parallel with the first panel: connect the positive lead from panel 2 to the positive of panel 1 and then connect the negative lead from panel 2 to the negative lead of panel 1.
If more than one light is required, additional lights must again be connected in
parallel with the first bulb as shown in our article on
solar powered shed lighting.
If you need any help or advice in putting together a
poultry lighting system using any of the products and methods described in this article, please contact
neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your exact requirements.
Article Last Modified: 10:21, 15th Nov 2008Comment on this Article
If you have any comments on this article, please email them to
neil@reuk.co.uk.
As a poultry keeper, the usual trick with extending daylight in the coop is do add artificial light only at the BEGINNING of the day. If you try to add light at the end of the afternoon, free-range chickens/ducks get confused. The sun starts to set, and they go into the coop to roost. But it's still lit, so they go outside again!
Experience tells me that this confused state yields no additional eggs.... and the confusion may have the opposite effect! Other customers of REUK may wish to comment further on my observation of
course.
But as your webpage stands, I think the advice should only be used if the poultry is permanently kept indoors.
Paul
November 19th 2008 |
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