Good Afternoon.
I'm "new" to the whole solar power "thing", although I've been a veteran tinkerer for decades. But, I've come up with a real head scratcher, and before I throw more money at things, I'd like to get the opinion of this group...
This is what I have - A 10x10 shed, with several nooks & crannies (like litter box corner, cat tree corner, and the Cattic. No hookup to power. Literally in the middle of a farmer's field
Needs:
1) Provide a small night-light above litter box corner - when it gets dark, you can't see your hand in front of your face if you are in the shed. The cats need SOME light - 5W?
2) Provide Human Lighting when the volunteers show up to clean, feed & water. In at least 3 locations (Litter box Corner, Cattic, Main Room). Enough to see clearly.
3) Power my Solar Heating Fan (this *should* be a wash, but more on that later).
4) Battery MUST be sealed (AGM) - no out-gassing, least susceptible to fire, etc. The shed is no where near humans, so SAFETY is the biggest concern.
The problem is that #1 needs to run up to 13 hours a day during the depths of winter, and #2 for an hour or two per day.
And, as is typical for the NorthEast USA (I'm in Delaware), there may be 4-5 days of no appreciable sunlight in a row.
#3 - Solar Heating - this is a simple system that should not draw down the battery charge at all - a painted-black box has a temperature probe inside it. Once the temperature reaches 80, it turns 2 fans on (one in the box (push) and one at the end of 15' of duct work to a 1 gallon water jug in the shed (pull). Once the temperature in the box goes below 70, it turns the fans off. My thinking is that the only way the box will get hot is if the sun is shining brightly, which should give me enough amperage to provide power to fans. And yes, it works very well - I actually have to have a cut-off so when it hits 80 inside the shed, it turns the system off. 80degrees in the shed, 30 degrees outside.
Given just the "Needs", do you think I should be able to do this on a single 12v battery?
I'm going to post in the first comment what I currently have, and maybe someone can answer why it doesn't work.
I'm "new" to the whole solar power "thing", although I've been a veteran tinkerer for decades. But, I've come up with a real head scratcher, and before I throw more money at things, I'd like to get the opinion of this group...
This is what I have - A 10x10 shed, with several nooks & crannies (like litter box corner, cat tree corner, and the Cattic. No hookup to power. Literally in the middle of a farmer's field
Needs:
1) Provide a small night-light above litter box corner - when it gets dark, you can't see your hand in front of your face if you are in the shed. The cats need SOME light - 5W?
2) Provide Human Lighting when the volunteers show up to clean, feed & water. In at least 3 locations (Litter box Corner, Cattic, Main Room). Enough to see clearly.
3) Power my Solar Heating Fan (this *should* be a wash, but more on that later).
4) Battery MUST be sealed (AGM) - no out-gassing, least susceptible to fire, etc. The shed is no where near humans, so SAFETY is the biggest concern.
The problem is that #1 needs to run up to 13 hours a day during the depths of winter, and #2 for an hour or two per day.
And, as is typical for the NorthEast USA (I'm in Delaware), there may be 4-5 days of no appreciable sunlight in a row.
#3 - Solar Heating - this is a simple system that should not draw down the battery charge at all - a painted-black box has a temperature probe inside it. Once the temperature reaches 80, it turns 2 fans on (one in the box (push) and one at the end of 15' of duct work to a 1 gallon water jug in the shed (pull). Once the temperature in the box goes below 70, it turns the fans off. My thinking is that the only way the box will get hot is if the sun is shining brightly, which should give me enough amperage to provide power to fans. And yes, it works very well - I actually have to have a cut-off so when it hits 80 inside the shed, it turns the system off. 80degrees in the shed, 30 degrees outside.
Given just the "Needs", do you think I should be able to do this on a single 12v battery?
I'm going to post in the first comment what I currently have, and maybe someone can answer why it doesn't work.
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