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Solar Powered Landscape Lighting + gate (cold weather challenge)

stephenoachs

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Joined
Nov 19, 2019
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I need to build a solar setup to power LED landscape lights along a driveway and a gate motor. I'm stuck in two areas:

1. How to keep the batteries warm enough that they can take a charge during winter months (temps get into the 10-20's). Maybe using heat tape?

2. The lights are powered by a transformer that plugs into AC. Since the lights are already DC how best to skip the transformer? I'm trying to minimize the power loss of converting from DC, to AC, and back to DC. The transformer though does have a light sensor on it so the lights only come on when it gest dark.

Does anyone have any experience with either of these issues?
 
Last edited:
Many solar charge controllers have DC load outputs for things like lights, and some also have setting for turning on at dusk for a certain period of time.
 
Not sure if you already finished this project. You can put your battery in the house, just need to get more cables on the system connection. In that way, you can have the battery with a good temperature all through the year. The charge controller can be with DC output, you need to set up with correct system voltage to match the fixture volts need.
 
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