I still have more to go but I'm done for this week!
I'm going to do what I can to explain the simple 12 volt DC system I installed in my barns and I want to reiterate that I am no solar expert. I am a guy who has been building motorcycles for far too long and let's face it.. a 12v DC light is the same thing whether it's in a barn or on your bike ; )
Let's start with the panel and it's elegant mounting arrangement:
This panel is a Coleman 18 Watt 12 volt solar battery charging kit. The link I provided goes to Home Depot and the price is 90$. I have seen the kit as low as 80$ elsewhere on the internet. I purchased mine at Tractor Supply (for 110$ actually but I was impatient. Polar Vortex is on the way and breaking ice with a hammer is no fun.)
So why this particular panel? Mostly because I am new to solar and piecing together the various bits needed is a new thing for me. This is my first time out. I was wiling to pay a bit extra to get a panel + charge controller that I knew would function and do the job.
Also I had figured I could get my lights/bubbler running for less than 300$ this way and running grid power out to the barn was going to cost me at least that much in wire. Not to mention digging the trench!
The kit consists of the panel pictured above and a 7 amp charge controller, which basically cuts off power to the battery when it has reached full charge. I ran the power cord from the panel into the barns by digging a trench in the dirt floor and putting a 1" PVC pipe in it. I then ran the wire down that and buried it with just the end of the line sticking up through an elbow connected to the pipe inside.
Oh! The elegant mounting arrangement. Yes, that is the best available in homemade saw horses. I am a carpenter by trade and we typically make these things on each and every job so for me this is a quick and simple task. I happened to have a few in the shop so it seemed a good stand for the panel and the panel fit well. Anything at all would do. I anchored the saw horse to the ground with2 pieces of rebar that I hammered 2 feet into the ground and nailed down onto the legs of the saw horse.
So.. what else is there to this mess huh?
What we have in this poorly shot picture is a 12v Marine Deep Cycle Battery that I purchased for 94$ at Wal-Mart. The white box next to it is my bubbler. This is basically an air pump (like for an aquarium) that cycles air through my alpacas water troughs.
The charge controller and a 10 amp automotive fuse is also in there. Basically the power comes in from the panel. That line goes to the charge controller. Then it is clipped to the battery. Power comes off the battery from 2 additional lines. Pass through the 10 amp fuse and down into the barn to power everything. I housed in all in an 8$ Rubbermaid container, also from Wal-Mart, just to keep the water out. The barn is enclosed but who knows.. accidents happen.
I also drilled 4-5 holes (1/2" IIRC) in the bottom of the container and then dumped 2 inches of pea gravel in there as well.. a simple drainage setup in case I dump a beer in there.. or miss with a hose.. or whatever else!
So where does it go from there?
Here we have 2 lines of 14/2 electrical wire. This is common household wiring You can buy it at any hardware store anywhere. 14/2 is the lightest gauge approved for 15amp residential 120volt circuits. I wired my own house with 12/2 and 20 amp fuses but for my purposes in the barn the 14/2 was just fine.
I ran two lines down simply because I have 2 16'x24' run in shelters on either side of the switches pictured here and wanted lighting in each of them. I used two switches because I am running 3 lights off one battery and the bubbler is on 24/7 all winter. I wanted to be able to switch off whichever shelter we were not working in to conserve charge if needed. Thus far I can run all three lights for 4-5 hours a night and keep my bubblers going fine.. but who knew when I wired it up.
From there the wire runs directly to the lighting fixtures:
What you see there is that same 14/2 stapled to the header on my barns hallway framing and an 8 Watt LED bulb screwed into a very standard porcelain lighting fixture. The fixture you can also buy anywhere and if they want more than 2$ for it they are overpriced ; ) The LED bulbs were the one thing I could not source locally. I purchased 3 of them from the link above.
Oh.. and they work. Well.
I took this pic in the daytime but I'll try to run down again after dark and get a better shot at night. I was unsure how much light I would get from these 2 bulbs but it's more than enough! This is a 16x24 foot shelter and one is sufficient. I only have the 2nd to light up a hallway where we store grain etc.
SO what's a "bubbler" do you might ask?
It makes bubbles. It gives the big llama:
Fizzy water.. which he digs.
You don't want to tick off the big llama. He'll .... well honestly he won't do anything. He's a gentleman.
It also keeps the water circulating in my buckets which means they will not freeze and I don't have to smash the ice off each morning. I dig that.
So.. does it function? Yep. I've been running the bubblers (two of them) for a few weeks now just as a test. Tonight is our first solid freeze. It's supposed to get down to 20 degrees.
However the bubblers have been running 24/7 for weeks with no issues. The lights went in a few days ago and are lit up right now. My wife is doing alpaca work apparently.
I have run the lights for 5-6 hour thus far at most and still had sufficient juice to keep everything going. Frankly the bubbler is a greater draw than the lights. Those 3 LED bulbs draw 1.8 amps. The bubbler draws 2.4. So I COULD easily keep the lights on 24/7 with this system but I'd likely run out of juice in less than a day with the bubbler going as well. I could fix that by spending another 94$ on a 2nd battery. For those of you looking for lights for a shed/barn/etc .. yeah, this will do it.
Now with that said you can certainly find cheaper components. I researched it myself and found a few likely candidates. I choose to go this way for two reasons. It's very portable. I have the two shelters where my system is now and a third about 20 acres away from the house that we only use in warm weather. I intend to relocate this portable system up there in the spring and build a new one for the main barn.
That's reason one. Reason two? I didn't know 100% what I was doing. Buying the kit got me moving and helped me get myself started. I hope this write up helps someone and if I can answer any questions ask away either here on on /r/Homesteading on reddit.
-J
