| I need some advice on designing and implementing a solar based system to light my horse barns. In a nutshell, we are installing large paddocks at the other end of our property that don't need AC power, but I want to light these barns and use some very low power security cameras to monitor what's going on. The idea of paying the smiling electrician man to run AC to these barns sickens me, especially since every time I see him there is a minimum $400 charge. A low voltage system is ideal too, because there is little danger of fire with them. (Always something of concern to horse owners.) Additionally, not being dependent on the power company to keep things up and running sounds like a great idea to me. This will hopefully be the beginning of making myself as independent as possible from modern society.
Normally, I would just buy a whole load of different items, experiment some and smell up my house with fried components. However, the days of wine and roses financially speaking, are over. I don't want to bark up any wrong trees or waste money and time. I have read everything I can on otherpower.com and related sites, so I am familiar with terms. Nevertheless I am very short on practical knowledge as it applies to solar systems.
I am willing to trade advice in the area of computers. I am a Systems Admin/Network Admin/Chief Cook/Bottle Washer/Computer Help Desk person by trade. If you have a question about computers, networks, wireless computing or wireless 802.11 security devices, I am your man. I have installed many networks, including some very odd configurations. (The worst was a brick build with GLUED on sheetrock. I figured out a way to do it without running the wires on the outside of the wall or punching holes in the brick. Even got the jacks to mount flush without punching holes in the bricks.) If you need help on installing low voltage data or phone wires, I am your man.
I am a technological minimalist. The simpler it works, the happier I am. If I can do without a component, great. Even if that means it's not terribly efficient, that's ok too. As long as it meets the need. Once installed, I want to mess with it as little as possible. If installing an extra battery will help extend the life of all batteries due to deep cycle concerns, that's fine with me. Reliability is a key issue. If I can go straight 12 volts all the way across, that would be wonderful too.
Here is what I want to do in detail. I want to light the area around the horse barn so that one can see to work in it at dark. It does not have to look like Las Vegas at night, but I don't want to trip over anything either. I want customers to be able to access their horses 24/7. (Horse owners keep some odd hours.) That means the front has to be lit well enough to load/unload a horse trailer at two in the morning. Furthermore the back of the stall has a shade paddock. The stall and shade paddock need to be lighted constantly at night too.
The barns have a separate tack and feed room off of the horses stall. Customers need to be able to groom/feed their horse at night. They need to be able to see in the tack room well enough to find things at night. The tack room lights would be off most of the time, but as mentioned before the front, stall and shade paddock need constant lighting at night.
The security cameras operate using 802.11b. These use almost no power and are of the on demand type. They go into sleep mode most of the time and have a minimal phantom load. The 802.11b transmitter is built into the camera. These devices are designed exactly for what I am doing and are super efficient. They run on 12 volts DC, so they should be painless to integrate into the system. The cameras were designed to work with solar or other remote power systems other that standard AC.
Ok, some dimensions. The entire horse barn is 25 X 25 including the small tack and feed room. The shade paddock in the back is 25 X 12. The front of the horse barn is fairly small area that owners will back their horse trailer into. Area lighting here would be just the front door of the barn and the immediate area just in front of the door. These areas total up to less than 100 feet. All measurements are in standard U.S. feet, by the way.
Mounting the solar cell should be no hassle. There is plenty of south facing roof area. In addition, I am located in Northern Arizona, so sunlight is in ample supply. One area of concern is lightning. That is something else in abundance here too and I am not sure how to protect the system from it.
Hopefully I have given you enough information to help me out. My thoughts on this would simply be to put a solar cell on the roof of the barn, wire it directly to whatever batteries are required and wire the lights and camera to that. Sounds a bit too simple to me and I am aware that my ignorance is showing. I also know that some sort of battery charger will be needed. Beyond that I have no idea.
The LED socket lights look like they would be a good choice. They don't get hot, fit in a common receptacle and I could easily build a dispersion reflector to disperse the light over a larger area.
Any ideas on what I will need? |
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