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Solar fence system

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Solar fence system

Postby RogerS » 31 Jan 2020, 18:03

Got fed up continually running to and fro replacing the 12v SLA battery that provided the power for the electric fence. So went the solar panel route.

After the abortive affair with the small solar panels from C³ I went the whole hog and got a 100W panel and, after advice from Bob, a small solar controller. So bit if metal bashing today.

I discovered a steel and aluminium stockholder in Carlisle and bought some aluminium angle 5m for £28 which struck me as a good deal. One thing I needed to consider was the angle of the panel because up here in the Twilight Zone one needs as much light as one can get. This handy calculator gave me the right angle depending on month.

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Hence the holes along the bottom here and two different mounting points on the panel.

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A wee box to keep the electrickery stuff in the dry. Exterior Medite covered in linseed oil. Bricks to keep it off the ground.

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And a scruffy over-No-Nailed cover :oops:

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That's it. Simple.
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Re: Solar fence system

Postby Andyp » 01 Feb 2020, 12:07

Roger, This is to keep the deer out I presume? Have you shot any yet?

I wonder if I can use a lecky fence to keep our beech/stone marten out of the chicken run?
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Re: Solar fence system

Postby RogerS » 01 Feb 2020, 12:11

Andyp wrote:Roger, This is to keep the deer out I presume?


Yes, we've planted four willows
Andyp wrote:Have you shot any yet?


No, not yet. Not even fired the rifle. The two rogues that were causing all the trouble haven't been around for a while. The ones in the paddock where the fence is are sufficiently away from the house so they'll be spared !

Andyp wrote:I wonder if I can use a lecky fence to keep our beech/stone marten out of the chicken run?


No reason why not. Can you not simply block the access ?
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Re: Solar fence system

Postby Trevanion » 02 Feb 2020, 00:51

Andyp wrote:I wonder if I can use a lecky fence to keep our beech/stone marten out of the chicken run?


If they're anything like a polecat they'll probably dig under it, they're smarter than you think! :lol:

We had a Red Deer Stag loitering for a good while not too far from the house about a month or so ago, beautiful animal, unlike a mole ;)
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Re: Solar fence system

Postby RogerS » 02 Feb 2020, 11:57

Harrumph...well, should have expected it, really. Up here in the Twilight Zone, so little light at the moment I might as well not have bothered. :( Also as anticipated, the solar controller cuts the output to the fence when the battery voltage drops to a certain level..11.6v in this case. Not sure if that is a tweakable setting in the controller or not. The instructions that came with it are, shall we say, 'wishful' as in giving any information at all.

I'm now running out to swap the battery over more frequently than I did before !

Think I'm going out to buy four 100m drums of cheap mains cable and run some mains out there and be done with it.
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Re: Solar fence system

Postby Cncpaul » 02 Feb 2020, 19:04

Roger,

l thought you were preparing for the onslaught of hill walkers to arrive.
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Re: Solar fence system

Postby RogerS » 03 Feb 2020, 13:24

Coo...doesn't take much sunshine for that beefy solar panel to recharge the battery !
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Re: Solar fence system

Postby RogerS » 03 Feb 2020, 13:25

Cncpaul wrote:Roger,

l thought you were preparing for the onslaught of hill walkers to arrive.


No, the mantraps come next week :D
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Re: Solar fence system

Postby RogerS » 10 Feb 2020, 13:31

Update.

Moved the solar panel to a sunnier position. Confirmed we need to take down two spruce that are shadowing the newly planted willows.

There wasn't enough oomph in the SLA battery (same size as a typical UPS battery...and bought precisely for that reason so that it can be reused in a UPS in the future) to keep the fence on 24 hour especially if light levels up here in the Twilight Zone were too low. What happens is that the solar controller then disconnects the load when the battery voltage drops to 11.6v (probably tweakable in the controller..not had time to check).

Conversely when it's brighter then the panel charges the battery up very quickly within a couple of hours. But I then effectively 'waste' charging power for the rest of the day.

Answer...add another battery (which I already had). Result! There's enough capacity to keep the fence going until the next charge or mini-charge.

While playing around and looking at what the voltage levels were at various times, I mused about wanting to remote the readings so I could see if the battery was getting near 11.6. Thought about all sorts of gizmos...none of which would be practical and all of them drain the battery faster. This morning I realised that the answer was, literally, staring me in the face. The fence energiser has a bright LED that flashes and which I can see from inside the house. Frequency of flash is voltage dependent....the rest is obvious !
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