# Solar Panels for Fencer



## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

I have a 12v electric fence charge that i am running off a 12v car battery, i would like to add a solar panel or two to recharge the battery during the day. I would also like to be able to run led lights and a radio off this setup at times of power outage. What parts would you invest in to do this job? I would like to spend $200-300 on this setup not counting batteries. Also what led's would you recommend for a reading light setup? Thanks for your help.


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## Peasant (May 18, 2013)

Would need specs on fence energizer and battery.


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

just about out any solar maintainer or charger would do the job.

the higher dollar ones will do more than just maintain, (maintainers are more for a car or truck that sits most of it life),

https://www.google.com/search?num=1...DurIsASBzICgDQ&ved=0CG8QBSgA&biw=1024&bih=640


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

Until we get enough information to determine your usage in watthours or amphours and your general location to determine how much insolation is available we can't make any suggestions.

WWW


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## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

I have checked the fencer, and the documentation that came with it and i am unable to find any information on the draw that this fencer has. I can tell you i have it on all night and would leave it on 24hrs. a day if i had solar on it. When i charge it i use a maintainer that charges at 1 amp and within 3hrs. it is topped off per the maintainer. My thought is to buy gear that will do more than handle this small load in the future. I know there are kits avaiable from Amazon and similar but most of the time these kits come with rather cheap componets. I would not mind spending a little more and getting some more useful and better quality componets but just don't know what that would be. We have times when the power is out for a week or so and it would be nice to run some led lights from a 12v deep cycle battery just to light us up without using a hot miserable lantern. Thank you for your replies.


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## SpaceCadet12364 (Apr 27, 2003)

we use a 30 watt solar panel and a 12v diesel marine battery. on our fencer 1.5 joule.


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## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

SpaceCadet does that keep the battery up and are you using a charge control with that?


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## SpaceCadet12364 (Apr 27, 2003)

It is one for charging batteries. had 10ft cord with cigarette plug on the end cut plug off an hard wired to battery. keeps battery about 13.1 volts. in my truck that battery ran 13.4 but the other one went bad so re-purposed it had a lawn mower battery it went south right after truck. Had this setup for about 10 yrs now.


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## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

Thanks... looking at doing something similar with maybe a little more capacity being in Mich and a lot of cloud cover during the fall-winter.


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## Peasant (May 18, 2013)

So maybe your question boils down to how much solar can you get for $200-$300? Not including batteries.

You need panel(s), charge controller, enclosure (for controller, batts, etc.), wires, circuit protection, and a panel mount. Don't need an inverter for the fence energizer, but might for your emergency loads. 

Say it costs $100 for everything but the panels and charge controller. Probably on the low side depending on what supplies you have on hand. That leaves $200 for panel and controller.

For $165 shipped, you could get a 100W Renogy kit. Cheap Chinese controller, but I have a similar one and it does work. The 30-amp controller they include is big enough for 5 of these panels.

The 100W Renogy's Imp is 5.29 amps. 77% derate x 4 sun-hours/day = 16.3 amp hours per day. 

At a 10-13% charge rate, something like this 35 ah batt would be a good match. On an average day (4 sun hours in my area), you could draw as much as 15 amps and be able to fully charge the battery in a day.

I'm pretty sure a 100W panel + 35 ah battery would run most consumer sized fence energizers. Depending on the draw of your energizer, it could also probably run a small light or three, especially if the lights were 12V LEDs (the 1141 LED bulbs I've tested only draw 0.13 amps). 

It would also be easy enough to expand this system down the road by adding more panels and a bigger battery.


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## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

Thanks Peasant, exactly what i was looking for.


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