One last touch for the little chicken's coop was a small fan for ventilation. It's in a mostly shaded spot, except for a little sun in the morning. But Dan was concerned about helping keep the air fresh in the coop, so he added a ventilation fan.
The fan he used came from an old 12-volt travel cooler. He used these coolers when he was on over-the-road truck driver. While they aren't true refrigerators, they keep the cooler contents cool by forcing air over a small fan with aluminum fins. It won't actually cool the coop, but it will help keep a modest air flow going and that's the point. He just used what we had!
It gets good sun in the afternoon, which is the hottest part of the day. Dan mentioned hooking the fan to a battery to run it at night, so that's a future possibility.
No complaints from the chickens, at any rate.
12 comments:
I'm sure those wee ones will enjoy that, especially now that the heat of summer is upon us. Another ingenious 'Dan build', as always.
What a great idea. All the chickens will want to move in!
Rosalea, we hope it helps!
Liz, what was funny was that on the day after it was installed and running all the chickens were hanging out in the coop just watching it. I don't know if they liked the breeze or the sound, but we had the impression they approved!
Nifty! And what an appropriate use of solar.
Great use of what you have on hand!
Do you have recommendations for small solar panels like that one? The ones I have bought that come in kits always seem to be undersized and short lived. I have one on my greenhouse but it worked for maybe two months and then stopped.
TB, especially since we don't want to run another extension cord out to the barn!
Laurie, thanks!
Ed, that one was actually an undersized panel from a car battery recharging kit. It's 20 watts, which I would never recommend because you never get the stated wattage.
We've always bought monocrystalline panels because they have better efficiency and last longer. So far no fails. I think most of ours are Renogy, a company that has been around for awhile. Lots of new companies pop up, but I wonder.
Is it actually the solar panel that failed? Have you tested it wilt a volt meter. Or was it the fan?
It was powering a light and I admit I never tested it with a voltmeter. It could have been the built in battery pack too. I had hoped to use it to allow us to do some things in the evening on early spring nights but in reality, we never used it that much, preferring to just do things on weekends in the light.
PS. But thanks for your words of wisdom in case I do decide to get more into solar power.
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