Author Topic: Electric fence and solar panel - does it work in our climate? (Read 4457 times)

Rosemary · « **on:** March 15, 2021, 11:58:13 am »

I need to put a semi permanent electric tape along the wall between our field and a neighbours - one, to stop Smokey rubbing his arse on the wall and two, to stop Euro leaning over and eating their plants.
I'm fine with the posts and tape but I am notoriously bad at not keeping a good battery on electric fences. Dan favours running out mains electric but a chum suggested using a car battery with a solar panel to keep it charged up. Dan's sceptical about whether a solar panel would work in winter or even in summer

here in Scotland.

Anyone used this method who can share experiences and help us make up our minds?
TIA

sabrina · « **Reply #1 on:** March 15, 2021, 03:01:54 pm »

We have 3 solar panels on our garden shed roof. They are there to give power to the pump in my small garden pond. Each panel is the about the size of a 40 in TV screen. Over the winter the pump in the p0nd comes on for an hour morning and late afternoon. There is not enough sun to run it longer. Summer months it is on about 5 hours a day but this depends again on the amount of sun we get. I think you would need quite a few panels to do what you want.

Rosemary · « **Reply #2 on:** March 15, 2021, 03:37:24 pm »

Quote from: sabrina on March 15, 2021, 03:01:54 pm

We have 3 solar panels on our garden shed roof. They are there to give power to the pump in my small garden pond. Each panel is the about the size of a 40 in TV screen. Over the winter the pump in the p0nd comes on for an hour morning and late afternoon. There is not enough sun to run it longer. Summer months it is on about 5 hours a day but this depends again on the amount of sun we get. I think you would need quite a few panels to do what you want.

It's to keep the battery charge up.

landroverroy · « **Reply #3 on:** March 15, 2021, 03:49:59 pm »

Yes it works fine. I kept a car battery suitably charged all last year with a solar panel. Even in winter. But get a decent sized solar panel. Mine is about 12" x 4". You can get smaller ones built in to the fence charger and they tend to be smaller. If you look on ebay you can see the different wattages available. Don't get the least just because it's cheap. Mine cost about £20 and worked well.

mab · « **Reply #4 on:** March 15, 2021, 06:10:08 pm »

Yes I ran one with a 32w panel in the bottom of the narrow valley with a lot of trees about - in midwinter it could only get direct sunlight for about 1 - 2 hrs (if the sun was actually shining) - so I would bring the battery back home once in midwinter for a proper charge. I'm in west wales so might be a tad more sunny in winter (.?).

32w would probably have been ok if there were fewer trees, otherwise I'd maybe go for 50w and a good charge controller if I were to do it permanently. Mine was fine for about four years, but my homemade charge controller failed (corroded by the welsh climate) and that did for the battery as I hadn't noticed.

if mains is an option it's worth considering, but that depends on how far away it is.

Anke · « **Reply #5 on:** March 15, 2021, 06:13:11 pm »

Only issue is - it may well go "walk-about" very quickly... given that it is portable...

landroverroy · « **Reply #6 on:** March 15, 2021, 09:11:47 pm »

Quote from: Anke on March 15, 2021, 06:13:11 pm

Only issue is - it may well go "walk-about" very quickly... given that it is portable...

Same with any portable equipment - especially the fencing energiser, which is worth quite a bit more than the charger,

as well as the battery. So it's usually fairly easy to position it all somewhere along the fence line that isn't too obvious.

sheeponthebrain · « **Reply #7 on:** March 15, 2021, 10:38:06 pm »

im with landroverroy on this. buy a cheap 12v pannel. mine cost £20 from maplin and kept the battery going for a fairly long 3 wire sheep fence all winter. however it didnt withstand a collie pup (with a passion for chewing wires) during the summer in the workshop

Kiran · « **Reply #8 on:** March 16, 2021, 12:31:31 am »

I use a leisure battery instead of a car battery and a solar panel but essentially the same setup and it runs both my chicken and duck fences absolutely fine. I'm in Wales so not exactly blessed with sun for about 11 1/2 months of the year 😀.

graemeatwellbank · « **Reply #9 on:** March 16, 2021, 08:36:22 am »

Hi.
I have a solar panel to charge my electric fence battery.
I switch it off end November and back on early March otherwise the battery gets completely drained.
Blairgowrie so same latitude as you.
Also, my electric fence energiser costs about £3.50 per year to run from the mains so I regret having bought the (rather expensive) solar panel.

Anke · « **Reply #10 on:** March 16, 2021, 07:53:34 pm »

Quote from: landroverroy on March 15, 2021, 09:11:47 pm

Quote from: Anke on March 15, 2021, 06:13:11 pm
Only issue is - it may well go "walk-about" very quickly... given that it is portable...

Same with any portable equipment - especially the fencing energiser, which is worth quite a bit more than the charger, as well as the battery. So it's usually fairly easy to position it all somewhere along the fence line that isn't too obvious.

What I am saying is - if you can run it out on mains (and you own the field) why wouldn't you? Nothing to steal, and needs no re-charging...

honeyend · « **Reply #11 on:** March 18, 2021, 08:30:18 pm »

For my main fencing its polyrope on Clipex posts, they were wood, but we are on clay, and they rot at ground level. It covers 14-16 acres, some is on the other side of the road, and the black lead out cable goes through a culvert, under the road, and in place through a polypipe over a drainage ditch, to rented land. The mains socket where it's plugged in, and the farthest part of the fence must be a mile away. Lead out cable is wonderful stuff.
Solar panels are so cheap now, I bought a new one for a battery fence, and I think if its big enough you will get enough charge to trickle feed even on a cloudy day, because you're storing unused energy in the battery on sunny days.