As a rainy day project I’ve added solar power to our polytunnel to supply water from some IBC’s being used for rain water harvesting and also some lighting.
I setup the solar panel inside on the potting bench, just becasuse it was raining, I’ll make a stand to set it up outside later.
I used an old battery from my Defender, the battery will no longer hold enough charge to start the engine reliably if left over night but seems to be fine for this purpose. Obviously a deep cycle battery would be more suited to this task but I might as well get all I can out of this one.
I got some of these 12V camper van lights from Amazon.
These toolless wire joiners are perfect for low voltage connections, and make replacing light units if future a simple task.
A simple 3A lamp inline switch from Woodies.
There is four lights in total and provide more than enough light.
The Pump is wired directly to the charge controller to protect the battery from being run too low, however the lights are wired directly to the battery as they draw much less current and it won’t leave me in the dark if the pump drains the battery to the controllers preset min level.
The pump provides plenty of pressure for watering for now. Next plan is to provide a bit of automation.
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