When we decided to put up our barn there were the obvious questions: Where would it go? How large would it need to be? Yada yada yada. Well, after we had answered those questions there was one more. Do we need Electricity? This was a slightly complicated question, but in the end we came up with an answer that works for us… Solar Power.
We are always trying to do things that are going to be sustainable, but cost effective. Our barn is roughly 150 feet from our house. Given what we would need power for out there (a light or two, monitor, maybe a fan?), we decided it wasn’t cost effective to have power run all the way out. So we had it built without it and decided that we would figure it out later. Maybe we would look at solar power sometime in the future.
Well, as it turned out, the future was sooner than I had thought. Through my old job outside of the house I had come to know the owner of a local solar power store. I happened to be doing some work at his office and I mentioned that I was thinking of putting solar in our barn. I asked him roughly what we would need to put in, mostly out of curiosity. What he told me is that we wouldn’t need nearly as much as I had thought. He ended up pulling together a few items for me and gave me a great deal on them as well. So for around $100 I walked out of there with almost everything I would need to get us started. Even though he gave me a great deal I’m sure you could find comparable prices from online retailers.
The purchase included small 10-watt solar panel, in-line fuse, charge controller, 12v fluorescent ballast and an exterior light. My original plan was to put a cheap fluorescent hanging light in our barn, and the exterior light out on the front. What I ended up going with instead was an LED light fixture intended for an RV or camper. It should last longer without needing to change bulbs and uses a little less power. I also ended leaving off the exterior light, at least for now. So with the light, and the addition of a light switch and a riding lawnmower battery, we were in business.
So here is our basic setup. Solar Panel –> Charge Controller –> Fuse –> Tractor Battery –> Light Switch –> LED Light. For the wiring I used some 10-gauge heavy-duty speaker wire that I had leftover from my days of running sound systems for bands. It’s not ideal, but it was free and should be plenty capable of handling the voltage.
So after it was all done we ended up with a solar-powered barn for a little under $200 dollars. I should have enough capacity to add the exterior light if we ever decide we need it. We don’t end up using the light much unless we get home super late and have to do farm chores in the dark, or during birthing. Honestly the goats or llamas turn it on more than we do. In hindsight I probably should have put the switch where they couldn’t lean or jump on it. For birthing this year we added a 12v power to a wireless intercom we have so that we could monitor the girls while we are in the house. This stayed on the entirety of kidding season without running out of power.
So there you have it. That’s how you can have a solar powered barn light for less than $200 dollars.
