Friday, July 24, 2009

Installed a Solar Gate

Well I guess I might as well start off a related post about a new solar installation that my brother-in-law and I did. We installed a solar gate. Our driveway gate is 1000 feet from our home. We used to manually open and close the gate. Now we just push a
button and open sez a me. It was not that difficult to do and was actually enjoyable getting everything working. The final sit back and push the button was sorta fun!






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6 comments:

  1. WayneMarch 13, 2010 at 6:38 AM

    excellent content on your site and the videos are very well produced. Your solar cooler idea looks very interesting although I live in a rather humid area (great lakes basin) I wonder if a dehumidifier incorporated into the system might work?

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  2. livingonsolarMarch 15, 2010 at 9:27 AM

    Probably not. This type of cooler depends upon adding some moisture to the air. Most likely the humidity in the house is already higher than needed for the cooler to work well.

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  3. SteveJuly 19, 2010 at 11:33 PM

    This sounds like a great project, I have a couple questions -

    How long did it take you to build it?

    What kind of battery are you using to run the motor? Since you need a way to open it at night as well, there must be some kind of energy storage.

    Thanks!

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  4. livingonsolarJuly 20, 2010 at 2:59 PM

    Hi Steve,

    The gate was already installed. The installation of the solar gate opener, the small solar panel and wiring took 2 to 3 hours. It was not that difficult to program the opener to start and stop at the correct spots. The instructions pretty much suggest using any battery not just a deep cycle one. I used a small 12 Volt garden battery that I purchased at Wal Mart. It has worked fine since last year.

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  5. Bobbie LambMay 12, 2012 at 6:16 PM

    I have 6 - 80 watt solar panels and a 800 watt wind generator controlled by a Missouri Wind & solar controller the (all in one controler) which sat me back about $250 and I now have 8 - 6 volt/1000 amps, AGM batteries and I have wired almost my whole house for 12 volt LED lights. I have an all electric home with a big freezer and my bill averages $100 per month and my lowest bill was $67 I got my solar panels on Ebay for about $150 each including shipping. You can start with just one solar panel and one 12 volt battery, a $20 charge controller and a couple of LED lights for your living room and go from their. IF you use AGM batteries you can place those in your home, all other batteries should be placed outside due to the fact flooded acid batteries vent off Hydrogen gas which is very explosive. AGM batteries cost more but are well worth the extra cost. One reason, if one gets ruptured they DO NOT leak acid, you can even ship them on an airplane.
    I know what you are thinking LED's are dim but they have a new SMD LED that is SUPER bright and 2 or 3 of them will light up a room nicely. You can find them at LEDwholesalers.com I use the domed 6 watt bulbs that cost $19.50 each. I know they are pricy but at least they will last a lifetime.
    IF you want to see my system go to: http://surviving12-21-2012.blogspot.com
    and scroll down near the bottom and I have photos of my system.
    Thanks Tony & Bobbie Lamb

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  6. UnknownFebruary 11, 2015 at 4:37 AM

    Nice blog...!! you can also visit our website that provide services like solargates ,gate opener etc.

    ReplyDelete

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