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anybody run their greenhouse electrics off of solar or wind turbine?

sanjy67sanjy67 Posts: 1,007
in Tools and techniques

i'm thinking about running the greenhouse electric thermostatic heater and light from either solar power or wind turbine, have any of you done this and if so is it complicated?

please explain it as if you are telling a five year old as although i can make stuff i don't understand techy electric talk

thanks in advance image

Posts

  • michael mpcmichael mpc Posts: 422

    hi sanjy67   I asked the same question and no ne  answered   so I asked a electrition and he says don't se why not thing is how mutch will he charge  for the job   I looked on line amazon and the bits and pieces you can get looks straight forward     hope it helps    Michael image

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    Heaters take too much power to be run by solar panels sanjy.  For example, you would need at least a 250W heater to be of any use in winter in a greenhouse and because the light levels are much lower in winter you would need 500W worth of solar panels which would cover a huge area and be expensive (roughly £750.)  You would also need a large and expensive battery to store the power as well as a charge controller (more expense.)

    Lighting is simple and successful though because it uses so much less power.  A few watts worth of LED lights is very bright.  Just search Amazon for 'solar shed light' and you'll find more than you can throw a stick at!  These are simple to fit - just put the panel somewhere that isn't shaded and connect to the light which will contain it's own battery and charge controller.  All you'll need to do is route the wire from the panel to the light and plug it in.  "Plug 'n' play" as they say.

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • sanjy67sanjy67 Posts: 1,007

    thank you both, i shall have a look at solar shed lights to start with but wouldn't want huge solar panels to enable me to use a heater.

    do these heaters use much electric? i would be looking for one to come on at 'frrost temps' i guess, not to keep it tropical

  • michael mpcmichael mpc Posts: 422

    thanks bob the only thing I wanted was for a light and a radio  to work no heaters  I will have a good look at amazon thanks  again bob     Michael image

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