Well, there you go. You’re here because you’re looking to cool down your chicken coop, right? Especially at night when everyone is roosting with their feathery body heat? Or maybe when they’re laying eggs for your family in a sweltering box? Have no fear, we’ve done the work and put together how to do a solar fan build for your chicken coop… and why you should, too.
I do have affiliate links in this article. We appreciate you supporting our flock (at no cost to you, hooray!).
Why Do You Want a Solar Fan Build for a Chicken Coop, Anyway?
I know it may seem like overkill, but let me explain why this is so important to me. Here are a few reasons why you may want to consider a solar fan build:
Your chickens have a lot of ways to stay warm in the winter. Heck, they can be totally fine in a foot of snow – just give them food, and a place where they can be dry and out of the wind. Done.
Your chickens have a lot fewer strategies to keep them cool when it’s hot. And a lot of ways, like getting their feet wet and/or cool, is a challenge because chickens aren’t huge fans of swimming or getting wet.
Your chickens can be out in the breeze during a hot day, drinking water and being in the shade and dust bathing. But at night, instinct takes over and they will undoubtedly go up to their coop to roost. And theoretically, if your coop is predator-secure, they’re locked in tight. (Do check out my YouTube videos about predator proofing your coop, as well as the dangers of circulation and ventilation.) Those birds are going up to bed, even if it’s hot.
Finally, I’ve had backyard chickens for over three years now, and the only two birds I’ve buried were both deaths related to overheating… in a chicken coop. Yep. So I don’t mess around anymore.
Our Solar Fan Build and How We Chose It
We did double check our math as far as electrical input and output, and there are websites (or local electronics stores) that can check your math to make sure you have the correct setup.
Scroll down to see the listings of the exact products we have. We do get a percentage of the purchase so we really appreciate you buying through us!
And remember, this is certainly not the only way that you can do this setup. There are some variables which you can adjust to meet your needs. This is simply what we did. And don’t forget that we have a video tour at the end!
- We based everything on the battery, which is a 12 volt or 12V. So everything must be compatible with that before you move on.
- Our battery is a 12 amp battery. Amp hours means “how much charge the battery can hold”.
- Our solar panel, which also came with a solar controller, is meant for a 12V battery.
- The solar panel charges when it’s getting sunlight and sends the energy to the solar controller. (Then the solar controller is plugged into the battery.) The controller controls the voltage going into the battery, and also what’s going out from the battery to the load, or what needs the power, in this case the fan(s). The controller is the hub that everything is connected to.
- A battery that’s overcharged can be damaged, and a battery that goes dead or is undercharged can also be weakened. So the controller “controls” how full the battery is. Think of it as keeping the glass exactly full, not getting too low and not overflowing.
- The controller is hooked up to the battery, the solar panel, and then to the thermostat. On one end is the solar panel, and on the other far end (connected to the thermostat) is the fan.
- Our thermostat detects inside temperature because it has a thermometer on it. This is the temperature of the inside of the coop at that moment. It is set to “do something” at a certain temperature, which in this case is to unblock power to the fan. Basically when the inside temperature gets above a certain temperature (which is 86F in this case), it powers on the fan. (The thermostat includes directions too.)
- Our fans are outdoor, meaning that they’re dustproof and waterproof. The fans we recommend fit perfectly in our little coop windows. We did add a layer of hardware cloth to the fan on the inside, so that a chicken couldn’t get injured by the blades.
- If you need the fan to run for a longer time, it’s better to have this setup with only one fan. You could potentially add a second fan like we’ve done, but then you either need a second battery, or you need to add resistor. A resistor slows down the amount of power coming from the battery, so instead of going 100% speed it slows it down by a percentage, using less power at a time so the fan(s) can run longer. We feel that for this setup, you need one fan to one battery. With our second fan, we feel we’d need another battery which we haven’t installed yet.
- We recently added a 20 ohm resistor and a 16 ohm resistor. These will get hot so careful on placement, and this will require soldering in sequence so this is more advanced! These slow down the fan so it’s not running at full speed, and thus not drawing as much power. Two in line, one after the other, on the cable going to the fan. (One pair per fan.) Can play with resistance to get to the speed that you want.
I know this seems like a ton of information, but have no fear! We have the listing for all of the items we purchased right here so that you can click and shop without the headache.
- Solar panel kit (which comes with the solar controller)
- 12 volt battery
- Weatherproof thermostat
- Square outdoor fan
- 16 ohm resistor (optional, not necessary for the build)
- La Crosse indoor weather station with wireless thermometer (optional, not necessary for the build)
And if you’d like to see the video tour, scroll down to the end!
Any idea where I can get the directions for the temperature controller? I found some on YouTube but it’s not in English
Please help
Hey! Send me an email and I’ll see if I can walk you through it as you have questions/need help. I apologize for the delay in getting back to you, I was checking and so far I hadn’t been able to find my own instructions but my husband has interacted with it many times so we can troubleshoot together. theMama@realsimplemama.com
I like your fan setup. Would you be able to send me a drawing of how you setup the thermostat? I have purchased what you show in the article from the links provided.
Thanks,
Robert
Hi! I’m looking at the photos and drawings I have on the article so I’m not sure what else you need – just email me and I’ll see if I can help more. theMama@realsimplemama.com
Can you do this set-up with no thermometer? The fan would just run all of the time in summer??
Hi! Yes in theory it would work. I will say that even with the temp control this one battery couldn’t keep enough charge. So with no temp control (running all the time) I’d think you need a battery that’s at least twice as large.
Hi Sarah! Hope y’all survived the snowstorm this week.
I ordered these parts and assembled them but can’t seem to get the thermostat to work when the fan is attached. It makes a strange whirring / buzzing sound and the fan never moves. (Full disclosure, we were testing it with a splitter and two fans at one point so maybe it broke something.)
Some of the comments on the Amazon product page suggest you might also need a relay depending on how much draw your load is? I don’t know enough about electronics to say, but this is definitely not as simple as I’d hoped it would be. Any advice?
Hey! I’m not sure but these are my thoughts. First I’d contact the seller of the thermostat to see if they have any ideas. Then I’d see if the thermostat will at least adjust the temperature for you, maybe it needs a different threshold. I’d also check the power/health of your battery source to make sure it’s juiced up enough that it can power everything in the sequence. I’m sorry that’s not more help but I hope that something clicks!
I love this. As always, your info is well researched and easy to understand. Thanks for sharing your ideas with all of us!
Hey Sarah! I love this idea. I also love the diagram that you put in the post explaining how this works. You make it sound easy and totally doable. 😀 Here in west TN, we don’t have issues with winter weather and our chickens other than everything turning into a muddy mess thanks to the days of cold rain BUT our chickens do struggle sometimes with the heat in the summer. A solar fan sounds like a project that I might take on in a few months…
Oh, and shout out to a fellow former teacher turned SAHM/blogger! I’m right there with you. I taught high school agriculture before I ‘retired early’ to work on my blog and homestead full time. Now I’m also homeschooling two of my three kids (one’s only 3 months old). It’s total craziness but I wouldn’t change a thing.
Hey! So good to hear from you. Let me know if you need any help with the solar fan build, I did have my husband help a lot with the design and with the article too. And yay for homeschooling! Good luck to you and let’s keep in touch!