# Solar Panels and Energizers - questions!



## totesmcgoats (Dec 27, 2015)

Hi all!  I'm curious if anyone here has any experience with electric fencing and solar panels?  We thought we knew what we were doing, but it appears that is not the case.  The low voltage light/alarm keeps coming on.  The only thing we have hooked up to our inverter is the fence energizer.  I *thought* I had hooked up everything correctly, but now I can't be sure. ;-)  I have the solar panels hooked up to the charger controller, which is hooked up to the battery.  The battery is hooked up to the inverter, and the energizer is plugged in to the inverter.  When we first did this set up, we were only going to plug in heaters for our animal's water.  We then had a goat massacre and needed to install electric fencing.  My assumption here is that our setup was fine for water heaters, not so much for fencing.  Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated.

Here is my equipment:
Zareba Fence Energizer: 2 joules, 50 miles, AC with polywire (115v/60hz)

2000 watt continuous/4000 watt peak Centech inverter (output 115v/60hz)

Harbor Freight 45 watt solar panels with charger controller

Exide Deep Cycle Marine Battery: 500 marine cranking amps, 80 amp hours @ 20 hrs


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## Latestarter (Dec 27, 2015)

You may have the electric fencing grounded out someplace along its run.


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## totesmcgoats (Dec 27, 2015)

I keep reading that most of the problems have to do with grounding.  I guess I thought since the solar panel regulator was making low voltage alerts that it was a problem with the battery/solar panels.  I'll check the grounding, and I'm curious to hear if anyone else has ideas.  Or would be willing to share how theirs is set up!


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## babsbag (Dec 27, 2015)

You need to hook the solar panel to the battery, then the inverter to the battery and the fence energizer to the inverter. You probably aren't getting enough sunlight on the panel so you are getting the low voltage. The solar panel has to charge the battery, not run the energizer; let the battery run the energizer.

We use the DC charger with battery and solar panel. You could always go exchange the energizer for the DC one and take the inverter out of the equation.

Make sure your ground rods are in deep and that you have enough of them, we have 3.

If you need more help, let me know. I am pretty good with this stuff and my DH is here and he is much better than I am when it comes to the solar hook up part.


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## babsbag (Dec 27, 2015)

Do you have a fence tester? If not you need to get one. We have one similar to this. You can put the probe on the ground on the energizer and the little tip on the red and get a reading right off of the energizer.


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## greybeard (Dec 28, 2015)

> I have the solar panels hooked up to the charger controller, which is hooked up to the battery. The battery is hooked up to the inverter, and the energizer is plugged in to the inverter.



Babsbag said:


> You need to hook the solar panel to the battery, then the inverter to the battery and the fence energizer to the inverter.


That is what is being done, except solar panel outputs need to be run thru a controller before going into a battery. The controller 'controls' the rate of charge, as well as the voltage and current flow. Most 12v panels put out anywhere from 16-20v, which would damage a battery if connected directly to the panel. The only time you wouldn't need a controller is if the total solar panel or array is less than 5 watts. Tmcgoats' panels are rated at 9X that. McGoates definitely needs a controller.

"Solar panels hooked up to the charger controller"--that is correct--controller regulates what the battery gets from the panel.
"Controller (output) is connected to the battery"--that is correct. The controller is outputting Direct Current so it has to be hooked to the battery.
"The battery is hooked up to the inverter ('s input side)"--that is correct. The inverter 'takes in' 12vdc (approximately anyway) and changes it to 110VAC.
"The fence energizer (is hooked) to the inverter output" that is correct. 
What is not known is the wattage of the fence energizer, tho I very much suspect the 2000 watt inverter should be able to easily handle that Zareba charger.


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## chiques chicks (Dec 29, 2015)

Just guessing, but I *think* your solar array may be undersized.  Not sure where you are, but most areas get at most for hours of usable sunlight per day. Those 45w panels are dedicatedly not enough to run decent size heaters, but should power a charger.

A 45w panel @ 12v equals about 4 amps. Times four hours a day is 16 amp hours. Your battery will take about four days to recover full charge. 

It would take a lot of number crunching, but assuming an 80% efficiency in the inverter, it could be close. Figure that those panels will essentially power a 40w incandescent bulb for 4 hours, not adding in efficiency losses in wiring and inverter. Also not figuring in cloudy days. It is possible you battery is never reaching full charge, and they can't be fully discharged and survive for very long.

Solar power is not cheap. My thoughts would be to switch to a DC energizer.

You may or may not be aware of all the issues involved in solar/battery power. I do not mean to sound as if I'm talking down. I only point these items out for those who may read this and have no experience with solar. Many of the items on the market make claims that are shaky at best, some are outright wrong  I don't like to see people taken by those promising free energy. If you are using an ac energizer, plug it in an outlet if at all possible, electric from the grid is far cheaper than making your own. Solar is great as a backup or if the system is designed to be powered by it.

I am not an electrical engineer or electrician. Electricity is dangerous. Please research before attempting any work around electricity !


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## babsbag (Dec 29, 2015)

totesmcgoats said:


> I have the solar panels hooked up to the charger controller, which is hooked up to the battery.



You are absolutely correct. I read that to mean that the charger controller was the energizer. Oops. 

We run a DC charger off a 12 v car battery and then the battery is on a small solar panel that we bought used somewhere. It must be sized well by luck as we don't run a solar charge controller and have had no problems; even in the winter it keeps the battery charged. We have done this for 7 years and it has worked very well. OUCH. 

You  could charge the battery by another means and try the inverter with a fully charged battery and see what happens.


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## greybeard (Dec 29, 2015)

What is the wattage rating for the heaters?


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## Scooby308 (Dec 30, 2015)

Been thinking of running solar for the fence and barn when built since it is a ways from the house. This guy has a few videos. Idk squat about solar, but I think I understand him.


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## chiques chicks (Dec 31, 2015)

What is the wattage rating on your energizer? While your inverter is sized properly for  heaters, it is likely oversized for you energizer. This is a car of bigger not always being better. The various components of a solar power system need to be matched. 
The battery is also always an issue. If it is cold, they hold less power. If it is old, it may not be capable of holding a full charge.
Is your wiring of adequate size between the components of the solar power system? Underside wires can't carry adequate current, resulting in losses.  8 and 10 gauge are the minimum I would use in almost any system, although with only a 45w panel, 12 should be sufficient. The called to the inverter should be larger. 2000w is a lot. Think automotive battery cables. There is a reason they are so large.
12v DC is a different beast than 120v ac.

It's all very complicated. Matching components, calculating draws, etc. I'm still working on assembling my system with 400w of panels for backup power. Online calculators tell me for a system that size, one or two batteries the size you are using is adequate.

For a fence energizer, I use a very old 12dc energizer (30mile) with a 5w panel and a lawn mower battery. The battery lasts about two years.


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