Solar electric fencer

[will6910]

Iv got a farm stock solar fencer. Few questions as instructions not great. Charger for battery says green light means charged and red empty. But when charging it’s green and a flashing red. Does this mean charging or fully charged ? I tested with my tester straight onto the clip and it’s saying max 6000v where as the box says max 10,500v. Would this mean battery still to low or just that’s how much it’s going give ? Box says 0.25joules but then Google search says 0.40joules stored

 

[Bury the Trash]

some battery things need a long time on charge ,i think and i might be wrong tho,
that you need to leave it longer charging for the green light to settle to on not flashing red light as well.

 

[will6910]

Thank you. Iv it on charge again to see how long it takes. Just was wary off over charging

 

[Wisconsonian]

Don't be, the panel is sized that it can't overcharge. If you need it, just keep it clean and in the sun. If you can wait a day, let it charge up with the fencer off. If the battery or panel fails, replace them with bigger used components that are cheaper and better.

 

[Farmer Roy]

Solar panels that come with fence energiser units should all have regulators in them & all good aftermarket panels should also have voltage regulators included.

A regulated supply won’t ever overcharge a battery, even sitting permanently in the Australian sun

just like an engine alternator wont overcharge a battery, regardless of how many hours it is running for

 

[Farmer Roy]

Thank you. Iv it on charge again to see how long it takes. Just was wary off over charging

the battery needs to be big enough to run the fence for how many days in a row you think you will have low light levels & the solar panels need to be big enough to quickly charge that battery again in what you think might be how much good light you get, or big enough to still provide enough charge in low light conditions.

solar panels are used for everything here, I have ones on the roofs of my tractors & other equipment with batteries, to keep them topped up when they aren’t being used

 

[sheepdogtrail]

Solar panels that come with fence energiser units should all have regulators in them & all good aftermarket panels should also have voltage regulators included.

A regulated supply won’t ever overcharge a battery, even sitting permanently in the Australian sun

LifePo4 batteries can be overcharged when temp falls below 0C. Only a temp sensing regulator with low temp cutoff can prevent this. For the most part anyway. Victron makes a smart battery sense device that will set on the batteries terminals that will prevent charging when ambient temp is at 0C. I think it is also possible to use a shunt for this that will trip when the ambient temp is at 0C. I have only heard of such a thing.

Regular, SLA, GEL, AGM and Deep Cycle batteries do not have this limitation.

 

[Farmer Roy]

Ok, thanks

for electric fence applications, most people here tend to use deep cycle batteries, as they are best suited to the discharge / recharge cycle apparently

 

[sheepdogtrail]

Ok, thanks

for electric fence applications, most people here tend to use deep cycle batteries, as they are best suited to the discharge / recharge cycle apparently

Yes deep cycle batteries are a good value for cost and ease of use. You can get a 100 A/hr deep cycle for under $100 dollars. It will weigh 45 KG or more. If you can shoulder it for deployment it is hard to beat. They will last about 18 months before they start having issues. I am switching over to LifePO4 100 A/hr batteries now as they can go for 5 years or so if they have a regulator or some other low temp protection device connected to it. They only weigh 18 Kgs. Which is much better for my f**ked up shoulder, spine and back. Apparently you can get up to 10,000 cycles/charges on them from 0 percent over the life of the battery. Of course, all of the components cost more than 2 times that of a Deep Cycle battery and regulator.

Newer ones have a built in BMS and BT or WiFi. This allows you to check the batteries operating conditions from the cloud. I no longer need to visit each battery and pull a voltage test on it. That is kinda cool and it saves me money.