Setting Up My Solar System And Chicken Loss

So yesterday I received my charge controller and inverter in the mail. Yes, I went ahead and bought the inverter too. I figured the sooner I can use the solar power, the sooner I can start making my money back. Yesterday I was also able to mount the inverter and charge controller on the wall under our crawlspace. Our foundation is pretty high on this side of the house and I can stand up fully (5'9") so there is plenty of space there for the components and future battery bank.

Today I connected all of the wires and other components (solar panels, charge controller, battery, inverter, load). The load is the electric fence for our sheep and pigs. I then sat for a while just to be sure that nothing was going to start smoking or sparking. That might sound silly. But this is my first time setting up a complete system like this. I wanted to be careful.

As I sat and waited, I did a couple of short videos. They're only a minute long each because that's how long an instagram video is.

Still waiting to see how long the battery can power the fence charger. So far it's 11pm and it's only at 83% according to the app for the charge controller. I think maybe the fence charger and a couple of lights for the chickens is about all I'm going to be able to manage with this battery though. Now starts the slow climb of building up our battery bank.

Good news, though, is that I'm not going to have to order another charge controller. This one is an mppt charge controller and it adjusts the voltage and amps to suite your system. For example, it will take in higher watts from 24v panels (or a couple of my 12v panels in parallel) because the amps will be less. I can hook up all 8 of my 100w panels this way and run it through this one charge controller. But it will also bring the voltage and amps down to the proper level to charge my 12v battery.

In other news, I lost one of my orpington chickens today. He was really sluggish this morning and not wanting to stand. I thought maybe he had a vitamin E deficiency like one of the other chicks did when she was only a week old. So I gave him some vitamin E and a vitamin mix for birds. I then put him in one of the rabbit cages so he could rest without being bothered. But by the afternoon he had passed on.

Really sucks to lose one. Wish I could have done more for him but I had no idea what was wrong and went with the only solution I could think of. The only good things are that he was a rooster (comb color and size already developing) and I only need one rooster. Also I only ordered 10 chicks and they sent me 11. So he was kind of my extra. As long as I don't lose anymore, I can deal with the one loss. Some loss is to be expected. Just really sucks when they die and there's nothing you can do about it.

Ok, uploading those short videos to youtube took way too long. Yay for rural internet. (sour face) I gotta go to bed peoples. Night night and sleep tight.