You can order a nice assortment of terminals on Amazon, or your local hardware store typically sells individual spade terminals from the small parts drawers. Keep in mind you’ll need to use a larger size terminal (than your wiring) when you splice 2 wires into one terminal. Wire connectors: I used spade terminals to connect wires to the timers & battery tabs. Wire gauge: 16-gauge or 18-gauge wire should be fine, unless you are using more than a few feet of wire for some reason. For a 6-amp linear actuator, use a 10-amp fuse. Here are some other useful notes:įuse sizing: Typically the fuse is rated 50% more than the maximum power draw of the linear actuator, so for instance if your linear actuator is rated for 5 amps max, use a 7.5-amp fuse. As with any battery, put a fuse on the positive lead coming off the battery. ![]() With this system you need a trickle charger (“battery maintainer”), and a 12V battery with an amp rating higher than the power draw of the linear actuator. This method is by far the least expensive, but if the power goes out, your chicken coop door won’t open/close.ĭedicated power with battery backup: Nice method that handles power outages. You can use any size solar panel, although panels over 20W are probably not necessary unless you are using a different system with a higher constant power draw (like a photocell) rather than the two timers.ĭedicated power: If you have A/C power to your coop, you can use a 12V power adapter with an amp rating higher than the power draw of the linear actuator. Solar panel w/ controller: This uses a solar charge controller which regulates power to the battery & automatically disconnects the solar panel at night. * To prevent discharge you can add a blocking diode, but I’m not going to get into that ( Google has your back) - the solar charge controller below is a better method for about the same price.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |