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bonheur_gw

Solar Powered Fan?

Bonheur
18 years ago

Does anyone know where I could buy a solar powered squirrel cage fan? I'd like to build a greenhouse using 2 layers of poly film, but I don't want to rely on my electric company with its high costs & frequent outages. I also don't want to have to buy a generator & hope I'm at home when the power goes out.

Comments (7)

  • cactusfreak
    18 years ago

    I have been trying to think of a way to use these solar chargers.
    You could convert a regular fan to solar if you have the know how. I don't.

    Here is a link that might be useful: solar panel battery charger

  • Casa_Del_Gatos
    18 years ago

    Cactusfreak, sorry, those are only good for a trickle charge of a 12 volt battery. There are larger panels of course - with much larger prices.

    Check this out though, not a squirrel cage but definitely something to look at. It's reversible and up to 1000CFM.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Solar Fan Kit

  • bambooo
    18 years ago

    Solar might be a bit too spendy, I would think a 12 or 24v system that ran from the grid when power was available and switched to a battery when it was not would be the most practical, Most of those inflation fans for hoop houses I have seen were rather small. A good sized UPS would probably serve your needs just fine. Your electric company can make electricity cheaper than you can.

  • weebus
    18 years ago

    Not necessarily, in fact, more than a few people around here make money selling their excess back to the power companies.

    That fan was never meant to be used as a squirrel cage anyway. They just got a little of topic and I'm glad. I am goingto look into that fan.

  • cactusfreak
    18 years ago

    I know one panel was not enough but I was thinking maybe 10. $100 worth and a cheap $10 fan and you could save over $150 if you could rig it up yourself.
    For Myself I was thinking of getting it for our SUV and hooking a small fan that I have that goes into the charger(cigarette) port so it will not drain on the battery. We have 2 dogs that love to ride and we usually leave the air on while we run into the store or something. When it's a little cooler we just use the small fan and leave the windows down. I have 2 of those little fans but I'm afraid both of them would drain the battery. If they were connected to the solar panel it would help off-set it.
    We have one of the small solar panels (looks very similar to the HF one) and a 12 volt battery (looks like a motorcycle battery) hooked up to our automatic gate opener for when the power goes out. It can open a 500 lb gate 5 times on a charge.

  • chris_in_iowa
    18 years ago

    Probably too late to post this info now but....

    I have been playing around with inflation blowers and my extensive research has shown that a shop-vac, although spectacular to watch in action is way too big!!!

    On the other end of the scale a small 12v PC fan inflates the poly but cannot provide enough pressure to inflate it tight enough.

    However, because I was bored I hooked up an old one of these things I found.

    http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=145&products_id=1150

    It is slow to inflate but once the poly is inflated it maintains a decent pressure. It draws 0.15 amps at 12v.

    I have it experementally hooked up to a 17Ah battery so in theory (yeah numbers again!!) If I let the battery go down to 50% capacity it should run for 57 hours.

    Hook it up to a truck battery and it should run a month.

    If anyone is interested I have pictures but at the moment I can't FTP.

    Here is a link that might be useful: The blower I have.

  • Cody Joudry
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Chris - I knows its been years but how are things working? The links to the fans don't work anymore, can you provide specs? I guess i was wondering how big the greenhouse was, specs on the fan so I can find an equivalent.