Hi, I got steered here from the electronics thread.  I've built a chicken coop and am trying to learn some stuff about electronics, programming and automation this summer while I am at it. Mainly I am here to try to find out the best way to wire up the system I am planning to make sure it's safe, will last as long as is reasonable and will not burn the coop down. I have a short term and long term goal for the coop. I've got a little experience messing around with car electronics, but have no real training there or with electronics in general so I'm coming from a pretty naive place and trying to learn. Feel free to steer me towards something to read if that helps. This will all be an offgrid 12V DC system more or less. Short term Set up a solar panel and battery to power the coop electronics. (Parts I already have linked below). What I want is to take a Raspberry Pi ZeroW, and have it run a temperature sensor in the coop. I also want it to turn on and off a 12V linear actuator, which will open and close the coop door. For now I just want this to run on command, but eventually will automate it on a schedule. Long term Take all of the above and also run a 150W heating element into an insulated 3-5g waterer inside the coop to keep it from freezing. I live in coastal RI so winters are substantial but not too bad. We can put off discussing this for now unless people have suggestions. I know it's going to take more substantial battery(s) and possibly another panel. I've been able to haphazardly set up a panel and have it charge a small 12V battery which I was able to run through a buck converter and power the Raspberry Pi. The linear actuator hasn't arrived yet and I still am reading up on how to properly get that activated via the Pi. The electronics thread helped me get my head around things so far. 12V, 100W panel - https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HHDC6NQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 20A PWM charge controller - https://www.windynation.com/Charge-...1319?p=YzE9MTc= Buck converter - https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B071FJVRCT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1 12V Battery (temporary) - https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003S1RQ2S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The battery was small and cheap and runs the Pi, I will upgrade later once the system is actually functional and I can figure out how beefy of one will suffice. So I'm thinking roof mount the panel and increase the pitch angle from where it sits on the roof up to 41 degrees which is recommended at my latitude. I'll need slightly longer wires from the panel to the charge controller. Maybe something like this? https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0753ZLLQB/ref=twister_B084SQBW1M or just buy some more 10AWG and the connectors? The coop roof is corrugated PVC mounted on top of 1/2" thick pressure treated plywood sitting on 2x4 framing. From there the wiring will go to the controller, which will be nearby the battery. The charge controller recommends a 30A fuse between the panel and the controller. Battery and controller will sit in some type of cover and be ventilated. The charge controller clearly defines the amount of space to leave around it etc which I will heed when mounting it. From the battery I'll have to wire the Buck converter and then a USB cable to the Pi. These will also need to be in some type of enclosure but will likely be inside the coop itself (which is out of the weather to some extent). I'll also need to run power from the battery to the linear actuator and to a relay and also wire the Pi to the relay. The temperature sensor will be a 1-wire system directly to the Pi. That's it for the short term setup. So, I know gently caress all about wiring. I have the Black and Decker guide to Wiring and it has a short section on it for wiring a home solar setup. It's using a bunch of junction boxes and conduit. Barring any other advice I'd probably just go with what they did except going through the shingles etc don't apply to this setup well. Best way to drop the wires through the roof? Do I set up the entire system inside the coop itself or put the controller and battery in a separate enclosure? (this one I am curious on because having the system inside the coop might provide some waste heat for the chickens in the winter but if its too much of a fire risk then no) Best practices / best hardware / recommended wiring for wiring different circuits from the battery? What else can I do to ensure that the system won't cause a fire (fusing etc)? Coop interior   There's room to put a shelf etc mid-way up the back wall to store things on (battery(s) if possible)
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May 16, 2020 17:56
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Yooper posted:I've helped with a few solar setups, nothing professional or massive. Thanks! I was thinking running all PVC conduit and boxes with 14awg THNN through all that for most everything downstream of the charge controller. I was also thinking of routing all that through something like this: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GBV2MHN/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=A1Z6QXPXTIWJ5I&psc=1 Would that be cool instead of a breaker? And fusing between the panel and the charge controller and again between the battery and the bus above with these: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WC9LB7L/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=A2ZNPLJCY5BQIU&psc=1 Thumbnail calculations on the heater would only be running ~1-2h total runtime per day and that only when it's quite cold. Also the chickens should generate some heat, so it's hard to estimate. Plan was to just run it as-is this winter (with a larger battery) and see how quickly it depleted the system (or not) and run a separate heater off of house power if needed then re-calculate.
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May 18, 2020 16:36
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Yooper posted:That fuse box would be fine. Your linear solenoid might need some beefier wires depending on the size. I based my heater calculation on 12 hour cycle time (I'm in Northern Michigan), but 1-2 hrs changes it significantly. Keep the moisture out and keep it organized and you won't have problems. Just watch that you don't inadvertently push too many amps through something like that converter. Thanks again. The heater will just be to keep water inside a 2 or 3g insulated container (inside the enclosed coop, with chickens radiating their own heat) from freezing. It's not going to be doing too much but for right now it's too many variables to get a good estimate. So I'll just run it and see how it goes and then decide if I can scale up or if that's economically just unrealistic to do. This is the linear actuator I am waiting on delivery of. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HNTPB87/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00 12V 3A. Shouldn't be too taxing on the system. My next homework is to figure out how to get a Raspberry Pi to run a relay that activates this (and which relay to buy / how to install). Reading up on that now generates a lot of conflicting advice, but I figure that's more a question for the Pi or Electronics threads.
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May 18, 2020 21:44
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Does anyone make a GCFI socket with USB output on it? I can find sockets with either but not both. There's a GCFI plug near my kitchen sink and we routinely have a USB converter plugged into it with a little speaker output. Thought it might be nice to just directly plug USB into a socket but not sure if that combination exists. I assume I'm not seeing one because it might be inherently unsafe? Not sure.
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May 27, 2020 15:10
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