Farm I need help- planning, buying Solar LED Chicken house lighting

[BigFootsCousin]

Hi Gang!-

Well, as my home repairs drag on for over 1/2 a year now (frozen pipe in the attic, 2/3rds of my home destroyed), I'm starting to look towards other 'chores' that need attention here on the homestead.

Here's a product that I'm currently using- it's a little spendy at first, but I'm very glad that I put out the time/funds to set it up. I'm very happy with my Chicken Door that is solar powered, it's awesome.

http://www.chickendoors.com/products.htm

Anyways, I'd like to set up an economical solar LED lighting system in my chicken coop, and I would love to have a solar-powered LED motion activated yard light to put on the coop as well.

Do you guys/gals have any favorites (solar lighting) that are idiot proof and rugged?

Share what you have used, tell me 'why' you like it, and why I should purchase it over other products available.

Thanks!

BFC

 

[summerthyme]

I've used the REALLY cheap and redneck version, those "stick in the ground" solar yard lights- put them outside in the morning, haul them into the coop (I made brackets to hold them high enough so the birds couldn't roost/shit on them) in the evening. I think they were two bucks each.

But my son has to do things the right way, and he found a "solar spotlight" set up at Home Depot (I think).. it's got two smallish spotlights and a solar panel which powers the whole thing. It worked for him all winter, and we have a LOT of dark days in the winter- where he lives way in upstate NY, they got over 24 feet of snow last year. He's a machinist/mad scientist, and won't buy junk, so I'm guessing it was plenty rugged for what he wanted it for. Sorry I can't be more specific about model, etc... IIRC, it looked something like this one: http://www.homedepot.com/s/solar spotlight?NCNI-5

To be honest, I think that's really overkill for a small coop, but it did keep his hens laying all winter.

Summerthyme