Re: Solar powered gates?
Originally posted by dduffee260:
Has anyone heard of a solar powered parking lot control gate?. The type that you see at airports or multi-level parking garages. We have AC power but it is several hundered feet away, We also will have to bore several lots to get power to the gates. We are also looking at wireless communications for card swipes for the gates. Just wondering about the DC type solar powered.
I would start by looking at how much energy you would need to run the gates. You have to generate this energy from solar panels. You then have to store this energy in battery banks.
Its probably safe to assume you will get 4 hours per day of good sun in most areas of the country, but you need to store several days (at least) worth of energy in the battery bank so that you have power available on rainy days.
Heres an example:
1/4HP motor runs 20 seconds (10 seconds each to open and close) 200 times a day
This is about 200W X 4000 seconds, or about 222 watt hrs. You would thus need about 55W (x4 hours/day) of solar panels. Probably you would increase this to a single 100W panel. You could get the panel and associated stuff (charge controller, PV array stand, inverter, etc.) for under $2000.
You would need a battery bank to store energy for rainy days and nights. 222w-hr is about 20amp-hr for a lead acid battery. A weeks storage would about a 150 amp-hr battery bank.
The battery bank would need to be replaced periodically (maybe every few years), but they would be fairly cheap.
You just have to add up how much energy you are using and figure out how much generation and storage you need. Don't forget area lighting and power to run the RF modems. Even a small amount of power used continuously for these items will dramatically increase your power requirements.
I have to wonder if there isn't power you could tap off fromalready in the lot (such as for the parking lot lights).
