AC or Solar Power?

The CKBT Kit includes two pieces of low voltage wire in lengths of 3 ft. and 10 ft..  The 3 foot piece of wire is typically used for the included pushbutton to allow manual operation.  The 10 foot piece of wire is used to connect the AC transformer to the system control board.  

If your coop does not have an easily accessible AC outlet you can either replace the 10 foot piece of wire with a longer piece of low voltage wire or utilize our AXDP 10-Watt Solar Panel Kitinstead.

You cannot connect both the Transformer and Solar Panel at the same time or your will damage the system.

Cold weather performance on solar power should be considered because a solar panel covered in snow or ice will not charge a battery and because battery performance is always degraded as the temperature drops. If your coop routinely experiences temperatures below freezing for extended periods of time, then AC power will always be a better solution and you may not be able to run the system in full automatic mode during these extreme cold periods due to lack of battery power.