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Don’t own stock, no interest in the company. But, as I turned on a light this evening I thought I would share how I light our house. It’s with these lights:
We have been using them for over 5 years with no trouble.Iam not electrically inclined though I have been trying to teach myself more and more about solar. With hooks in the ceiling at strategic places, using the included cord and switch, they are wonderful. I can easily take them down, recharge them with a small solar panel, an ac adapter or from my car. We use a hub that is available to connect several in the barn and chicken house. They can be quickly taken down and used as a flashlight, have a built in stand for task work and a couple brightness settings. Last long time on a ‘charge’ especially when on lowest light setting. Charged our cell phones and such directly from them (cords included) during a week long power outage one summer after big storm. Not expensive ( to me for what they do) and easy renewable solution for lighting that is multi-functional. Saves on electricity, keeps us mindful of times going to be changing soon.
Might interest someone. I recommend them highly. Sorry if did image upload incorrectly.
Thanks for linking this, Tweva, and for sharing how you use them. Very cool!
Found 7 solar powered lights at WalMart for $10. Simple LED type you stick in the ground. I figure our group could use these at night. The glow is not that great and you do not worry about someone “smelling” your fire. Use them as flashlights, markers, tent lamps and etc.
Robin
Robin we have used the solar lights and made them in to these!!
tweva Where can you buy the lights you show they would be great for my chicken coop!!
Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.
George S. PattonRobin they are great as long as they are kind you can turn on and off. They don’t last a long time in my experience though and I can’t recharge them. And I need a better light to work with the animals/see/milk/clean hooves/help at births etc.
Gypsy – I got them from alovely, very knowledgeable man named Ron at sunshineworks.com. They are made by a German company Phycos and are called PIco lights. I think one other company imports them over here. I also use a great, bright light that I insert rechargeable batteries into that are motion activated but stay on if something in front of it at top of stairs for safety reasons and inside door to barn so I can easily find switch to PIcos in the barn FUlcrum20031-301 from amazon. Solar powered fan in coop as well – hot here in summer HTH
Thanks Tweva, I’ll be looking into these!
Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.
George S. Pattonbetter way to have lighting cheap is to use single solar panel or daisy chain ( to optimize use micro rated panels that are the same because it will only work as fast as crappiest one) Without inverter use a charge controller between panel and 24v big truck battery ( if you can afford $$ then buy ecamion battery) then. buy a strip light like http://www.nightsky-led.com/panel-lights without a ballast add a capacitor between the battery and the lights to allow for uniform lighting those units are rugged you can take out single strips and move around if you have to.
This is not an endorsement for that BDS it is just to show the type of lights you should be buying, better to have a good light than a mickey mouse solution that will leave you wanting.
http://www.rigidindustries.com/content/e-series-led-light-bars these bars are for vehicles so 12 v battery look at how tough they are in the video and they light they give off they can be used to light many scenarios. Cheap no but you can find the manufacturer on alibaba if you get enough to group buy
Make sure the controller and capacitor are in metal containers that are grounded, in case of emp or large solar flare activity
If you can have a spare panel, remember panels are rated as such +-10% of rated value 5% decay PER year so buy according to decay at end of 20 year life cycle not at rated output. (incidentally why most solar farms will fail)
Only panels i have come across and have real data on that exceed their production capabilities and are super sturdy are Day4 and tenK ten k has a great reflector set up but are more designed for grid power not for consumer dc.
When mounting solar panels remember most frames are to keep edges form being damaged by strikes not a mounting frame any vibration from wind causes micro fracture in cells reducing life, most solar cells are soldered together, depending how affects the life of the product why Day4 is best it uses an alloy fusion method which is solder less and makes hundreds of redundant connections but the company is out of business but you can still find panels. In sites in germany it is now year ten no appreciable loss in output.
Biggest concerns for most is not lighting but pumping…. water water everywhere but not a drop to drink… think about your well pump….. what happens when it fails? or grid down?using an emergency well bucket is a joke you need to think laterally alot of vehicles will be left behind, do you know how to take out a fuel pump? it runs off the battery which in most cases will be good even if car out of gas. do you know how to take it out? to you have longer hoses to use to get to gas in gas station or water in a well?
or you can use http://www.greencupboards.com/blog/2011/07/14/2-liter-bottles-of-light/ easy but daytime use only
Namelus – thanks so much for your post/information! Unfortunately for me, what you understand so easily about inverters, capacitors and charge controllers is not so easy for me. I also really don’t like messing about with batteries much. For my skill level/current knowledge base, for now, my little set up works sufficiently, and I don’t need big batteries or other stuff to have light. Light is only a problem in my set up at night or in the stalls on dark, overcast days.
Yes, pumping water is a serious concern. I’ll ask a friend to show/explain about fuel pumps/batteries. I hadn’t realized that.Nice to know alternative methods of doing something. But right now I am using a floating solar panel with solar pump built in one unit in the pond to pump water – works great to pump to 500 feet – good flow and quiet. There are solar pumps in two fields that feed the cattle troughs and they work fine.The well pump is a different story. Have a Sunrunner solar generator I use in emergencies to run it But putting in a solar powered deep well pump when weather breaks so can use Sunrunner for other stuf. Have and have tried the flojak hand pump just as emergency backup. Was easy to use but would be better on our shallow well.
Around here, yes we have lots of hoses of all sorts and repair stuff/extra couplings for them. That is a great suggestion many should take note of.
Love the bottle of light. I have seen them in use in parts of southern Mexico. Very simple for outdoor structures if needed.
Wish I had time to learn what you already know! But, I am trying.
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