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Solar area lighting fun
By Old F, Section Homebrewed Electricity Posted on Mon Dec 26th, 2005 at 12:07:58 AM MST
Got a new toy for Christmas : )

Solar area lighting fun
Got a new toy for Christmas : )
The family got me a solar powered motion sensor light to feed or appease my hobby
don't know witch : )
Its sports a remote solar panel the lamp is a 6V 15 watt halogen.
And a 6 amp hour 6v sealed lead acid . Made by Heath/Zenith.
The on time is 30 Sec re triggerable .
Puts out a good bit of light how well it holds up is a wait and see.
I am using it to light the front of the out door wood stove.
After looking it over there isn't much to it . I am thinking of home brewing one using a 13 watt CF.
Using a low power draw 12v photo switch to turn on a small 75 watt inverter I have at night to power a motion sensor light fixture with a out door CF in it .
Keeping the on time short I think I can by with a 10 or 20 watts of solar panel to keep the battery charged . I will use it to light the area where I have my back up generator for the house.
Should be fun.
Old F

Solar area lighting fun | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 editorial)

Re: Solar area lighting fun (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by Norm (peppysue@suite224.net) on Mon Dec 26th, 2005 at 07:43:05 AM MST
(User Info)

As we were Christmas shopping noticed LED head
lamps various prices....like 10 buks or so....
Cap LED lamps even worse at about $24
Heck with a 2 cell replacement LED bulb or 2 or
3 a guy could duplicate those for a lot less...
Outfit the whole family with LED headlamps ...
use personal 10 inch TV's and Shoe Generators
and Everybody could go off grid tomorrow !
( :>) Norm.
....well maybe a few things might
go 'South' in the meantime but hey
lotta fun thinking about it...LOL
( :>) Norm

Re: Solar area lighting fun (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by ghurd on Mon Dec 26th, 2005 at 12:57:38 PM MST
(User Info)

I have reworked some old ones to 12V from the main battery.
A 7806 to feed the circuits 6V, the 'bulb feed' was replaced with a 6V relay, the relay was connected to a 12V light source.

Grey winter skys last a long time here, and this made them more reliable.
Big panels and big batteries always do!
G-

Re: Solar area lighting fun (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by maker of toys on Tue Dec 27th, 2005 at 11:16:42 PM MST
(User Info)

just a minor point: CFL don't like short duty cycles. . . . like on for 30 sec evey 15 minutes. . . or 5 minuts 10 times a night.

if power consumption is an issue, maybe one (or more) of the luxeon units used in flashlight conversions would work; else if you want area light and can afford a couple of watthours to get it, halogen would be better. of course, again, halogen would prefer to be on for a decent time per start. . . but they do better in motion sensor lights than CFLs do.

It's not a case of 'Save the planet,' it's a case of 'Save the humans.'

Re: Solar area lighting fun (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by ghurd on Wed Dec 28th, 2005 at 07:38:39 AM MST
(User Info)

I think that one comes with a 6V (20W?) 2-pin halogen. In some of my 12V conversions, it was replaced with a 12V 10W halogen.
In a stock light, the bulb could be replaced with a 6V 10W halogen to save a lot of power and still be quite brite.

For home brew, Lowes has (had?) a 4 AA battery operated motion sensor night light for $15. The AmerTac brand with the CDS cell on top uses a lot less total power, because in daylight it shuts the whole unit off, so the light won't light and the motion sensor is not looking for motion. Daylight power consumption is <1ma, IIRC.
Cheaper than buying the parts in it!

G-

Solar area lighting fun | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 editorial)

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