Garden Lighting

Rhinochugger

Rhinochugger

Retired Oik
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I have an idea, and want to have some lights in the garden, adjacent the railway line.

I was thinking of 4 or 5 12v LED lamps connected to a 12v leisure (caravan or boat) battery which would be charged by a (caravan or boat) solar panel.

I could incorporate a daylight / darkness sensor, and they would all come on at night, provided the sun has been out for a while.

What's the catch? :wait::wait::wait::wait:
 
Money, and some solar panels seem to have life span of a few weeks.
 
Alan, you can get money to last more than a week? :speechless::speechless:

How?????? :wondering::wondering:

Quality issues aside, I see it as an 'energy in' = 'energy out thing'. I've gone with a smaller battery because I'm not going to use very much power. I've got a 12v 7a/h sealed lead/acid. but the charge unit is only a top up charger, meant to only maintain a larger battery (car) against natural discharge, giving out 17.5v at 1.5w, so not intended to charge a flat battery. With point-motors only (at this stage), my energy usage will be minimal. so I'm fairly sure this should keep up.

Your energy usage will be greater so whilst you may want a bigger battery than me you will also need a charger to able to keep up. I'll leave you to attempt your numbers.
 
These are garden lights IMG_7466.JPG IMG_7468.JPG IMG_7470.JPG 18 10w Led RGB DMX Colour change floodlights into a Crestron Home automation system, Dont ask the price unless yr sitting comfortably, Job for one of my clients
 
Now those will cost money but last more than a few weeks. very nice.
 
Rhinochugger said:
I have an idea, and want to have some lights in the garden, adjacent the railway line.

I was thinking of 4 or 5 12v LED lamps connected to a 12v leisure (caravan or boat) battery which would be charged by a (caravan or boat) solar panel.

I could incorporate a daylight / darkness sensor, and they would all come on at night, provided the sun has been out for a while.

What's the catch? :wait::wait::wait::wait:
Click to expand...

No catch at all, most chepo garden lights already have an IC to take care of the switching on and off, removes the need for an additional sensor, plethora of items, components, panels, lights readily available.

For further reading................
http://www.reuk.co.uk/solar.htm


https://www.fasttech.com/category/0/search/-/p/0?f=-&keywords=solar&sort=p1


http://www.banggood.com/search/solar/0-0-0-1-3-45-0-price-0-0_p-1.html?sortType=asc


http://www.aliexpress.com/premium/s...Query=n&filterCat=39050207,200003582,39050205

https://encrypted.google.com/search...X&ved=0ahUKEwiwuIqh4_XMAhVHCMAKHRLBAn0QsAQIOw

https://encrypted.google.com/#q=hacking+solar+garden+lights

http://www.bigclive.com/solar.htm

http://www.thedoityourselfworld.com/Solar-Path-Light-Hack-Make-Solar-Battery-Charger.php
 
I had solar lights around the pond at the café, okay this is about ten years ago, but the covers for the solar panels were plastic and went milky after a couple of summers ( :D ), consequently the batteries didn't charge and the whole lot went into the recycling centre.
You will either have to pay the money for really good kit or look for an alternative.
 
I'm looking for some new solar garden lights myself at the moment, the last lot having died last year .They were CHEAP (£9 for eight) and lasted for seven years so I reckon I had my money's worth. At the moment, Coopers of Stortford are selling some colour-changeing lights for a ridiculous price, otherwise I would suggest try your local garden centre.
 
Aldi's have lots on offer at the moment. Also a solar lighthouse for £9.99.
 
Yeah, I've had a gutful of solar lights - cheapo or less cheapo, none of 'em last: either the PV dies, the battery dies or the wiring rusts through. Which is why I was looking at wiring some 12v lights to a decent PV panel.

The boat / caravan panels are much more hardy than the little ones that are fixed to the el cheapo lights - they're designed to be out all weathers.

I also figured that I could mount it vertically (well angle it a few degrees) on the end wall of the shed, protected a bit by the eaves, but south facing.

I have been thinking about this.. :mm::mm: ..............and I have a cunning plan :nod::nod:
 
pugwash said:
I had solar lights around the pond at the café, okay this is about ten years ago, but the covers for the solar panels were plastic and went milky after a couple of summers ( :D ), consequently the batteries didn't charge and the whole lot went into the recycling centre.
You will either have to pay the money for really good kit or look for an alternative.
Click to expand...
I was looking into solar light problems a while ago, there is a YouTube vid that shows that if you spray the plastic top of the light cell with clear laqure, it restores the plastic and will work again.......... Didn't work for my type though!
Dave
 
pugwash said:
I had solar lights around the pond at the café, okay this is about ten years ago, but the covers for the solar panels were plastic and went milky after a couple of summers ( :D ), consequently the batteries didn't charge and the whole lot went into the recycling centre.
You will either have to pay the money for really good kit or look for an alternative.
Click to expand...
Yerst

I currently ('scuse the pun) have a solar lighthouse that doesn't work, a solar easy rider where the illuminated headlamp has given out, two £6 B&Q solar domes (one not working) ....etc etc :emo::emo::emo::emo:
 
Well..
If you pay £1.99 for a solar cell, light, rechargeable battery, control electronics, housing, manufacture, shipping, and everybody in the supply-chains cut..

How good do you think the original components and quality control are?
 
Been working towards a solution to the provision of solar power - battery - light sesnsative sw - lights, and have developed the below schematic for myself, and it is, as yet, only a drawing board exercise, but if it is of any use to anyone..........

SLR Lts Pwr 2.png

I have requested info from Maplins by e-mail, re the max current capacity of the switching circuit in the light sensative sw but have not received a reply, so until I can get to a Maplins and either look for myself or corner a member of staff, I am assuming that it may not be sufficient to handle the estimated lighting loads, which I think will be in the region of 5 - 6 amps, so have incorporated the relay to carry those loads, and use the LS sw to drive the relay.
The solar panel has an open circuit voltage of 22v but I do not know the wattage (it measures about 14" x 10" so is not going to be anything very much) and I have used it on a boat in the past to keep the batteries topped-up without a controller, but I have decided to incorporate one at this stage to be on the safe side and to allow for a possible future uprgrade to a bigger panel with a higher wattage output.
The battery too may get upgraded from the one I have listed, to one with a greater Ah rating.
 
'
pugwash said:
We don't care...

View attachment 211337
Click to expand...
I had been going to make a comment about the manufacturer of the el cheapo products, but had second thoughts. The evidence points to the fact that the great nation will manufacture to whatever quality they are instructed.

While LGB could not manage outsourced production in China, the Accucraft (US) products are all good, and most of Bachmann's large scale woes were more to do with design issues rather than manufacturing quality.

I usually post a picture of my museum quality brass caboose when people start saying that China only produces rubbish.

So, the real problem rests with the Lidls, Aldis, B&Qs of this world whose product buyers demand cheap, and as a result only get tat.
 
Over the years, I have experimented with various lighting schemes, though at the time, I didn't view them as experiments. I believe i have finally reached nirvana in the garden lighting world.

Many years ago, I installed Malibu brand landscape lights around the gazebo and on some trees. The original lamps were incandescent and lasted only so long. A few years ago, my son alerted me to LED replacements for the fixtures. Same natural light but long, long life. Then Malibu replaced a faulty transformer at no cost to me, amazing ! The new transformer is a high powered job with a remote light sensor.

So I got to thinking. I can do that sometimes. Why not power all of the lighting in my buildings off the same transformer, so I did just that. I have 12 Volt LEDs mounted inside of my buildings and had some extra Malibu half round design fixtures left over. The fixtures were mounted on 1/2" tubing stuck in the ground. Much more durable than even LGB's lamp posts, although not quite as realistic by a long shot. But they do what I want them to do.

So now, at dusk, my entire garden railway comes to life along with the rest of my garden lighting. No more having to turn on switches to light the railway.....:clap:
 
merlin said:
...

I have requested info from Maplins by e-mail, re the max current capacity of the switching circuit in the light sensative sw but have not received a reply...
Click to expand...

Which one - the Vellemann £9.99 kit QP97F? The specs on the web page says the relay can handle 24V 5A. Should be simple enough to hook in a different relay which can handle more, if required. I see they do a 12V coil automotive relay rated for 40A @ 12VDC for £5.99
 
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