[godlessdustin]

Last night at about 2:00am the power went out on my side of the street, I think it was because of high winds, but anyway it got me thinking, Have any of you ever seen or used those solar powerd LED lamps that people put along their drive ways and sidewalks? Well anyway I think it might be a good idea to have some of those on hand in the yard so that you can take them in the house when the power goes out. Or you could keep them with your tent or camping supplys if you ever hand to travel across land or something. I just think it would be a good sustainable light source If the sh!t ever hits the fan.

 

[lanahi]

Solar anything is a good idea. The yard lights are not very bright but would certainly be better than nothing. I have a solar battery charger that does a good job charging batteries too, a solar flashlight, solar radio...lots of wonderful technology lately, and a great part of it is solar!

 

[lailr]

Great idea Dustin

 

[Broomhead]

solar flashlight...Lol, that sounds like an oxymoron.


By the way, solar panels are pretty easy to hook up to most anything. All you need is a converter to change it to the right voltage/amperage, or some rechargeable batteries to store the power. It would not be too hard to reuse the solar panel if something stopped working but the panels were still good.

Here's a "green" tip for anybody who has solar panels on their house. Take some PVC piping and paint it black, then zigzag it behind your panels, hook it up to a water pump and Voila, you have an Eco water heater.

 

[vtjozef]

I've had four Siemens 55 watts solar panels on a solar tracker since 1995. That's 220 watts of charging to my six 6-volt Trojan T85 batteries. There are three pairs in parallel. There is a 550 watt inverter and the house is also wire for 12vdc to run essentials. The batteries should have lasted 5 or so years but are now pushing 14 years. When the power goes our because of all the glass we're the only that's stay lit that the eye can see. It is NOT cost effective, but it is enough for essentials without grid power. My mistake was not buying an extra pair of panels each year for the 14 years that we have had them.

 

[lailr]

How much did it cost?

 

[vtjozef]

Too much. $1500 and that was 14 years ago. The power goes out often here. Didn't want a generator as one is beholden to the gas companies for fuel. Sun is free when the clouds are not around. Look up Dr. Solar in Google.