What would be a recommendation to "get my feet wet" with solar lights?
Roscooo
Registered Users Posts: 7 ✭
Any recommendations on an entry level solar lighting purchase? No specific task, just something to play around with.
From the Great White North, Love Sustainable Living and Healthy Lifestyle
Comments
-
Solar garden light?Off-grid.
Main daytime system ~4kw panels into 2xMNClassic150 370ah 48v bank 2xOutback 3548 inverter 120v + 240v autotransformer
Night system ~1kw panels into 1xMNClassic150 700ah 12v bank morningstar 300w inverter -
Assuming/guessing you are in the great white north (Canada)--And solar lighting very much relies on reasonable sunlight:
http://www.solarelectricityhandbook.com/solar-irradiance.htmlEdmonton
Measured in kWh/m2/day onto a solar panel set at a 36° angle from vertical:
Average Solar Insolation figures
(For best year-round performance)
Below 3-4 hours per day is not a lot of sun... If you wanted summer cabin lighting, and or had backup genset for "dark weather" -- Battery system + Solar + Genset can make for a very useful system (and more than just lighting).Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun 1.61
2.84
4.26
5.00
4.87
4.82
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 4.89
4.84
3.86
2.84
1.89
0.97
Otherwise, if you have utility power and needs lights during the winter--Installing LED lighting and wiring in your yard is going to be more useful and less costly (and remember batteries will typically last 3-7 years, charge controllers about ~10+ years, etc.).
-Bill
Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset -
Very cool Bill , thanks for the info. I will look into it some more. @Estragon what solar garden light would you say?
From the Great White North, Love Sustainable Living and Healthy Lifestyle -
It depends a bit on how wet you want to get your feet. If you just want to dip a toe, maybe one of those package things for a lamp post top or decorative thing you can get at box stores. They have pv, battery, and light all put together, so you just place it and watch the magic.
If you're more interested in more of a project to learn, maybe something something that needs you to design for and you put individual components together for. Solar christmas lights, for example, would take some real noodling to pull off in Edmonton.Off-grid.
Main daytime system ~4kw panels into 2xMNClassic150 370ah 48v bank 2xOutback 3548 inverter 120v + 240v autotransformer
Night system ~1kw panels into 1xMNClassic150 700ah 12v bank morningstar 300w inverter -
Why do people think I'm from Edmonton? There's more cities in the great white north than that, lol. But seriously, I will have to decide how far I want to or can dive in. Thanks for being so responsive though. I'll keep you guys posted.
From the Great White North, Love Sustainable Living and Healthy Lifestyle -
My fault, I took a guess from your IP Address (only forum moderators can "see" IP Addresses).
http://geobytes.com/iplocator/
More or less, available sun, energy needs, and to a degree electric codes and available hardware are location/regional dependent.
Many of the answers we give, we try to make sure they apply to where the system will be installed. Talking about outdoor lightning is going to have different problems & solutions for somebody near the equator vs near the poles.
-Bill
Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset -
You mean like this.........
or do mean like that?
-
Roscooo said:Why do people think I'm from Edmonton? There's more cities in the great white north than that, lol. But seriously, I will have to decide how far I want to or can dive in. Thanks for being so responsive though. I'll keep you guys posted.
Categories
- All Categories
- 222 Forum & Website
- 130 Solar Forum News and Announcements
- 1.3K Solar News, Reviews, & Product Announcements
- 192 Solar Information links & sources, event announcements
- 888 Solar Product Reviews & Opinions
- 254 Solar Skeptics, Hype, & Scams Corner
- 22.4K Solar Electric Power, Wind Power & Balance of System
- 3.5K General Solar Power Topics
- 6.7K Solar Beginners Corner
- 1K PV Installers Forum - NEC, Wiring, Installation
- 2K Advanced Solar Electric Technical Forum
- 5.5K Off Grid Solar & Battery Systems
- 426 Caravan, Recreational Vehicle, and Marine Power Systems
- 1.1K Grid Tie and Grid Interactive Systems
- 651 Solar Water Pumping
- 815 Wind Power Generation
- 624 Energy Use & Conservation
- 611 Discussion Forums/Café
- 304 In the Weeds--Member's Choice
- 75 Construction
- 124 New Battery Technologies
- 108 Old Battery Tech Discussions
- 3.8K Solar News - Automatic Feed
- 3.8K Solar Energy News RSS Feed