Solar powered garage lighting
Discussion
Recently moved into a new house and fro the first time since I left home at 18 I have a garage! Ok, not that exciting for most but having lived in a tiny crap flat with no proper parking for years it is for me. It's large enough to get a decent sized car in with tools/shelving/pushbike/assorted bits of car etc but unfortunately it doesn't have any power.
As you can see by my crap picture it's not possible to run power from the house unless I go via several other garages/gardens who's owners are unlikely to be overly thrilled with that idea. The only thing I really could do with down there is lighting and have seen some (too) cheap solar powered kits on eBay and the like for around the £30 mark. I suspect these aren't worth bothering with but wondered if anybody had any experience with these or similar? Another idea was to use one of these kits as a base hooked up to a car battery but I'm not sure how to stop it overcharging or if it's even worth the effort?
As you can see by my crap picture it's not possible to run power from the house unless I go via several other garages/gardens who's owners are unlikely to be overly thrilled with that idea. The only thing I really could do with down there is lighting and have seen some (too) cheap solar powered kits on eBay and the like for around the £30 mark. I suspect these aren't worth bothering with but wondered if anybody had any experience with these or similar? Another idea was to use one of these kits as a base hooked up to a car battery but I'm not sure how to stop it overcharging or if it's even worth the effort?
I have one very similar to this in my shed. To be honest i wasn;t expecting much, but it's been in there for a good few years, and is great for seeing my way around. I wouldn;t like to try and do any work in there , as it's obviously not that bright. I got mine for about £12 off ebay, and it has a seperate solar panel which i have screwed to the side of the shed.
http://www.protecttheplanet.co.uk/outdoor-solar-li...
http://www.protecttheplanet.co.uk/outdoor-solar-li...
car battery, solar battery charger (about 5watt) and some 12 volt lights. Led are best, car accessory shop not bad for those (think the extra trim type), or strip light from an old caravan. I used some halogen downlighters out of a cooker hood as well - fell of a shelf at work;). Wire it all up and good to go. Works in my shed anyway.
E36GUY said:
You should ask whomever owns the garage immediately at the back of your garden whether they would swap with yours! It's a garage en bloc so one will be the same as the other won't it. Then you can run a power line out from your house and knock a door in t'back?
This would be the obvious answer. I'll go and see if they have a better door than me. Mine is quite nice and I've just put a new lock on it!Re the car battery idea - how do you stop it overcharging?
Aviz said:
I have one very similar to this in my shed. To be honest i wasn;t expecting much, but it's been in there for a good few years, and is great for seeing my way around. I wouldn;t like to try and do any work in there , as it's obviously not that bright. I got mine for about £12 off ebay, and it has a seperate solar panel which i have screwed to the side of the shed.
I was reading too fast - thought you said 'I got mine for about £12 off ebay, and it has a seperate solar panel which i have screwed to the side of my head'. We have a 'weekend 
' caravan that we use for camping weekends and this has a battery which happily last for 4 days running several lights, water pump etc then we simply re-charge it at home using a standard battery charger. You can get a 110 AH battery for around £80 and just run as many lights as you need off it. As it's a leisure battery, it's designed for constant charging and discharging. We run normal light bulbs but if you were just running a few LED lights then it would last for weeks on one charge.
' caravan that we use for camping weekends and this has a battery which happily last for 4 days running several lights, water pump etc then we simply re-charge it at home using a standard battery charger. You can get a 110 AH battery for around £80 and just run as many lights as you need off it. As it's a leisure battery, it's designed for constant charging and discharging. We run normal light bulbs but if you were just running a few LED lights then it would last for weeks on one charge.S6PNJ said:
StoatInACoat said:
Re the car battery idea - how do you stop it overcharging?
Solar panel regulator - maplins or ebay have loads, just get the right amperage!I looked into this for some time at our old place.
It's not entirely simple if you want lights good enough to work by though, but neither is it particularly challenging, and what I had worked a treat.
3 LED 12v bulbs (MR16 60LED) worked best for me, bright enought to read a book by and comfortably light a 7'x 10' shed. I went for 'warm white' ones which were still bright but didn't have that clinical 'bluey' tinge which I don't like.
To hold and wire up the LED lights you need MR16 'Dichroic holders'. Few quid.
I had some plastic 50mm plumbing fixtures lying around too which I discovered the LED bulbs fitted into perfectly, with the twist-fit ends holding them in place tight.
Then just buy some bell wire and a regular light switch, plus maybe some trunking to keep it all neat.
Wire the lights in parallel.
ETA ...In fact see here for an excellent straightforward guide: http://www.reuk.co.uk/Put-Together-an-REUK-Solar-L...
Ebay cheapest
Edited by captainzep on Friday 27th April 11:38
captainzep said:
S6PNJ said:
StoatInACoat said:
Re the car battery idea - how do you stop it overcharging?
Solar panel regulator - maplins or ebay have loads, just get the right amperage!I looked into this for some time at our old place.
It's not entirely simple if you want lights good enough to work by though, but neither is it particularly challenging, and what I had worked a treat.
3 LED 12v bulbs (MR16 60LED) worked best for me, bright enought to read a book by and comfortably light a 7'x 10' shed. I went for 'warm white' ones which were still bright but didn't have that clinical 'bluey' tinge which I don't like.
To hold and wire up the LED lights you need MR16 'Dichroic holders'. Few quid.
I had some plastic 50mm plumbing fixtures lying around too which I discovered the LED bulbs fitted into perfectly, with the twist-fit ends holding them in place tight.
Then just buy some bell wire and a regular light switch, plus maybe some trunking to keep it all neat.
Wire the lights in parallel.
ETA ...In fact see here for an excellent straightforward guide: http://www.reuk.co.uk/Put-Together-an-REUK-Solar-L...
Ebay cheapest
Edited by captainzep on Friday 27th April 11:38
That link is very helpfull, thanks!
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