I added my old 300W inverter to my lighting system.





I have not plugged in anything yet. But now I can if I want to. I may run my wife's Laptop with it. With only a 22aH battery I can not power very much for very long.

I do know that the battery is always fully charged. So after about noon the landscape power usage from the previous night has been replaced. That really means I am just wasting most of the solar panel production anyway. Maybe tomorrow I will plug in my radio and swing in the hammock with a beer. :wink:

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Making the world a better place just makes sense.

Needs a bigger battery set!

Well, Indiana has had many cloudy days. At least a week straight. I figured on a full battery I would have 6 days backup with no sun. The low voltage discount light is on and no light. I hit the test button and everything still works.

I think I am going to have to break down and drag the battery charger up the hill. Looks like it will be cloudy for another 5 days.

I should figure out at what temp the battery would freeze????

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Making the world a better place just makes sense.

dont they have solar panels that charge even under cloudy conditions?

Yes, I think the amorphous type are better for lower light conditions.

But, last night the lights did come on. It was cloudy outside so the panel does charge the battery in low light conditions.

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Making the world a better place just makes sense.

Yes, the Amorphous solar panel have much more performance than the poly and mono solar panels in the clouding or raining days, and the total electricity production of Amorphous will be more than poly and mono solar panels. and the Amorphous also will be much cheaper. :lol:

But the Amorphous have a main disadvantage: the efficiency is much lower than the poly&mono solar panel, to match the same power, the Amorphous will be much more bigger.

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clean & affordable solar energy,solar mole repeller,etc.

Here's my version of solar outdoor lighting: http://2manytoyz.com/gardenlights.html

Details about my solar setup is at this link: http://2manytoyz.com/solarpanels.html

When my MorningStar solar controller turns on my low voltage outdoor lighting, it also powers up a 400 Watt inverter via a 12V relay. My compact fluorescent outdoor carriage lights go on/off the same time as the garden lights. Detailed at the link above.

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Robert
Cocoa, FL
http://www.2manytoyz.com/

Hello,

So i have a question i'm trying to start a small landscape light solar project i will be using about 8 spotlights with 2watt mr16 led bulbs for about 8 or 10 hours per night. What size of panel and battery would i need to run this totally off grid. Also do i need the transformer for these lights. i've read couple posts about these installations but nothing just like this. Although this is very similar to what i'd like to do. Please advise i live in Northern NJ.

8 each 2 Watt lights = 16 Watts per hour

16 Watts x 10 hours = 160 Watts per night

Your region has about 4 hours of peak sunlight per day.

160 Watts / 4 hours = 40 Watts (ideal).

With the derating of the solar panel, losses, etc, expect about 70% of the panel rating. .7 x 60 Watts = 42 Watts (effective).

So as a minimum, I'd recommend 60 Watts of panels.

As for battery, 160 Watts / 12 Volts = 13.3 Amps. Shouldn't take a battery below 50% of the rating to prevent damage. So minimum of ~30 Amps.

Many people buy the Everstart 27DC-6 series Deep Cycle battery at Walmart. Price was about $60, but has likely gone up since the price of lead has also increased. Rated at 115 AH IIRC.

No transformer needed. If you use a 12VDC system, that's the same rating as the MR16 bulbs (the non-LED bulbs will also run on 12VAC).

The problem I'm now discovering is while LEDs only last a very short period. I took white LEDs from inexpensive flashlights and soon discovered their short life. Then purchased LEDs from Digikey at $3 each. Same story. Despite the thousands of hour rating, in about 3 months, they're dead. I put current limiting resistors so each would only see 20 mA each. The garden lights would run for 6 hours each night.

So I then searched online for a commerically available LED replacement light fixture with the MR16 base as you mentioned. They are available, but searching a little more and I found customer feedback on these. Again, they only lasted a few months before dying. Very disappointed.

So this week I ripped out all of my LED fixtures I built, and replaced them with the standard 20 Watt bulbs, and hooked the transformer onto the grid once again.

Until someone ACTUALLY makes white LEDs that have anywhere near their specified life rating, this project is a bust for me. Green & red LEDs last for years in any one of my other hundreds of projects. I was impressed with the light output from these high intensity LEDs, but it's short lived, even when keeping the current at the manufacturer's specifications.

Blah!

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Robert
Cocoa, FL
http://www.2manytoyz.com/

what type of panels are the HF 45watt?