Decent Outdoor Solar Light Required

[mountainmachine]

Ok so looking for a solar light which can sit in front of the garage and come on when someone activates the sensor, ideally one with a seperate solar pannel so i can mount it on the roof.

Can anyone reccomend a decent one? Up to around £45 as going to put in electricity to the garage in the spring/summer.

 

[breezer]

contradiction in terms.

decent and solar.

IMO solar lights are good for a laugh, unless you buy the really expensive ones.

the mian problem is the solar cells / panels are too small for this country

 

[mountainmachine]

Yup there really just to come on and off as my friend recently had a visit from some well prepared thieves and the lights coming on scared them off, they dont need to be powerfull, just able to come on and off for 20sec or so! As i already have main house lights but they go off around 2am, and the garage would be out of range of a PIR secondary sensor.

 

[breezer]

I never disputed why you want them, just the fact you want solar.
I have seen a soalr one with a small halogen lamp, but like i said the solar panels are too small for this country to be of any use.

The solar marker lights are ok for just that, marking

 

[bernardgreen]

Yup there really just to come on and off as my friend recently had a visit from some well prepared thieves and the lights coming on scared them off, they dont need to be powerfull, just able to come on and off for 20sec or so! As i already have main house lights but they go off around 2am, and the garage would be out of range of a PIR secondary sensor.

Consider using pulse driven white LED lights, these can be very bright and use far less power than a halogen for the same light output.

It is a trade off between cost of lights and cost of solar panels.

Have you thought of using a car battery and charge it up once a week. That would allow the use of cheap ( reclaimed ) head lights and 12 volt PIR sensors. You may need to drive a heavy duty relay ( car headlight type ) from the sensor rather than using it to switch the lamps directly as the relays in the sensors are not rated at more than about 3 to 5 amps. Much cheaper than solar panels and avoids all the need for control gear.

The current into a headlamp bulb before it gets white hot is several time the running current ( a 24 watt bulb @ 12 volts is 2 amps. At switch on the current may be 10 amps for a few tenths of a second until the filament heats up. That 10 amps will damage if not destroy 5 amp relay contacts )

Bernard

 

[mountainmachine]

Yea have thought about that as quite into cars etc, but hadnt thought about using a car headlight or led's!

I supose i was thinking along the lines of something like these:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SOLAR-SHED-LI...1QQihZ017QQcategoryZ94941QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300050142606&fromMakeTrack=true
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270056058060&fromMakeTrack=true

Adding a PIR sensor to the ones which dont have one.

 

[Steve]

Put 'lectric into the garage now, and save the hassle!

 

[mountainmachine]

Though the hassel was putting the electricity into the garage, not as simple as i thought as is about 20meters away. didnt think i'd have to take into account voltage drop etc into account. Or even have to lay the SWA at 50cm below ground, which at this time of year isnt happening as its either too cold and hard or too wet!

I may end up running a cable to the garage abouve ground along the fence line and out of the way until summer, as this would solve all my problems quickly and allow me to put up a decent light with a timer and a pir sensor etc. And this would just feed into a socket in the house with an RCD trip as it wouldnt have much current etc through it, as i wouldnt be using any powertools, kettles etc all at once. The most would be the light and the pressure washer, but not at the same time.

Can anyone recommend anygood weather proof cable then or should i just buy the SWA and run it above ground like and extension cable?

 

[plugwash]

if i were you i'd get the SWA now and install it above ground (still wired in properly) but leave enough slack that it can be burried when the weather is more appropriate.

 

[breezer]

i did say small soalr panels were no, good, to be honest the one on ebay with halogen lamp is what i had seen but not on ebay, but even so its still got a small solar panel

go the swa route, much better

 

[mountainmachine]

Cool i'll go down the SWA route then above the ground just now. Means i can pu the consumer unit, lights etc around the garage over winter when i have the time.