Solar lights for the shop and barn?

[Mike Davis]

I want to install back up lights for the shop and barn.

The shop because it is scary when the lights go out in the middle of a cut and the saw is winding down.

The barn because it is too expensive to run 200 feet of wire underground.

So what do I need and what will it cost. I can do the wiring and installation I just don't know what is good quality and what is junk. I want to stay away from the junk without breaking the bank if possible.

I have seen kits up to $9000, That's way too much. But the horror fright $79 shed light looks like junk.

What is a good set up for good safety light for about an hours run time on a charge for the shop?


I know just enough to know I need some PV panels but not what size or brand, a charge controller but what size and brand, a couple deep cycle batteries, the wiring, fixtures and switches. Anything else and any real world experience, photos, etc...

And good working in the barn set of lights for a couple hours a night on a daily charge?

[CaptnA]

Watching this one to see options... and perhaps snag an idea

When you say back up, are you talking emergency lights (ie when the power goes out they come on automatically) or constant on solar powered?
I'm somewhat familiar with the power goes off/ lights come on lights but not in solar power.

[Mike Davis]

Yes, in the shop I would like the lights to come on when the power goes off, but only if I have the overhead lights on. I think I can handle that part.

In the barn it will be the only lighting.

I want to try all this out in the out buildings to learn and hopefully make the less expensive mistakes out there. Later I want to do some solar things with the house.

[Trent Mason]

Cool idea Mike. I wish I could offer some advice, but hopefully someone on here knows about this stuff.

[Gotcha6]

You've got 2 basic options on the shop:
1. Emergency light sets that are on a live circuit. They turn on when the power is lost to the particular circuit they're on and stay on several hours with a minimal amount of lighting or until the power is restored - designed to get you out of a building or down a stairwell in an outage.
2. Battery ballast fluorescent lights. These will stay on for about an hour after a power failure. They can be used on any traditional fluorescent light and are often installed inline with other lights to provide adequate lighting in lieu of the option above.

Can't tell you much about the barn, though. But I think you'll find PV panels & storage batteries will cost far more than a few hours of trencher time, though.

[FredP]

you could use sonotubes [spelling?] in the barn. they simply reflect sunlight down through a reflective tube to lite up inside space and they work well so long as it is daytime. solar panels dont come cheap when you figure in the batteries and wireing.

[Alan in Little Washington]

The problem with what has already been mentioned, and what is currently available (as far as I could find on the web) is that the typical emergency lighting doesn't care if the regular lights are on or not- if you lose power the emergency light comes on. They are designed that way for a number of reasons, fighting fires is one. Firefighters, etc. don't want to have to find and turn the normal light switch on so emergency lights illuminate.

There may be some commercially available circuits options that will do what you want in the shop- go to a commercial lighting supplier and ask.

I assume you lose power quite often and do not want to be wearing out and replacing the emergency lighting battery too often. If it were me, and I wanted to do what you suggest- save the emergency light battery by not having it come on during power outages if the normal lights were not already on, I would do the following:

I would wire (rewire) the emergency light so it can be turned off remotely but so the charging circuit is still connected and charging the battery when there is power to the shop. I would replace my shop's SPST (single pole single throw) standard wall switch that controls my lights with a DPST (double pole single throw) wall switch. This standard switch, which may not be available at big box stores, has an extra set of contacts. I would wire the emergency light through the extra set of contacts so that when the lights are turned off, the emergency light won't come on.

It would be much simpler, however, to wire the emergency light as it was intended to be wired.

[ptt49er]

http://www.ledtronics.com/products/P...px?WP=C503K519

Mike,

Check these out! You could wire a relay in your 120v system so that as long as the power is on the output contacts are open, but when power is disconnected they'd turn on. It'd be pretty easy. Using a switch like Alan is talking about you could open the circuit to the LED lights so that even though the relay closes the circuit the lights don't come on.

HTH!!

[Gotcha6]

I work in commmercial construction. We simply have a night light/emergency light circuit in the panel that is dedicated to those specific tasks. In a shop, you could put the emergency lights on any non - lighting circuit (i.e. a receptacle circuit). A main power failure would activate the lights. They don't pull much power so the current draw would be minimal.
As for the battery ballasts, they are wire up similar to a conventional ballast, and work only on a power failure - not when the light is turned off. We use them sometimes in medical exam rooms. Don't ask me how they know the difference between an outage & turning off the switch.

[Mike Davis]

I found a PV panel at Northern for $99 and a controller for $69. A battery will run around $99 and a power converter about the same wire sockets bulbs and a switch will bring it up to around $500. I can't even get a plumber out here for that much less a trencher and 200 feet of 8/3 w/ground.

[Gotcha6]

If all you want is lights this sounds like the way to go at the barn, but we want pics!!!!!
Good luck.