Super Efficient Off-Grid Lighting: Works Great On-Grid Too
I can't show you how many lighting devices I have, as that would look like an electronic scrapheap.
I am just going to focus on one method that has served me well. I had bought an old porch light fixture, months earlier, that I really liked. Reminded me of my childhood home. I had no idea what I was going to do with it.
One day I was looking at it and thought...I could use it in my cave! Using an LED bulb and wiring it up using a dimmer, and a little battery pack I cobbled together a couple of months earlier. I found two rechargeable 6 volt batteries on clearance at that really stingy big box store (five dollars each). I wired them together to get 12 Volts. The pack is the size of two pints of milk. This battery pack is for testing only. In the future I will wire the light up to my solar system.
Here it is...
Lights up well at night as you can see.
Let's break down the parts:
I bought the porch light fixture for a dollar (I think) at a thrift shop. LED bulb from Amazon (6 for $18).
And the dimmer is also from Amazon ($16). I hate to go to big box stores, unless they are small.
The wiring is easy positive and negative type stuff. (Common speaker wire, or an electric cord pulled apart works fine.) The dimmer works great. But it doesn't seem to light bulb until it is turned up a bit. It can go from candle glow to full on 40-60 watt incandescent equivalent. AND it only pulls 5 watts on high.
This is a modern electronic miracle! All light with very little wasted energy as heat.
The pull on my tiny milk carton battery is negligible. Of course, I only use it when I really need it. No leaving stuff on like when energy was next to free using the unlimited grid. Off-Grid teaches frugality.
I'll leave you with another night shot plus a look at my solar system I blogged about a couple of days back.
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section.
[Later, take care!]
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Been waiting for a new post from you. You will soon be totally self sufficient. How much time will you be spending in your cabin? 🐓
Well, I have a way to go. I am clearing a space for a garden now. And am planning an outdoor bathroom, with shower and everything. I have a full plate. I need a barn. I have to build a fence. Pheww! This is fun! I really do thank you for your support! You have been there from the start.
I am currently working on my own projects which are not so different from yours. I do not have the luxury of going totally off grid, but I may be able to put something together for times when we are without power. I cannot do the work myself as you have been doing, however, you are teaching me quite a lot with your knowledge of construction and energy. I do some of the not too heavy work, but no time for me to devote to the whole thing right now.
Thanks for your how to tutorials. It is my pleasure to support your efforts as they are quite informative. Your friend. 🐓🐓
I hope I haven't given off the idea that off-grid is the best. And that there is anything wrong with being on-grid. I am off only because I like experimenting, and there are no power lines on my property.
I am not at all Elitist. I am just Pragmatically Playful.
It would be mighty convenient to be on grid. Even if I was, I would still play around with alternative energy.
What kind of projects are you working on there?
Great post! Love to see more content like this because electricity prices keep going up when there's plenty of energy all around us :p
If you want to tag your post with @steemmakers you can share it with all the DIY/makers out there in our community :)
Thank you plushzilla! You are exactly right. Energy is all around us. There for the taking. Tiny streams can turn a turbine. Once I saw a creative gentleman put one in the downspout of a gutter. Not a huge harnessing of power, but Sweet anyhow!
I always think about playing with magnifying glass when people say solar is not feasible. Focus a bead on your hand with the glass for a demonstration of the Sun's power. If anything the way most of us get our power now is not feasible.
I love to tinker. My Mother called me "the Professor." Oddly enough most of the things I do work out in the end. No failures, unless I give up. I don't remember who said: "Well that's one way that doesn't work."
Energy all around us. We can combine all the various ways to harness it. Not just one like some are wont to do.
I hope you find plenty of people on Steemit that like to 'tinker' :)
Your profile picture reminded me of a book I had read recently about wood chopping and stacking, which can also be done in an environmentally friendly way: https://www.bookdepository.com/Norwegian-Wood-Lars-Mytting/9781419717987
I think it might have been Thomas Edison that said: "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
And he was right! Knowledge like energy is all around us. Some of us choose to open our eyes and ears and harness it but others choose to simply ignore the abundance that is all around us...
I am familiar with that book, but I don't have it. I may get it soon. Looks like a great source of information.
What is the watts on your solar and how long does it take to charge your batteries? I am vision impaired and have to have lights on most of the time. But I live in a place that gets so much hail and high wind, I am afraid to spend the money on a large fixed solar system. Something like this just might be part of my solution.
Oh, forgot to say, this post has already been added to the Sotall Directory and will be in this Sunday's 38th edition of our newsletter.
Hey Sotall!
It is 30 Watts. I can’t say how long it will run the light since I am in a testing stage with it. But I have two 18 amp hour batteries that I will use later. Check out my solar post from a couple of days ago.
Anyhow this system is easy to move.
Can you give me some details on what lighting you are using?
I have replaced every bulb in my house with warm light LED's. It is mainly the lighting around my desk I want to concentrate on because those lights tend to stay on all the time except when I am sleeping. My huge magnifier I use to be able to read and make jewelry is the only Fluorescent (not compact) Everything else is standard lamps with LED bulbs and there is only two of them that need to stay on 16 hours a day. (if possible) Thank you @binaryflat for your help!
You are already on the right path Sotall. Those LEDs are great. Not as pleasing as incandescent, but far better than florescent.
If I were you I would start small like I have going on in by blog. Perhaps staring with a 100 watt panel. It's not that much more expensive than smaller ones. And it is not huge in size. Same with a battery. Go up in size a bit. Maybe 100 Amp Hour.
What's good about this system its that it be modular. Add on in the future when needed, and funds are available. The panels could be mounted on the ground for stability from high winds. As far as hail, I haven't heard much a panels being damaged. The hail would strike obliquely due to slant of the panels. Less likely to get damaged. The name branded panels are covered with some pretty good impact resistant glass also, I would assume.
If you have any south facing windows you could even a panel in window to play with. They even have suction cups on them.
I feel like I am writing a book here (Hehe). I have a couple of light with built in solar panes. Just really small portable ones. They work fantastic! I sit facing sun when possible, and they are always charged when I need them.
This one is bright, with 3 levels. I really like this one. It has relatively large panel, and a good sized internal battery.
ah yes living off grid really makes you appreciate low draw items!
I'm currently converting my 2nd van to live in after the dreaded rust took hold of the first one. best investment i made was getting a 175w solar panel for the roof. im in a house at the moment but i cant wait to get back to off grid life, unlimited power is overated :P
depending on what you use your cave for you may be interested to know 12v mini projectors exist! im planning to get one to project films in my van on rainy days, you can find them cheap on ebay, they're probably not the best quality but better than nothing
I have stayed in my van down by the river like Chris Farley. I commented to a friend that it is my condo-minimum. He thought I couldn't spell. Solar is so ridiculously cheap now.
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Dimmers do not work so well with led lamps simply because they do not draw enough current. Put a headlamp drawing 5 to 10 amps on that dimmer and you'll see a much better response than you get with your 1/2 amp led. You could put a resistance in parallel to give you finer control, but then you would be wasting heat. Defeats the object, I know. Does anyone make a 5 amp or smaller dimmer that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?
Trust me, I'm a doctor.
Catweasel, That is a good name buddy! I am relatively new to the world of electronic engineering ;).
Some things work, some don't. My new motto!
I am in my testing stages of my self taught exploration. I am usually happy if a fuse doesn't blow, Hehe.
I don't know about the dimmer, as it is the only one I have got.
With encouragement from good Doctors such as yourself, I can see bright things happening!