Solar Panel and driveway lights

[Dyldo]

yup, he's fine running wires from lights to batteries, and then battery to the solar panel. but we're not after a roof-full of panels, maybe a good 1x2m panel or something.

[Jarred]

how many lights are you looking a getting?

you need to figure out the wattage of the lights you want, then you can figure out how much power the require (in kWhour) then you can look into a battery that'll provide that amount of kW hour, and then find a suitable solar panel that will be able to absorb/convert that much power on a daily basis, unless you want to run more batteries (good batteries aren't cheap!) remember that in winter, with less sunlight, less cloud cover, that needs to be taken into consideration

[blutopless2]

how long is the driveway?

[maca]

Connect the lights to a generator powered an excercise bike/rowing machine. Not only is he saving on energy bills, but he's also excercising in the mean time

[Dyldo]

Connect the lights to a generator powered an excercise bike/rowing machine. Not only is he saving on energy bills, but he's also excercising in the mean time

Yup, you don't know my dad-in-law he ain't doing any exercise for no-one.

how long is the driveway?

about 80m I'd say, separated by a bridge in the middle. I think he wants lights street-side of the bridge.

how many lights are you looking a getting?

you need to figure out the wattage of the lights you want, then you can figure out how much power the require (in kWhour) then you can look into a battery that'll provide that amount of kW hour, and then find a suitable solar panel that will be able to absorb/convert that much power on a daily basis, unless you want to run more batteries (good batteries aren't cheap!) remember that in winter, with less sunlight, less cloud cover, that needs to be taken into consideration

He is after 8 x 60w bulbs. so how do i then turn that into the requisite kw/hour? I like the logic though, working backwards from the power drain.

[Rybky]

Does the bridge go over moving water? Just thinking hydroelectric power!

Adam

[brad]

He is after 8 x 60w bulbs. so how do i then turn that into the requisite kw/hour? I like the logic though, working backwards from the power drain.

just guessing
8x60=480W which I assume is 0.48kW/h.

He really needs to consider LEDs.

Also, does he want to light the road or just provide guidance as to where the track is & the extremities of the bridge?

[Peter Jones]

You need to re-think the 60w globes and start thinking LEDs or compact fluorescents.

Say you build a 24 volt system and it's got to deliver 480watts all night long ~12 hrs. That means it's got to be able to support a drain of 20 amps and it's also got to be able to recharge at 20 amps assuming equally long days and nights.

A Panel array that can deliver 20 amps is around the $3500 mark. Based on Jaycar pricing.

You'd be better off just sticking these on poles.



or the motion activated type



They'll run you about $100 a pop though.

Both of the above available at Jaycar.

On the plus side, they're self contained and require no cables or anything and run for about 10 hours.

Realistically though get a quote from a sparky to run out a mains powered setup it'll work better and cost a lot less to run.

Solar never really pays off 'cos mains power is so cheap by comparison.

[Dyldo]

Realistically though get a quote from a sparky to run out a mains powered setup it'll work better and cost a lot less to run.

Solar never really pays off 'cos mains power is so cheap by comparison.

Mate thank you so much, great ideas. At $100 a pop thats only $800. Surely a kit with regulator, inverter, solar array, lights, wiring and headfark would be a lot more?
And power isn't cheap. Our power bill alone is $2,500 a quarter and getting worse.

[Peter Jones]

Jaycar has a bunch of stuff along the same lines, search their site for "solar light"

Jaycar Electronics - Search results solar light

If you've got access to mains power it's always cheaper to buy the electricity ready made. It's very expensive to make your own power.

Some of the better garden lighting systems are pretty good these days, they could be adapted to run off solar or are pretty efficient run via a transformer off the mains.

There's plenty of options.