Solar Powered Lighting.

[ttrigg]

Over in the Sporting Goods Area (Camping Isle) at Wal~MartI saw some "camping" lanterns on clearance today.  They come with a 110 volt power cord to recharge the battery and a 5 inch square solar panel to recharge the unit.  It has two types of "light bulb", the first is a fluorescent bulb and the second is an LED in a plastic diffusing tube.  I was thinking that the lantern could be disassembled and reconstructed to provide LED lighting inside a larger structure i.e. Engine Shed etc.

[Choo-Choo Pete]

For a modified a home-made version.  You could use that solar panel as part of the roof for the engine shed facing the sun.  The storage battery could be inside of that building and wired the light(s) to whatever you want.  As for the 110V charger, I would be careful not to exposed to rain, water and other "what nots". 

[zakowitz]

Tom,

   Because of my recent tablesaw surgery, I have been reading a lot of forums lately. This kitbash sounds really interesting. Have you tried it yet? I was thinking of wiring 12 volt garden lights around my set, but your idea using solar power sounds pretty cool!

                                    Stumpy  ( er ah ...Zak)

[ttrigg]

Tom,
   Because of my recent tablesaw surgery, I have been reading a lot of forums lately. This kitbash sounds really interesting. Have you tried it yet? I was thinking of wiring 12 volt garden lights around my set, but your idea using solar power sounds pretty cool!
                                    Stumpy  ( er ah ...Zak) 

Hey Stumpy  ..... .... .. er  ....... ah .......Zak My Man

Yes I have done the solar lighting thing, but NOT with the stuff I talked about in this posting.  Check out a super easy way of adding solar lights to structures.  See this thread:  http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/1004607/ShowPost.aspx   (I've tried before to activate links within the forum and they have not worked so just copy this link and past it into a new window.)

This light set comes with the bulb at the end of the wire, just cut off the light fixture, place inside your building and presto, you have lights at night.  The hardest part of this one is hiding the wire, sprinkle a little dirt and that is done.

Check out the follow up pic's about Chateau de Vic, to see how well it works.
http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/1004612/ShowPost.aspx   (again use the cut and paste method.

As far as I'm concerned this is THE way to go when adding solar lighting to your structures.

[Anonymous]

Zak...dude, thought you just nicked yourself!!!! Way it sounded.

[markperr]

Zak;

If you're gonna have lighting around your layout, I highly recommend using low voltage lighting over solar.  You have much more flexibility with LV lighting.  Bulbs come in different wattages and colors giving you many variables.  I've seen the bulbs in clear, amber, red, blue, and green.  In four, seven, and eleven watts (eleven watts is pretty bright).  I would also recommend buying the biggest transformer you can afford to since this will allow you more lights for your buildings and other assorted venues.

Mark

 

[ttrigg]

Zak:

Mark has a good point there.  With LV lighting you are not stuck with the yellow or blue-white light of solar systems.  LV bulbs can be found in red, blue, and green as well as white.  Make sure that you follow his advice on transformer size.  A cheap economy set could mean you could only use 4 or 5 of the 4 watt bulbs.  If you do go with LV, get the largest transformer available, it will be cheaper in the long run, especially if you intend to have a lot of illuminated buildings.

[Anonymous]

hi there i live in aus and ive been going to the discount / cheep stores and buying the small outdoor solar powered lanterns and pulling them appart fitting the small solar panel on roof of building sticking it on with a bit of clear sillercone and sticking the circuit board led and 2 aa size rechargable batterys inside o and if you get one with the blue tinge coloured led just desolder it and go to your electronics store and buy some golden ones trust me it looks awsome and ive had had mine running for years now and they still come on automaticaly every night i leave the little on / off switch attached so if i want i can simply turn them off when i like.