How do you attach a solar cell to a light bulb?

Question

I would like to make some simple solar-powered light fixtures for my front porch. Anyone have experience with this?

Answer 1

Well, you're going to need a battery. This is probably a professional installation if you need to ask. There are a lot of things that can come up.

You'll need several of them. Have you ever seen the ones on top of school zone lights? You'll need one bigger to supply lights.

You could probably use LED lights to avoid the DC-AC conversion.

Also, if you want main power as backup power, you'll need some isolation circuits. Then you need an AC-DC converter for your batteries.

You can see how this is starting to pile up. This isn't including the work involved in creating fixtures and modifying them appropriately for your house.
Definitely need a battery because what's the point of a solar powered light that only works during the day... NiMH are the most common, I suppose you could use Lead acid batteries. You'll need a smart charging circuit too...

Answer 2

It gets a little complicated. First of all, one can buy inexpensive solar powered lights. Actually, they are battery powered. The solar cells (not just one, but a panel) generate electricity and store it in batteries for using the lights after dark. They also automatically keep the light off during daylight, and turn them on as night approaches. At best these lights do not produce much light. I expect you will spend less money in the long run, lighting the porch with the new fluorescent bulbs.

As to attaching a solar panel to a light bulb, it is a matter of finding a panel large enough to charge the battery, and a light bulb with the same voltage rating, and the light bulb with a light output high enough to satisfy you. And, of course a rechargeable battery that would burn the light for as long as you want it. The plus and minus terminals on the solar panel would connect to the plus and minus terminals of the battery. The lamp would also connect to the battery terminals. Perhaps you would want to use LED lights. Observe polarity when connecting them to the battery.

Answer 3

It can get rather pricey and complicated just to hook up an AC light bulb to a DC solar cell.

You will need the solar panel (or however many needed to supply the power), a power inverter, a battery (obviously cause porch lights work better at night), and a couple of lights.

basically the solar panel will hook to the battery charging it (make sure the volatage of the solar cell and battery are the same I recommend 12 volt since this is the most popular for power inverters), the battery will connect to the power inverter which will supply 120V ac which can then be wired to your lights.

Be sure to not connect your house electrical and the solar panel electrical together (IE double feed a light), this could be dangerous.

Answer 4

First you should realize that solar cells get their power from the sun, so you don't connect solar cells directly to lights intended to work after the sun goes down.
The chain that we normally utilize is:
1) Solar Cell, connected to:
2) Voltage regulator, connected to:
3) Battery Charger, connected to:
4) Batteries. connected to:
5) Load (such as a light)

If you want to do this cheaply, I recommend that you simply purchase some solar powered garden lights, & hang them around your front porch. They are so inexpensive these days that I doubt that you could build your own for less.

Answer 5

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