Solar Lights?

Question

The ones that have solar panels and and when night time comes they automatically turn on. How do they work? This is for a DIY project I want to try. Also how much power to solar panels generate? What size do solar panels come in? Do they come in the small size that are on solar lights? Also can you buy those solar panels and where?

I'm asking about solar lights it because I want to build a greenhouse for a science project. I need lights shining on the plants 24/7. I saw the solar lights and thought that might be a good concept for lights always shining.

I live in a very sunny part of California so whether there is sun or not is not a problem.

Answer 1

It's a good concept, the problem is that the light from the solar lights you are talking about is very ... what's the word... weak I guess. I have a few around my place where it wasn't feasible to run a hardwired light and they're just barely enough to see where I'm walking. It's not going to be enough to make the plants think they are in the sunlight 24 hours. You'd need a much stronger lighting system.

Answer 2

I would count out the landscaping solar lights. The kind of lights you probably will want are more powerful - that will keep a constant light on your plants all night long.

What you need to do is find lights (regular lights) that will work for your plants and then design a solar panel & battery setup to run them off of. I did this with shop lights in my horse barn - used a solar panel that I placed on the roof of the barn and ran the wires from the panel to a controller (to make sure the battery didn't 'uncharge' when the sun wasn't shining) to the battery (and this had to be a deep-cycle marine battery) to an inverter (so I could turn on/off the lights) to the lights.

You can find better/more detailed instructions practically anywhere on the web - just look up DIY solar panel connections.

And then you'll need some sort of automatic switch for the lights to automatically turn on when it becomes dusk. I think I would use a timer, that way you aren't waiting for it to be totally dark when the lights turn on, but you can set it to turn on when it starts getting dark.

Answer 3

Forget the solar lights. they use solar panel that recharges a group of rechargeable battery's. Which will be astronomical expensive to use for your project. Even if you use simple car batteries. less you are talking really small green house. And then the solar panels themselves will be to costly. Just get a 110 volt photo cell controlled outdoor lighting control box or extension cord. They are not expensive and easy to obtain at any hardware store.
Now if your talking something on the scale of a desk? Then go to wal-mart and buy a solar battery charger. And a cheep and small car or lawn mower battery. You can find them at the automotive and camping accessories department. Perhaps 20.00 $ for solar battery charger.Approx 14 amp. And 35 49$ for battery. This should get you going on the road to success. Make sure you use 12 volt florescent shop light or there wont be enough amp hours to last all night.

Answer 4

The solar powered landscaping lights have a solar panel on the top of them that collects energy. They have an electric eye also that senses when it gets dark outside. They use a different kind of light bulb that uses less energy than the hard wired ones do. That is because the solar panels don't generate a lot of energy, therefore they need a more efficient bulb.

Answer 5

the outdoor solar lights you are refering to come with the solar panels intergrated into them already... personally I am not a fan of them and I feel that using a hard wire system will work better... the reason the solar options are popular is because all you really have to do is stick them in the ground and your done... there are some hardwire systems that are fairly simple as well thoe and your lights will working all the time even when its couldy... the hardwire systems some of them just get plugged into a wall outlet and its a simple matter of clipping a wire onto the main wire... when I tell you its really easy im not kidding... if you still arent sure whats right for you... you can ask at homedepot or lowes and someone there will be able to help you...

Answer 6

Solar lighting tends to be low quality and of limited efficiency, to be done correctly it requires a fairly expensive initial set-up. The minimum you need is the solar panel(s), low power light bulbs and fittings, switches, the wiring and a battery pack that will retain the solar energy until you turn the light switch on. Firstly, you need to decide how much power you need for your lighting system so read-up on whats required otherwise you will not obtain enough energy for it to work. See this site which explains the issues quite well

Answer 7

The solar panels and bulbs draw off the daylight/sunlight and that is stored for night/darkness. Don't forget the little garden lights also use batteries - weird I know.

Answer 8

Like most here, forget solar panels, as too expensive, and inexpensive solar lights are too weak for growing anything. What you need are fluorescent tubes that are speciallly designed for growing plants.

Answer 9

Solar lights are powered by the sun...
So no sun, no solar light that night..
Once the sun charges them what happens is
when the sun disappears your solar lights
turn on... I love them...