OK I admit it…I’m a bit of a Science Geek. When we first started to plan the cabin we knew we would be off grid, not a surprise really since the nearest utility power is about a mile away. So with an Off Grid system you have a number of options. To keep costs down the #1 rule is to be efficient. The less energy you use, the less energy you need to make. Pretty simple really, since large solar panels can run hundreds of dollar each and then the batteries you need to store that energy, hundreds more. The least amount you can get away with will keep the cost down. Our cabin will have a few basics, lights and a few “toys”. For lighting we chose LED’s. By far the best in power usage and longevity. To keep things even simpler I decided to stay with the native 12 V DC that the Solar panels produce for the lights. The “toys” are run via a 1000 Watt modified sine wave inverter. For music we are using an Ipod, hooked up to a set of computer speakers that are being run off the 12 Volt system.
I looked at some light systems for RV’s and Marine applications but these were mostly incandescent. A few CFL options were out there but at a price premium. Style also came into play, most of the RV lights were darn right ugly, the cool marine ones were outrageously expensive, $150 to $300 per fixture!
Here is a special marine light that lists for $275.
http://www.yachtlights.com/item–Nubia-LED–NUBIA1030NATCH
I found some manufacturers that made LED’s in a number of voltages, from 12 to 240. I also found a handful of LED GU10 bulbs but all 120 volt. I finally found a supplier who would make some LED’s in 12 volts at a decent price. These had the standard screw base. The lights we wanted to use had a GU10 socket for the normal 50 watt Halogen bulb. I replaced the internal fixture with a ceramic screw fixture. The 3″ mini can lights run about $16 at Home Depot, 3 bucks for the screw fixture, and less than 10 for the custom 12 volt LED bulbs. These lights use about 1 watt compared to the 50 for the halogen, they also have a life span of 60,000 hours. The light output is a bit less than the halogen, but this can be compensated by just a couple more fixtures. I purchased a dozen of these lights, modified them, and have installed 6 of them so far in the cabin. I since have gone 1 step further, I found another manufacture who could make the 12 volt LED’ s in the GU10 base…this opened up the lighting options tremendously. Now with just a simple bulb swap all kind of lights could be converted to ultra-efficient 12 volt LED’s. The perfect option for new construction.
The first pic here shows a basic GU10 track light, that costs about $15, add a special bulb and you now have something that can compete with the special marine lights the I found for $250+. The bulbs pictured below the light are from left to right. A 38 bulb LED with Gu10 base 1.8 watts, a single LED high output Spot GU10 base 1 watt. A 20 bulb LED, std screw base 1 watt.
This second picture shows one of the mini can lights that I modified with the 20 bulb screw LED.
I ordered a mixed case of these new GU10 based 12 volt bulbs, I will use the rest of the 6 lights, I already modified, and plan to use 3 of the same mini cans with the new gu10’s. I wish I had found the second manufacturer before I spent the extra $40 or so for the ceramic screw adapters.
If you are interested in setting up you own Ultra efficient lighting using my 12 volt Gu10, I got a handful…$14 plus shiping, 38 Bulb or the High output spot. Just drop me a note
Here is a night time shot of the cabin before we got snowed on at thanksgiving. It is about a 30 second exposure, the lights inside are: Kerosene lamps on the left, LED’s on the right.
Beautiful and tempting, I may take you up on those one day. How’s the color on these?
These are what is considered in the LED world as white, 6400K. My brother thought they were too blue, but we had both the LED’s running and a couple Kerosene lamps. Just about any thing looks blue next to the orange flame of one of those.
1,700 K Match flame
1,850 K Candle flame
2,700–3,300 K Incandescent light bulb
3,350 K Studio “CP” light
3,400 K Studio lamps, photofloods, etc.
4,100 K Moonlight, xenon arc lamp
5,000 K Horizon daylight
5,500–6,000 K Typical daylight, electronic flash
6,500 K Daylight, overcast
I’ll try to get a pic of them together up soon.
Anything but that aweful instutional cold blue color that used to be so popular!
Thanks!
We’ve been pondering a cheap, off grid light option ever since our power went out for two weeks in a snow storm last month. 🙂 What would you think of getting those solar yard lights that you can find quite cheaply at the big box stores and adding a little bit more wire so that the solar panel can go outside and the light can go inside?
Anna,
Those lights are very weak, mostly just enough light to find your way down a garden path. Plus most of these that I have seen the small solar panel (about 2″ square) in intergrated into the plastic cap of the light assembly. Check out my post on the “Solar Powered Laptop Station” It is set up with a 10 watt panel (about 11″ x14″ ) and a 2.2ah battery. I just got a couple small charge contollers and plan to build a larger mini power station..same size panel but a pair of 10 ahr, or a single 20-30 ahr. This rig will also have a small 300 watt AC inverter and a LED light on a long cable.
Stay tuned…I’ll drop you a note when I get it rigged.
Anna,
What you can do, if you want cheap and all intigrated is to look into those solar flood lights, where are ususally two tethered to a 10″ square panel for about $60 or so. You’ll still need to add a switch, but you already have the cable so there is less modifications needed, and they are much brighter than the 2″ square stakes. Just make sure the switch turns off the light, and doesn’t cut the panel from the light.
In honesty the next step up is to either get a large kit or do it yourself, and you’ll looking into spending at least two or three hundred or so.
I like that option! Still relatively economical since you get two lights for $60. Do they sell those in the same big box stores as the little ones? (I haven’t browsed for a while.)
Something like this, except with a cable on the lamp. I couldn’t find a better one with a quick search through home depot and lowes.
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=64-30383-LV65116BK&lpage=none
Whatever you do, make sure they have a display model, so you can check the brightness.
That looks perfect — and in my price range! We’ll have to give it a shot next time we got to the big city.
If it is just for the occasional emergency, you can do what I have done (one of the things) but it is a bit of a kludge.
Get a portable car starter, that’s the box with a battery and jumper cables coming off it. Make sure you get one with a cigarette lighter outlet. Then get a small inverter and just plug in a 10 Watt or so compact fluorescent. Plenty of light, easy and each of these items has multiple uses. You have to remember to keep the starter charged. We lose power here all the time. The cheapest piece of junk starter I have (got from the dump) has a battery the size of two coffee mugs, will last us two nights if we run both our 12 watt bulbs. I have used our normal sized one for a week without a problem.
If you want to get a bit more technical, you can get a deep discharge battery.
If you expect to be without power longer than that, buy some lithium batteries (long shelf life) and a few cheap LED headlamps. Or rechargeable batteries with same. Three AAA’s can provide you with enough light to do anything you need to do for close to 200 hours on alkaline. A couple times more on Lithium.
That’s very good to know! It looks like you’re heading in the same direction we are — I’ll keep reading and getting more useful hints!
I ordered up a couple more solar panels yesterday and also a few more batteries. I ended up ordering four 6 volt 12 ahr…I can wire these is series for the 12 volts and this will also help with charge balancing. upgrading to the 12 ahr will give a total of 24ahr, or about 288 watt/hrs…enough power to run a 3 watt LED for over 90 hours. I will use these 4 for two of the mini power stations with AC inverters, I will pick up a couple more mini charge controllers, one for the laptop station that I will use both of my 2.2 ahr with, and the other for hooking up the 10 ahr battery I already have for the wood shed LED light.
The mini power stations with have the same 10 watt panel I’m currently using plus 24 ahr storage, 300 watt AC power..which could run a DSL modem or other small ac appliance. plus I will try to find decent looking light I can convert to LED….think of it a a high tech survival kit in a box.
for 12v lighting i would recommend the 12v warm white (or cool white if you like florescent) flex strips they come by the foot or 16′ roll at usledsupply.com and only use 1.8A per roll at full brightness
I have installed the warm white for under cabinet lighting and the cool white for lighting a garage and a customers patio and they were brighter then regular lights:-) (even too bright for some people but they are dimmable)
they are about $5/ft but when you see how bright they are i tnow you will like them i have been running them off a transformer at 120v but i just got 2x solar panels so when the weather warms up enough to mely the snow and i can see the roof i will install them then run the strips of the batteries:-)
Those are nice, I might have to look into those.
Just wondering if you had a favorite seller for 12 volt led screw base bulbs for reading lamps and such. Guess I’m looking for good value and quality.
thanks
Rick
I got mine on ebay…direct from china…there are now some US sellers so you can save on shipping
Do you have any more of these “20 bulb LED, std screw base 1 watt”? Or did you find a good specific seller in US or on Ebay. I ordered some from Advancemart and they did come through nor have the refunded my money yet. I also checked with DealExtreme from China and they did not have any either.
Thanks
Rick
please email me directly if possible
I am looking for12 volt led GU10 twist & lock base,not 120 volt. Can you please help me out?
I got mine with e27 screw bases initially, I later found a source for gu10 on ebay. If you are getting a handful some direct importers can set you up.
Wholesale – GU10 30 SMD LED Bulb Warm White DC 12V 10pcs/lot 5050 LED 500 Lumen Spot Light Lamp Bulb
http://www.dhgate.com/product/gu10-30-smd-led-bulb-warm-white-dc-12v-10pcs/151913385.html#s1-6-1|3301321305