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I am reading One Second After and have thought about solar lights for when the power goes out for whatever reasons. I am thinking about those solar light bulbs. Anyone have any experiences with those? If so how long to charge and last when using? thanks
How can we possibly tell you that without knowing which 'these solar light bulbs' you are talking about?
My experience tells me that nearly all solar lights with the cell and battery built in are almost garbage, but that experience is far from comprehensive.
I have seen them somewhere in a catalog and they are used for camping. They have a hook to hang them up
You might want to post a pic or link. There are tons of solar lights on the market.
I suspect that the delicate charging circuitry in the small solar lights will fall prey to the same event that you envision taking everything else out.
Over the years have had several sets of "solar lights"......they are basically a led bulb or several, a battery, and a small solar panel that charges it, and a day/nite cell to turn on after dark....Oh yeah, can't shut them off.
Mostly low end yard lights....and yes, mostly garbage......have maybe one or two of maybe 8 that still glow dimly for a short while.
They were all gifts, on holidays from relatives that have no idea what I wanted, ...or did and disapproved of what I really wanted...LOL, so picked up "something" form the Sunday sales flier.
I would not spend my money unless some one has a better version.......No examples are provided by the OP.......
The batteries are kinda interesting seems to take a lot of cycles to kill them, but an led doesn't have much draw.....a couple fully charged, at least according to the meter....when used in a Mini Maglite.......tended to grow dim and go out very quickly....was thinking about using the batteries and light charger to be used as a cheap battery charger.
So results were questionable.
I do not know how to post a pic. So i found the website for you guys to look at it. www.beprepared.com goto search and put in nokero n200
Had a tough time getting to the site, but does look interesting......I guess I have a tough time calling it a bulb......as in "light bulb".
Looks like for $14 bucks would be worth a try.
Here's some more info and a video about it from the Nokero site. And it comes with a 1 year warranty.
http://store.nokero.com/Crestone-Sol...ulb-p/n200.htm
A review of it:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/20/n...-brighter-str/
And a place to save a couple of bucks. Don't know what shipping is between the two sites.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Noker...FbBDMgodvxgAxw
The fact they made them for 3rd world use sort of indicates it might be a viable product. And for $13 it's hard to go wrong I guess.
I picked one up from the link I posted. The cost was 12.99 and USPS First Class shipping was $4.19, which isn't bad at all. The total was $17.88. I'll let ya'll know how it works....or doesn't.
Looks like Amazon carries them. They have received some mixed reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/Nokero-N200-Cr...ulb+%28N200%29
The light came in late last week. We've have overcast skies for the last several days so I've had trouble getting a full charge from the sun. About the best I could get was an hour or two of light each time I tested it. I tossed it in the battery charger this morning and made sure the battery was topped off. I just passed the 7 hour mark on the low setting and it's still burning. There are 4 LEDs so it puts out a good amount of light even on the low setting. You can easily read a book by it. The high setting is about half again brighter. That's highly technical I know but I don't have anything to test candle power or lumens with.
I think you'd have a difficult time under cloudy conditions but if you live somewhere that has a lot of sun then it's not a bad investment. They have a new model out that has both a green and red lens cover. It's pretty danged expensive (MSRP $45) but it does have a USB port so you can charge your cell phone off it.
http://store.nokero.com/Hurion-Solar...ger-p/n222.htm
I'll update when the battery runs down.
So that's a thumbs up on the cheaper one?.....so far.
So far so good. I'd like to get a couple of days of good sunshine or even one to see how the charger works. Rain in the forecast the next two days though. It has a daylight switch built in. It turns itself off during the day and turns itself on at night if you have the switch on low or high. Off is off.
Be sure to follow the initial charging instruction and you will be good to go.:thumbup1:
I would consider purchasing LED'S from this company. ( I am not associated, just familiar due to the bowfishing community)
WWW.SEELITELEDS.COM
You can get lights in 12v or 120V...
I'd get 12v...
Then you need a converter. I'd go with a Powermax, but Iota is also a good solution...
You'll need 1 or more 12v batteries...Pick your poison...
Then you'll need a champion 2500/3000 watt Genny.
Good Luck!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mischief
I didn't have any sun to do it.
I'm currently at 12 hours and still going strong.
Strange as we have plenty of Sun here in Florida :wavey:
It went 18.5 hours on the low setting.
Bottle some of that sunshine and mail it to me then I won't have to use the charger. Storms in the forecast tonight and tomorrow. Wrong time to be testing solar anything.
Well, that's another big fat NOPE for Seattle. Overcast all day every day.