Solar powered lighting
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 2:22 pm
IanC asked for more info on my solar powered station lighting.
I previously wrote this up on a thread called Modeltown Lamps about 18 months ago.
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... ts#p125908
but I'll repeat the relevant bits here:
"As for the solar panel, I believe that most cheapo chinese garden lights incorporate a 'joule thief' circuit which allows LED's with a nominal voltage of around 2.3 volts to operate on a rechargeable battery with a nominal voltage of 1.2volts."
"Basically, I followed the instructions in this Youtube video ( there are loads of similar ones, but this works for me):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BKKwEm1n6E
I got a 5v PV panel from ebay, plus the other components that he specifies, and used one 1700mah Duracell NiMh rechargeable that I had lying around.
Made a small box from 2mm styrene sheet to fit everything in and it has been happily powering 7 LED's on my station ( 2 platform lamps, 2 in the building, the telephone box and 2 in the pub behind) from dusk until dawn ever since.
It's worth playing with the value of the inductor - changing it alters the 'brightness:illumination time' ratio."
This was actually referring to my original station, Elderbury, and is still working well since March 2017. The new station, Lower Bench has exactly the same configuration and has been going for a couple of months.
I previously wrote this up on a thread called Modeltown Lamps about 18 months ago.
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... ts#p125908
but I'll repeat the relevant bits here:
"As for the solar panel, I believe that most cheapo chinese garden lights incorporate a 'joule thief' circuit which allows LED's with a nominal voltage of around 2.3 volts to operate on a rechargeable battery with a nominal voltage of 1.2volts."
"Basically, I followed the instructions in this Youtube video ( there are loads of similar ones, but this works for me):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BKKwEm1n6E
I got a 5v PV panel from ebay, plus the other components that he specifies, and used one 1700mah Duracell NiMh rechargeable that I had lying around.
Made a small box from 2mm styrene sheet to fit everything in and it has been happily powering 7 LED's on my station ( 2 platform lamps, 2 in the building, the telephone box and 2 in the pub behind) from dusk until dawn ever since.
It's worth playing with the value of the inductor - changing it alters the 'brightness:illumination time' ratio."
This was actually referring to my original station, Elderbury, and is still working well since March 2017. The new station, Lower Bench has exactly the same configuration and has been going for a couple of months.