DC Lighting

[marty van diest]

The cabin I plan to build will be off the grid.  I was wondering about providing light with just a car battery for power.

Has anyone experimented with LED for lighting?  Can you get bulbs that produce enough light to be the primary light source for a tiny cabin?

[dad-of-4-in-tn]

I had a friend who lived in camper while they built there cabin. He ran it from a car battery till he got his temporary pole (almost a year). It worked great, very bright,  until the battery got low then the lights dimmed real quick. He would switch his camper battery with his car battery every day(with the car running) before he left for work.

[bil2054]

Marty, one thing I find about led's is they are good for spot lighting, but not so good for area illumination.  You might look into a xenon bulb for one area lamp ,(they give light similar to halogen, but less energy consumption and cooler operation.) and a couple of led's for the rest.  You can get multiple led fixtures for area lighting, but they are pricy in my opinion, and the power consumption would start to approximate that of one low wattage xenon bulb anyway.

Careful about the car battery.  Typical starting batteries don't do well when drawn down on their charge repeatedly.  I would recomend  a deep cycle battery, which you can get most anywhere.

Dad-of-4 brings up the next point, which is how to recharge.  I would not advise doing what it sounds like his friend did; start the car, then remove the charged battery with the car still running. Some older vehicles you could get away with that, (us old time mechanics used to use it as a quick check if the alternator was working) but newer self-exciting alternators can be damaged in just seconds when disconnected from the pile.  It would be better, in that scenario, to use jumper cables to start the car AFTER the battery swap.  You'd probably want to use dual purpose batteries, too, like the ones used in marine applications (both starting and deep cycle).
Ideal would be a solar pv array with charge controller, but that can run a few bucks.

Anybody know of a source for cheap solar panels?

[Bouncer]

Here are some websites for 12 volt lighting and I would go with deep cycle batt.
http://store.solar-electric.com/thinlites.html
http://shop.altenergystore.com/
http://www.backwoodssolar.com/CatalogIndex2/Catalog2.htm
Hope this helps
Kevin

[marty van diest]

I can see your point about the car battery as opposed to the deep cell battery.  I'll get the latter.

Also, I appreciate the links and other advice.  I need to look into the xenon bulb idea.

Solar isn't going to work here in Alaska.  We only get a few hours of daylight, (let alone sunlight) when we need light the most.  We get plenty in the summer but we don't need artificial light then.  (artificial light?? is there such a thing? )

I think I'll look into one of those tiny honda generators that are made to charge batterys.  Perhaps just run it a little each day to top off the battery.  I don't know...but I'm going to experiment.

[glenn-k]

How is your wind supply, Marty.  My wind generator makes about a third of my power with only a moderate supply of wind.  Check out Bergey Wind Power.

http://www.bergey.com/

The XL1 puts out 1000 watts max and puts out a little even down to 5.6 mph.  Rated around 25 max power - good to about 150 mph if I recall.  Cost a bit though.

[bil2054]

Ah, so desu!
I think Glenn has the idea for you, Marty.
There was always plenty (too much!) wind in the Aleutians when I worked  there.

If you are interested, here's a link to a good DIY wind power site:
http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_wind_alternators.html

[marty van diest]

Yes...there is plenty of wind.  But it seems like overkill to me.  

It looks like it would be at least $3,500-$4,000 for a decent wind system.  I can by a honda generator for $300.   That's more than a 1,000% savings.  Yes, I have to use gas...but even if I burn $10 worth of gas a week, thats an 8 year break even point.  And I imagine there will be maintenance on my wind system by that time.

I like wind, in fact I know some people installing one right now, but they are running a real house, this is just a 16X16 cabin with no running water.

Hmm....would this system give enough power, to heat the cabin?  I don't think so, but I'll check.

[tjm73]

In the automtive industry they have 12V heavy duty drop light, light bulbs.  Look like regular incandescent light bulbs.  Not sure if multiple wattage ratings are available bu tthey are realativly cheap.

In that backwoods solar website above I found them after I thought of them.  Only $4 bucks for a 50 watt bulb.  That's what I would do.

http://www.backwoodssolar.com/Catalogpages2/lights2.htm#LOW%20COST%2012%20VOLT%20AUTO%20BULBS

[Amanda_931]

if you can find a PL13, it will probably be brighter than the 50-watt incandescent.

Pretty sure that the big box people offer a 12 v version of the work lights I have.  (yellow, with a plastic tube that guards the bulb)

I can't find the one I'm looking for and somebody else already posted links to the solar equipment people who have things that are designed to be wired in.

I'd love to have wind power.  If it were cheap enough to get for occasional use, I'd do it.  The turbines may be, add the towers and they  definitely aren't.

[Larry]

If you are looking at fairly straight-forward needs, like lighting, don't forget to check the camping/RV/marine stores.  They are generally not the most efficient, but they usually have a good variety.

[glenn-k]

If you have time and inclination here is a site of one of the pro's of homebuilt wind power. Enough free info to build your own.

http://www.scoraigwind.com/

You can get a small automotive type 12 volt inverter that makes 115v AC then use a small compact florescent -13 watts = 60 watts worth of light and it lights up a wide area.  Inverter loss is not too bad.

The tower can be made of light wall pipe - about 4" diameter guyed every 20'  -I made my own in about 2 days.  It is 85 feet tall - I put it up with a come along by myself in 1 day.