Lighting options for shed with no electrical.

[brokenknee]

I have a shed in the back part of my property (about 1,000) feet or more from my house. There is no electrical on that part of my property. The shed is old (but sound) about 12 X 40. No windows and two doors. This is not a typical machine shed, it was build about two feet off the ground with a wood floor. Not sure of the reason for this, but that is what they did.

Looking for options to get light into it, as even in daytime it is fairly dark in there. I know adding windows would add light but looking for other options if there are any. I thought about 12v lights with a deep cycle battery, but not sure how often I would have to charge the battery.

Any thoughts?

 

[MikeInEburg]

Solar power combined with LED lighting is just the ticket. Assuming you get some sun at that location.

 

[brokenknee]

It does get good sunlight, (just took down about 15 poplar) any idea what size solar panel I would need to get? Size battery?

I don't go out there a lot, maybe three times a week or so for about ten or fifteen minutes at a time. Like I said, it is not a large shed, not looking to turn it into daylight, just light enough to see what I am doing while I am in there.

 

[namesray]

what type of roof on it? i have a shed with steel roof and put clear pannels on the roof in 2 spots (shed is 12x30) lets tons of light in. if not steel, i have used a generator to power stuff in a shed with no electricity. loud, but works. could put the generator outside too. the steel roof panels would be the way i would go i think. don't know the set up of your shed, but probably wouldn't take too much to convert it to a steel roof with clear pannels.

 

[brokenknee]

It does have a tin roof, how well do the clear pannels hold up. I have another shed on my property that has the plastic (I think) pannels but they tend to leak when it rains.

 

[MIKE R]

You can use a Kerosene Lantern. It it easy to use and requires almost no upkeep other than fuel/wick compared to taking the heavy battery to the house to charge it and moving it back out to the shed.

 

[aczlan]

For under $50, I would look at harbor Freight. Particularly:
36 LED Solar Security Light $25ish
LED Solar Security Light $45ish
Solar Shed Light - Save on this Solar Shed Light Kit $30ish
Solar Powered Security Light $50ish

Aaron Z

 

[namesray]

It does have a tin roof, how well do the clear pannels hold up. I have another shed on my property that has the plastic (I think) pannels but they tend to leak when it rains.

i live where we get rain and snow load. the shed has been there for 6 years and no trouble at all with leaks and holds up to snow load. i forget the pitch, it is steep enough to shed snow when conditions permit, but snow will lay on it as much as a foot thick. mine are plastic pannels made of something special to be real strong. the set up looks like it would never leak. ridge vent over lap on top and runs whole length to soffit/facia/eves. the ticket is if you already have a steel roof, to get the right stlye pannels to line up with your existing tin ribs. very important. my panels are as clear as a window and im am very happy i have them in. they look exactly like the steel roofing, but just clear. screws run through them fine too.

 

[3930dave]

I've used Led strips (basically surface mount LED's on a flexible base) in my cargo van - great illumination vs. power draw. Can't remember the brand - Wally World had them as a multi-pack on sale, so I thought I'd give 'em a try. I went with white LEDs, they were originally marketed to the "bling" crowd, so they do come in other colours too.

1156 conversion LED bulbs are coming down in price, if you go with sockets for these, you can always put in yellow ones for bug season.

If you aren't using the lights that much, you won't need a huge solar panel - start with something like a 15watt panel and you can add panels if needed. My memory is not good enough to reliably remember to manually charge a battery in an out of the way place like your shed.

LEDs will take care of "#*!;?%#@ it, just tripped over something again", and have good output vs. power drawn. If you have an occasional need for high output task lighting in the shed, I'd wire in additional 120vac lights and run a generator as needed.

If you want to try the battery+inverter+120VAC light route, be aware that some (many?) CFL bulbs don't play well (ie. die) when running off an inverter. If I get back to experimenting with this combo myself, next up I'll try dimmable CFLs, as I suspect they'll deal with/survive the switching activity of the inverter better than standard CFLs.

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

heres one way to go
Costco - Coleman 260 Watt Solar Kit

260 watts with inverter. Then you can use regular 100 watt incadescent lights and standard wiring. Problem is its only daytime use. You can add some batteries inline if you can figure how to do it. Personally id run a 110 circuit to the building..but then again im an electrician and i run that stuff for a living ... hehe