Lighting options for shed with no electrical.

JoelT · Jul 5, 2012

I've though about some passive solar heating for a greenhouse using water. Seems that it takes a prohibitive amount of electricity though to generate much any type of heat.The sticky thread at the top has some useful formulas for working through those ideas.

schweizer · Jul 5, 2012

Tractor battery? Yes definitely, great application!

Heating? Not a chance. The battery would be drained long before any useful heat was made. That's one of the cardinal rules of living w/ batteries -- no resistive heating loads.

Marcus

dodge man · Jul 5, 2012

Amazon.com: Cooper Lighting LED130 Might-D-Light 80-LED Cordless Rechargeable Folding Worklight: Home Improvement
I have one of these. The link lists it at $41, but it seemed like I paid a lot less. It folds open or partly closed so it stands up, and it has magnets on the back so you can stick it to a steel wall or other metal object. Its pretty bright but wouldn't light up a building unless you had 3 or 4 of them, but you can carry it where you need. it. It lasts more than an hour on a full charge and recharges pretty quickly.

Pete Judd · Jul 6, 2012

I was selling high end Yacht and Rv lights until the econ tanked. My source of the 12V DC ccfl 13 inch tubes was http://www.svc.com/clk12.html These only draw about 6 watts per pair, and put out a lot of light. Just make sure that you get the polarity right. Cheap, willing to sell my new old stock for half the normal price plus shipping. Around 3.50 per pair.

Pete

schmism · Jul 6, 2012

HF solar kit... comes with everything you need. just supply the 12v car battery even comes with LED lights.

45 Watt Solar Panel Kit

namesray · Jul 6, 2012

"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."

JoeBuyer said:
I suspect this is a typo, but in the event that it is not, a generator should always be outside to prevent CO poisoning.

not to derail where the thread is, but just to clarify myself, it is a typo sorta. my brain was ahead of my typing and it came out wrong. i will be more careful how i word things in the future.

what i ment to say was, i have a steel building with no electric in it. haven't got around to putting electric in it yet. anywway i use a generatror to power things when needed. since somethings like my aircompressor have shortish cords and i don't want to run an extension cord, i am forced to keep the generator close to the building when running. i put the generator outside the main door with exhaust pointed outside too. i leave the door open to allow lots of light in. but that generator is loud with that door open. what i ment to say was i could use electric lights and shut the door to muffle the sound of the generator a little bit. no i don't run the generator inside the building. sorry for the confusion there in my previous post.

JoeBuyer · Jul 6, 2012

No problem, like I said I figured it was a typo. Generators can be loud like you say. I thought my 13 HP Honda with a GX engine and 7500W was loud until I got a 6 HP Yanmar Diesel air cooled generator. It is a very nice and fuel efficient generator but you need to have earplugs or have it behind something to be around it. Starts first pull every time. So does the Honda for that matter.

Larry Caldwell · Jul 6, 2012

brokenknee said:
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.

The old style fiberglass panels rotted out from exposure to the sun. I think the new Lexan panels are more durable.

Larry Caldwell · Jul 6, 2012

brokenknee said:
Could not find the kit at Costco online, they had a 100 amp one for 189.99 with no controller. Costco - Grape Solar 100W Solar Panel I searched for a solar controller and the price was all over the place, from $25 to over $700. what would I look for in a controller? I would like to keep this project under $400 as I do not use the shed a lot, just for storage.

For $400 you can rent a trencher and bury a run of copper 10/3 w/ground. Hook it to a small 30 amp service panel and you will have 120/240v. power adequate for lights and occasional power tool use.

Edit: Never mind. I missed the 1000' run from the first message. This isn't practical.

grsthegreat · Jul 6, 2012

Larry Caldwell said:
For $400 you can rent a trencher and bury a run of copper 10/3 w/ground. Hook it to a small 30 amp service panel and you will have 120/240v. power adequate for lights and occasional power tool use.

Edit: Never mind. I missed the 1000' run from the first message. This isn't practical.

ya, 1000' run would have to be run in a pretty large wire. I usually run #2 aluminum as a minimum.

namesray · Jul 8, 2012

just wanted to throw these pictures of that shed i mentioned with the clear panels in the roof. shed is 12 x 30 with 2 clear panels. this picture was taken in afternoon, mostly sunny, with all doors shut, lights off and shed has no windows. the white on the inside of the shed will help too as compared if your walls are dark. but shed still has a lot of light with just those 2 panels.

schmism · Jul 8, 2012

K7LN said:
A word about solar. You set up you solar panels pointing straight south at some optimum angle. We're only a few weeks past the summer solstice. Where is the sun going to be at 6PM or 8PM? If the controller craps out, how much for another?

this is why you include a car battery or 2. you should get a day or 2 constant run time out of the LED lights off the car bat. you use the solar pannels to recharge durring the day.

If the controler craps out you send it back... like any other product under warentee. and if it lasts for 2 ish years you've got your money out of it....

schweizer · Jul 9, 2012

K7LN said:
A word about solar. You set up you solar panels pointing straight south at some optimum angle. We're only a few weeks past the summer solstice. Where is the sun going to be at 6PM or 8PM? If the controller craps out, how much for another?

That's why earlier I recommended a simple deep cycle marine or RV battery. The charge controller is also cheap -- $30. I live off the grid -- solar power really is not a hassle, especially for something small like this.

farm guy · Jul 17, 2012

Hi All

Just my two cents. I put an outside light on my tractor barn/workshop it is a 20 watt LED it puts out 1800 lumens as much as a standard 150 watt flood. This also runs the alarm system for the barn. It pulls 2amps at 12 volts. The battery is a 125 amp hour deep cycle, I know this is over kill, but I plan to put some lights in the barn too. To charge it I have a 20 watt solar cell and a small Morning Star charge controller . My sun light at the barn is average 4 to 5 hours of direct sun a day in the summer. This system works well for me, I use the same system in my buck barn.

boggen · Jul 17, 2012

i have been skiddish of solar power, here in central, IL. mainly due to the winters, when batteries will be the weakest, and the least amount of sun to be had. not to mention batteries freezing solid up in winter.

majority all sheds around here use metal / tin sheets, any were from 2 feet to 4 feet wide, and up to 20 to 30 feet long. you can normally find the pattern these sheets come in at the large local hardware stores. and insert some clear panels for lighting. if not a local company that builds metal shields should be able to get you the correct pattern that will fit the metal / tin sheets you have on the roof.

have the "sky lights" errr clear panels in both sheds here, and make things bright enough to see fairly good. exception in the dark corners. or when ya in your own shadow looking at stuff along the sides.

night time on other hand. is a different story.

==============
if you are wanting actual power out to the shed, contact your local electrical company, and see if they may make some sort of deal with you. to run regular power poles out to the shed, to set a meter at shed.

along with contacting a couple other electrical companies, to see what it would cost, for owner installed poles for a meter at shed. or like.

some times there are discounts, some times there is not. that can make running regular electrical power a distance a possible running over other off grid options.

meburdick · Jul 17, 2012

boggen said:
i have been skiddish of solar power, here in central, IL. mainly due to the winters, when batteries will be the weakest, and the least amount of sun to be had. not to mention batteries freezing solid up in winter.

Batteries are able to perform perfectly fine in extremely cold weather... CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) on a battery indicates how much energy is available from that battery at a specific (cold) temperature, typically for starting your car. When batteries are not fully charged, they are susceptible to freezing at much "higher" temperatures (a 12 battery that has been discharged to as little as 11 volts will begin to freeze in the mid 20's Farenheit). A fully charged battery will not freeze until it is much colder.

So, the goal here is to be able to capture enough energy from the sun during the day to "top off" the battery before night time and then minimize the amount of draw on the batteries overnight.

Bladehauler · Jul 17, 2012

My thinking is several of these 50 watt 12 volt bulbs, $ 1.50 apiece, 2- 6 volt golf cart batteries,$82 AT SAMS CLUB and a solar panel from northern tools.should be under $400 easy
Satco S5011 - 50 Watt - 12 Volt Light Bulb
NPower 15 Watt Amorphous Solar Panel | Amorphous Solar Panels| Northern Tool + Equipment

boggen · Jul 17, 2012

meburdick said:
Batteries are able to perform perfectly fine in extremely cold weather... CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) on a battery indicates how much energy is available from that battery at a specific (cold) temperature, typically for starting your car. When batteries are not fully charged, they are susceptible to freezing at much "higher" temperatures (a 12 battery that has been discharged to as little as 11 volts will begin to freeze in the mid 20's Farenheit). A fully charged battery will not freeze until it is much colder.

So, the goal here is to be able to capture enough energy from the sun during the day to "top off" the battery before night time and then minimize the amount of draw on the batteries overnight.

problem is winter is when you want the light and will most likely use the lights for a longer period of time. then battery / batteries set discharged during the night when normally that is the coldest time of a 24 hour time frame.

meburdick · Jul 17, 2012

boggen said:
problem is winter is when you want the light and will most likely use the lights for a longer period of time. then battery / batteries set discharged during the night when normally that is the coldest time of a 24 hour time frame.

Very true... Like I said previously, the key is to minimize the draw-down so that usage doesn't leave you below the threshold where it will freeze easily, and then be sure to get it topped right back off when the sun is up again. This might well mean spending more money for lower draw lights, installing more batteries to provide a larger "base" of power, and even installing a cut-off system that will shut everything down once voltage drops to a certain level.

On the other side, there may be a need to for more / larger charging components to ensure that it will a) support a larger battery farm or b) recharge in less time during the winter months.