PV Gap

Vincent Said:

solar powered christmas lights?

We Answered:

Check ebay.

Sherry Said:

Can I connect solar powered christmas lights to a normal christmas light set?

We Answered:

Hey Genius there is only one way to do it, but first let me explain what you up against. Most solar Christmas strings that I have worked on run on 6 volts, though many are other low voltages, such as 3 or 4. Household power in the US is 120 VAC, other parts of the world 240. I have never heard of a solar Christmas light set with a household adapter, that would defeat the entire purpose. Now if you are real handy with wiring, you can do this. Disconnect the solar lights from the solar/battery housing. Now take a couple of D batteries, and try connecting them across the two wires that come from the end of the light string. Start with one battery (1.5 volts) then 2 (3 volts) and so on until the string lights up the correct brightness. Once you achieve this, count the number of D batteries and multiply by 1.5, this will give you the string voltage. Now if you want to get a converter that will run that string on AC, just write down the string voltage, and go to Radio Shack, and look for a wall pack that has the same output voltage in DC.

I'm betting this is not convenient, but maybe a good hobbyist project if you like that sort of thing. If so, you probably have a wall pack around someplace with that output voltage. There are simple ways to convert 12 volt DC from your car to the lower string voltage with some simple inexpensive diodes and run the string on your car, but there isn't sufficient space here to explain it, try google if you're interested.

We sort of learned this the hard way because I had some solar strings that quit, and discovered the battery packs had all gone bad. Now we run them on a lawn tractor battery that is kept charged with a 30 watt solar panel hanging on the fence. Works quite well. Good luck, Rudydoo

Susan Said:

Solar powered christmas lights?

We Answered:

First of all, why would you come here if you wanted to "let your fingers do the walking"? Here is the info you requested. Yes, they do make solar powered Christmas lights, along with just about everything else these days!
Here are just a couple of places to get them!
http://www.solarilluminations.com/solar_…
http://www.taylorgifts.com/prodetail~ite…
http://www.siliconsolar.com/solar-christ…

Good Luck!

William Said:

Solar powered Christmas lights?

We Answered:

They have actually come down a lot in price and many are quite inexpensive, especially when you consider that you won't pay anything for the electricity to light them. How well they work will depend to some degree on where you live. If you don't get much sun in the winter they won't burn very long, but most people don't leave the ones they have running on electricity on all night either. Here is a link with more info: http://www.squidoo.com/christmas-holiday…