PV Gap

Tyler Said:

Convert my solar charged LED lights to AC?

We Answered:

solution:

You burry a cable connecting (in parallel) all lamps to a one spot, preferably
inside the house or in a sheltered spot. At that spot they will be connected to
a 3 V DC power.

This is basicaly inventorbob-ga's solution 1). I discourage
solution 2) since it is not a 'low voltage' solution. There are safety
and code problems with solution 2).

The cable which can be burried is sold in an Home Depo and similar
stores (which carry automatic sprinklers). They can be used for 120V
and of course for any lover voltage. There are however some local
ordonances (if I remember correctly, there is a minimal depth (about
10") )

Make and keep drawing of the curcuit (for case of future digging ..)

You can add a central recharchable battery and a simple regulator
circuit which will charge it (from your power supply) only when
needed.

You can add such regularor to each local battery in circuit
circuit in From: inventorbob-ga on 11 Oct 2006 08:28 PDT case 1)

With such regulator you can have several branches connected to your power supply
or central batery.
Regulators prevent the local batteries from discharching by any other
path than to their local LED light (eliminating possible local loops).

Regulator can be just a diode (allowing the current to flow only one way) or
a slightly more complex circuit which will enable charging only when the
voltage of local battey drops to certan level.

There are codes which cover outside wiring. Your 120V AC to 12V DC converter
and eventual central battery should be inside or conform.
I would let a local electrician or garden landscape contractor to install
it, since they know the local codes.

Ronald Said:

solar power for LED outside lights?

We Answered:

Of course, night lights can only be powered by solar by having batteries to hold the power from day to night. Practically, that means using standard 12 volt panels with a charging regulator. The solar panel is rated in watts, but the amount of sun in Minneapolis in winter is rather low, so a store selling them is going to have to provide data on output there. The nights are long, which means more batteries for storage and more charging each day. LED floods and area lights are not that common, so no real answer is possible - unless she plans on outlining the sign parts with individual LED's Power of those can range from a few watts way, way, down.