Bought some of the 5 x brightness solar lights from Homebase today. They have 3 for 2 offer at the moment - still expensive at £15 each mind you.
It's in the garden as we speak - will tell you how well it performs later. We just want a light we can leave out all day and bring into the tent at night - instead of having to rely on batteries or gas - much more eco-friendly.
They are quite large - homebase have smaller 3 x brightness ones for £9.99 (again 3 for 2).
Bit disappointed with solar lights from Homebase. They are quite large and light given off is okay - brighter than the smaller normal brightness ones I have in the garden. Just not as bright as I hoped (would have liked to be able to cook by it if possible - inside tent without relying on lamps with batteries or electric) Husband likes the new one and disagrees with me (nothing new there) - but I personally don't think they justify the extra cost.
We got the Stainless steel pillar lights from Wilkos £3 each. Great lights just enough light to mark the guys out with but not enough to be to bright for our fellow campers. Even with not to good bright a day as yesterday, lights were still on at dawn this morning.
what to do with these little lights when they dont work anymore ???dont throw them away but remove the solar panel and join 5 of them together in series,normally the panels are 3v each but check first by the batterys 2x1.5v is the norm.mount on a piece of wood and then cover with a piece of persplex and seal edges with gaffa tape or evan better a nice architrave with some silicone and hay presto an instant battery charger topper upper 5 panels are better than 4 although 4 will give 12v but 5 are better as the increase in voltage is need to overcome the resistance of the battery.it is very difficult to overcharge the battery evan here in spain but if you need to you can fit a regulator made out of an old car altenator regulator brush assembly .i have evan made these for campers stopping at my house whos regulators have burnt out.its very easy to do,firstly find an old altenator in the scrap yard and remove the regulator by removing the 2 screws on the back of the altenator bosh or paris rhoñe are ideal .just break whats left of the brushes off then solder a wire to the back of the positive brush ,this is normally the one thats worn the most .this wire connects to the positive feed from the solar panel but is only a t connection so to speak as the it is only a senseing connection the positive wire connects directly to the battery from the solar panel.the negative wire runs from the solar panel to negative brush and the casing of the regulator where one of the fixing screws that held the regulator into the altenator has a earth connection.make a nice heat sink out of a piece of metal sheet minimum of 15cms square and mounted where the air can circulate over it and hey presto .the last part is very important as i have seen quite a few campers with the regulator mounted in a little box with fancy leds on and they have all burnt out in the sun here in alicante caused by overheating which is due to the high output of the solar panels and they are not cheap for the fancy little box type
My solar lights from Woollies are going back. They've stopped working and no-one can say that there's not been enough sunshine to charge them over the last couple of weeks.
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Topic: Solar Lights
