Well guess what? this weekend Cale was able to get the solar panel hooked up, the batteries set up in the barn and we now have 3 lights running from solar power. They are not terribly bright, but will be just enough for evening feeding. He wants to run 2 more lights. One to the loft and one to the chicken house. My Dad was able to give us a set of deep cycle batteries. He is always wheeling and dealing for lots of misc. items. We had the wire already so Cale had to only buy some porcelain light fixtures, and the bulbs. They were a little pricey, $18 for a box of 6, so I hope they last a while.

We hope to buy some more panels and have some for back-up in the house. Slowly but surely we are making some improvements!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), March 05, 2002

Answers

Melissa: If You are using 12V for the lights,

God Bless.we use the little 12V bulbs like are in the cars for our RV lighting and they do ok and are not as expencive.

-- Charles Steen (Xbeeman412@aol.com), March 05, 2002.

I think that is what he is using, he went to an RV dealer to buy them, but things like that are expensive around here, as there is only one place to buy them...

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), March 05, 2002.

Melissa, Dont forget wallmart. They have a nice camping, RV, fishing section and you can usually find 12volt light assemblies there. There are a number of 12v lights that fit in standard 120v sockets. This way you dont have to rewire a house, you just feed 12v DC instead of 120v AC on existing wiring.

-- Gary in Ohio (gws@columbus.rr.com), March 05, 2002.

It sounds like you have a DC system. If so, the lights will last a really long time before burning out.

-- john (natlivent@pcpros.net), March 09, 2002.

This is a pretty neat solar light setup: http://www.tackinthebox.com/stablewares/Habitat/ST220_200.htm

I just bought a second one for our family, to put in another barn that does not have lights. It seems much more robust then some other lights, and includes the solar panel, lights, and light switch as seperate items.

Just a happy (repeat) customer ;-)

-- Sam Snow (2snows@mailandnews.com), September 03, 2002.