Solar porch lighting.

[Aqua]

We have a roof covered, open sided porch with a corner post supporting the roof at present.

I am going to close the sides in with brick and double glazed double door and windows in a couple of months time.

We have alot of exposure to sunlight at this side of the house (infact with the double glazing it will be like the tropics in the porch )

I am wondering if anyone knows of a solar powered lighting system which would power ceiling mounted down lighters for the inside of the porch only.

The fancier the lights the better,

Thanks in advance, aqua.

 

[Steve]

Dont you have mains 'lectric?

Seriously, solar power is not worth the hassle. It'll be cheaper to have an electrician wire some lights to the mains for you. And go for low energy lights.

 

[Aqua]

Dont you have mains 'lectric?

Seriously, solar power is not worth the hassle. It'll be cheaper to have an electrician wire some lights to the mains for you. And go for low energy lights.

I thought the cost of such an idea might well make it a no hoper, just thought there might be something out there for this type of job.

Taking a feed from the ringmain to light the porch will obviously give me plenty of power to get a bit special with the lighting, i'm open to ideas for the downlighters.

I was also thinking of an automatic on/off switch for the porch, maybe a motion detector or even some sort of switch similar to that on a car door

What do you guys think

 

[breezer]

or even some sort of switch similar to that on a car door

yeah, fridges have them too.

as has been said solar will cost too much.

have a stndalone pir and your choice of lights

 

[Aqua]

The PIR will be the way to go then for auto lighting.

Pity the solar panel idea is a non starter though.

The enviromentalists have pinned their hopes on wind and solar as far as i know and from what i have heard neither are going to be a viable, cost effective alternative to good old power stations

Still open to ideas regarding fancy down lighters

 

[plugwash]

The enviromentalists have pinned their hopes on wind and solar as far as i know and from what i have heard neither are going to be a viable, cost effective alternative to good old power stations

and unfortunately a major accident in the soviet union combined with a couple of near misses in the west (all a long time ago now) has made people scared to use the main alternative to fossil fuel based power.

 

[Steve]

Compact, energy saving downlight:

£16.60 from TLC

9 watts each, you'll only need one or 2 to light a porch more than adequately.

 

[RF Lighting]

Thanks CFL downlighter man!

 

[dingbat]

I find that solar powered lighting works best in the daytime.