# Using solar power for my LED's



## Cole&Jacksdad (Jan 20, 2011)

I had an idea today about using solar power for my LED spots. I just took apart my kids old power wheels jeep. I took the battery and motors. I have a solar charger for 12 volt batteries that I will use to charge the battery. My pen spots run on 12 volts. I am going to string a bunch and connect it to the battery to see how long the charge will last. If this holds a charge for a while, I may get a car battery and use that for my pneumatics(except for the air compressor of course) and see how well that works too.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Sounds like a neat project. I've often had the same thought. Though I will warn you, the big issue with solar is generally not the battery storage...it's the solar.

By that, I mean big 12 volt batteries are relatively cheap and hold a lot of charge. So it's pretty easy to bank a few together and run most anything you want through the night.

The problem comes when it's time to charge the batteries...in October...when nights are relatively long, days are relatively short, low sun angle, sometimes cloudy, etc. I expect you would probably average 1/2 the rated solar cell wattage or less from maybe 10am to 2pm.

On the plus side, LED spots and pneumatic valves probably don't take huge amounts of power. So it should be fairly easy to bank up additional solar cells, too.


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

Keep us posted on your project please, sounds interesting.


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## Cole&Jacksdad (Jan 20, 2011)

corey872 said:


> Sounds like a neat project. I've often had the same thought. Though I will warn you, the big issue with solar is generally not the battery storage...it's the solar.
> 
> By that, I mean big 12 volt batteries are relatively cheap and hold a lot of charge. So it's pretty easy to bank a few together and run most anything you want through the night.
> 
> ...


October in Texas there is plenty of sun. I will make it so it will be an easy change from solar to 12 volt power supply if need be.


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