Solar powered lighting ( plus npower rant)

[cbc]

Any experiences please?
Our farm buildings have been put up for planning consent by the landlords; for a few years now there has only been me using the buildings so we were chugging along paying a few pounds per quarter for electricity until npower decided to split their business and the old farm meters were passed to npower business. This has caused so much chaos it is unbelievable . Huge estimated bills; I asked them to come out and read the meter but they said it would take several weeks and could we send in a meter reading which we did. So the chaos continued and I think the best way forward is to terminate the whole lot and insist on a final reading being done by a meter reader (this is not helped by the fact that there are three meters which are the old fashioned type).
I could try to find another supplier but I don't know how quickly or otherwise the building will get sold. I was wondering whether to get some solar powered lighting. I don't know anything about how useful these lights are. The house is 100 yards away from the buildings so the odd bit of clipping I now do could be done there but I would like to have some sensible light source for the yard.
Anyone have any thoughts/experiences? Thanks

[julz]

I watched an episode of DIY SOS big build, where they installed solar panels, this was used for the owners useage first and foremost and any left over went back to the grid, thus earning him atleast £500 a year (I believe the man and his young daughter had moved out of the house, into a caravan in the hopes he would renovate the house, his wife then died, and couple years later he was diagnosed with cancer himself, the daughter aged 9 had not known any other way of living and her bedroom was a cramped cupboard)

the point here is you could do the same?

[jill]

I have solar panels on my house but they are linked to the National Grid, and I am no better off than anyone else if I have a power cut. Apparently I could have stored my own power but the bank of batteries would have been as expensive as the panels. And for lights, the time when you need them most is the time they are not generating anything at all.
You could get a small diesel generator for the yard - I used to have a little Honda years ago, it was only enough to power a few strip lights though, it wouldn't do anything like an electric motor (clippers).
In your situation I would speak to someone at the Centre for Alternative Technology at Machynlleth www.cat.org.uk/index.html. I spoke to them about a hand pump to get a water supply for horses, and more recently about air source heating. They were very helpful, regarding the pump they even suggested where I might get one from. They have all the experience it might take you years and £££££s to accumulate.

[kafee]

12v strip lights run off an old car battery shed quite a lot of light. Never be as good as mains lights, but you'd be independent. Old batteries that are no good in a car will power strip lights for a reasonable amount of time.

[pip]

I have heard of a couple of people who used solar panel lighting for stables, but have no idea of cost. A caravanning light powered by battery is quite good,and what I used years ago before I moved and had electric lighting.

[cbc]

Thanks for your replies and suggestions, it gives me some great ideas to work on

[specialized]

For a short-term fix a 12v battery and caravan lights would work fine with a small solar panel to charge the battery, and if you have a spare battery charged at home you can cover times when usage isn't covered by the solar. Pointless putting in a full solar for short-term especially as you would have to store the power generated if you had no grid connection.

[janwilky]

I have an LED caravan strip light (long strip of small but bright lights) in my tack room powered by a car battery. The same battery also runs a fairly powerful outdoor spot light which lights up the yard just enough for my needs. It works really well and the battery lasts weeks and weeks without needing to be re-charged. It's always been my intention to add a solar charger to top up the battery but I haven't got round to it, partly because I'm not sure it would do much in the winter months when I use the lights the most (we don't get much sun on the yard in winter). We're planning to add a third light in the hay store, there's plenty of power in the battery to run another light. Although the switch is in the tack room, we did have to swap the original indoor one for an outdoor switch because it kept failing - damp, presumably. Works beautifully though, and it was easy to do with the help of a savvy friend

We don't have any electricity down there, but I bring the horses up to the house for anything like clipping etc. Give them a haynet tied to the trailer and they'll stand there for hours

[specialized]

You don't need sun for a solar panel to work, just daylight.

[janwilky]

Jan 4, 2014 22:51:55 GMT 1 specialized said:

You don't need sun for a solar panel to work, just daylight.

Thanks Specialized, the friend who helped us install the system said the same thing when we saw him yesterday so we'll add one at some point. 

[jill]

Jan 4, 2014 22:51:55 GMT 1 specialized said:

You don't need sun for a solar panel to work, just daylight.

True, but the amount being generated is nowhere near as much as in sun, which is why the installation companies look to find a south facing space for the panels. I have a meter which shows how much is being generated and it is very low when the sun isn't on them. Depends on your requirements and your storage system but it really is worth looking for a sunny site. Pick the brains of the suppliers Jan, as to what you can expect in daylight as opposed to sunlight.

[janwilky]

Thanks Jill, our friend works for a solar supplier so he's pretty useful  . We only need it to top up the battery so we don't have to cart it up to the house to put on charge too often, so it's not a very demanding use compared to your domestic system, I guess.

The LED strip light we have is very good, it has 50 rows of 3 little LED lights and the overall effect is plenty bright enough for everything I need to do in my feed/tack room. I can easily read by it. It came from a caravan shop, I think, and was described as an awning light. Something like this

[specialized]

For charging a simple 12v battery then daylight is perfectly sufficient, when installing a domestic system they are looking for the best return on capital so are ideally facing them towards maximum sunlight which will produce more current when it is shining.