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Shed/workshop lighting

737 views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  Lgt18 & 116 
#1 ·
The wife surprised me with a 100w solar kit for my shed. I will mostly use it for interior work lighting and outside by the fire pit. My question is should I go with an inverter and AC lighting or are there comparably bright D.C. Fixtures out there?
 
#4 ·
I hope there is a rechargeable battery in the kit.. that way u could run a lotta LED lights from the stored power..
 
#5 ·
Do you have a link for the solar solution you got? What DC voltage does it put out? If you're running lights, you'll want a battery for it, so the better question is probably what voltage your battery provides.

As has been mentioned, you lose power every time you convert, so finding a DC light will definitely be more efficient. LED is your best bet (my shop is full of LED lights, and I love them). That said, I've never seen a DC-powered LED overhead light. There probably isn't much of a commercial market for them. I doubt anything in the RV world is bright enough. If you are or know an electrical engineer, you might have better luck buying a 120V shop light and hacking it to bypass the step-down transformer that converts the 120V line current to the DC current that the LED's actually use.

Keep us informed on how this progresses. I'm very interested!
 
#6 ·
I will be using a deep cycle battery. As for lights , I haven't found any DC shop lights . Maybe I will wire up a combination of direct DC lights (for going in and out and outside lights) and eventually get an inverter for the late nights in the shop. As always the pocketbook dictates how many toys and gadgets....

I will stick to LED's for their efficiency.
Maybe I'll talk to an engineer or electrician at work to see what's involved in converting shop lights to D.C.
 
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