How to keep solar lights in place on old floor lamp?
joannpalmyra
14 years ago
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joannpalmyra
14 years agoBarbara Kelly
14 years agoRelated Discussions
WIP solar light
Comments (11)Doody, Looking GOOD! Well, I have done this but I used landscaping wire, the innards of a cheap mailbu light fixtures and a transformer. My insulators sit atop a 1 1/2 or 2" pipe real nicely so I can take them off when I need to change the lightbulb. The solar method may be trickier but I think it's totally do-able. My sister has motion sensor lights under the eaves in front of her garage door that she has powered solar. I've seen some that have a wire from the solar collection to the actual light. If the length of the wire is enough to get to the roofline from where your insulator lamplight is then you may be good to go! Show us your progress when you get there. Love, Jules PS: Here's a photo of my insulator Malibu Lights. Here is a link that might be useful: Jules Insulator Malibu Lights...See Moresupplementary lighting for passive solar greenhouse
Comments (17)Mike, in my post I said I did not use my lights to 'grow' plants, I said I use them to provide 'short night' response in my photoperiodic plants to postpone their bloom times. For that, I don't need 2K foot candles, I need 20 foot candles. For the purposes of determining the quantity of light your plant is actually getting you can't just spit out the wattage or lumen rating output of a bulb as rated on its package. For instance, a hundred watt, unshielded incandescent bulb, ten foot away from an object will only provide about 1.5 foot candles as measured at that objects surface. That isn't much, is it? So, you can't just say a lamp has X lumens and have that mean much of anything. That's the potential output of the bulb. What you are interested in are the readings at leaf level, measured in lux or light density and that is going to vary greatly depending on how far away the light source is, what design the reflectors are, angles, intensity at various points of the cone of the beam. Yadayadayada. And if you think you are actually doing much trying to supplement the natural light by hanging a few shop lamps from an overhead beam in a greenhouse with a flourescent tube in them............well, it's not going to hurt anything, but it probably has negligible actual benefit to the plant. So, if you are really needing to provide lighting by which a plant will actually grow.........then your supplemental growing light has to be quite close to the plant, or the output has to be considerably higher than you think if mounted from overhead beams. The only way to really tell is to meter it out at various points in a greenhouse. That's why I suggested the poster find out what intensity of illumination leafy veggies really take. If she/he can make do with natural light, it would save a lot of money, and I suspect they'll grow just fine without supplementation. That's why in all but special circumstances where high light levels are absolutely necessary for producing certain plants in a winter setting, most growers do not go the expense of installing supplemental lighting. It's expensive to install and it's expensive to run, unless you are just interested in starting a few seedlings or a very limited collection of conservatory plants....See MoreSolar Path Lights in Winter
Comments (23)I have thethatct same solar globes as you, and I have to say thati don't think it has anything to do with you living in the north. I think the product is the problem. I live in the deep South, and I am having the same issues as you are having, with mine. I have both the taller color changing crackled globes from Bed Bath and Beyond, and I have the shorter $3.00 clear glass crackled globes from Walmart as well. The two that change colors, I have been having for a few years now and they are still going strong. I've never had to change the batteries on these and I've had them the longest. That being said, the $3.00 ones that I got from Walmart, are a different story. I bought these last spring and only one out of the four that I have, lights up. I bought new rechargeable battery's and replaced the three that won't light up. It didn't make a bit of difference. The one that worked still works with its original battery in place. The other three, just will not work. I went to Home Depot yesterday and talked with a gentleman there about it. He advised me on what I should try and I did just that. The first thing he told me to try was to take out the battery in the working globe and try it in the others. I did and that failed. Then he told me to take the rechargeable battery out of the non working globes and put in a regular AA battery. I did, and it lit up (in two out of the three non working globes). Then he told me to put the new rechargeable battery's back in and put them under a direct light or lamp and let it charge for 6 to 8 hours. (I did this too, but still have yet to see them come on). Granted, I only put them back out there this morning and its a dark rainy morning at that. So I guess I will have to see if they will light up tonight or after a full day of sun. He also told me that those solar receptors whiten over time with a film, that you can take a little sandpaper and file away the white film to clear them up again. Since the solar panel receptor is inside the glass globe, I didn't find this to be the case, add they still look shiny. You can try this though. I too, have experienced the moisture problem and the spiders inside the globes. I took the final one apart, cleaned out all the sand and water in it and dried it out. Unfortunately, the red wire came out, so I am waiting for my husband to try and solder it back together again. Will let you know if any of my attempts to fix these globes, work out or not. One more thing the man told me, was that some of these solar powered landscape lightsjust don't have the capacity to last and will only recharge so many times. He said they make better ones that last longer and have a higher capacity of storing energy with better output, but they are usually more expensive. I think that you and I thought we got a bargain with those pretty crackled globes, but in the long run, is it really worth the time, hassle and wasted money on more batteries that still won't light the darn things up? I'm like you.... I don't want to give up on them, but I may just have to bite the bullet and buy some more expensive ones, hoping that I get a better product that last longer. I noticed that Home Depot carries a six pack of these crackled glass globes that you have the option of choosing white or color changing, which sell for $50 bucks. I may end up giving these a try....See MoreFloor frustrations-how to clean up these old hardwoods?
Comments (23)My 1934 old house had had a fire before I bought it. I was told to use terpentine and linseed oil mixture, it looked really beautiful..I sanded it first. Danish oil also looks beauriful on old wood. Stains? You just have to sand first, then use a stain darker than the original. Use a wood conditioner first, then hand stain the wood, trying to blend around the stain until the spot on the floor blends in better. Apply 2 coats of poly. Keep the room as dust free as possible. I still have a dark spot on my living room floor that was burned. Doesn't bother me, just reminds me that this old house has a story to tell....See Moresusiewantsroses
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