Solar panels are expensive and generally not a good idea in this application. If you told me that you spent every daytime hour on the screened porch and you wanted the fan on that whole time then it wouldn't be wasteful. Otherwise your panel is just wasting away. You can store with a battery but a sufficient system would be expensive.

Solar makes sense in large applications and with really large subsidies. This has neither.

I have been checking in to see what responses you might get to this question. I have no information, but was wondering about another solar question. My house will have a cupola on the roof --- with windows on 4 sides. We are planning to put a light in the cupola for a nighttime glow, but how the heck do you change the lightbulb? I was wondering if there might be a small little solar light or something that might work in this application. If you happen to hear of anything that might work in this application, I'd love to hear about it!

Just do an led light. Life should be 10+ years.

Thanks!

"Just do an led light. Life should be 10+ years."

And dim.

brickeye- you are kidding right? There are plenty of good quality bright LED lights now. The Cree LR6s for instance are fantastic. There is nothing inherently dim about LEDs - it is just that there have been some dim LEDs out there in the early days (there still out there but there are plenty of bright options).

Thanks for the input, David. I knew it sounded too good to be true.

"brickeye- you are kidding right? There are plenty of good quality bright LED lights now."

They are still dim compared to even a 100 W halogen, let alone a 3-way 50-100-150 W.

150W Halogen - are you lighting a playing field?

But a Cree LR24 has 3200 lumens vs 3000 for a 150W halogen (and for 44 watts). Life expectancy is 50,000 hours or 25 years at 2000 hours a year (which is 40 hours a week).

I'm not saying a LR24 is as small as a 150W halogen and a quick check of price puts it at $350 (but that is a whole fixture not just a bulb). But there are adequate LED bulbs for a lot of applications. I've never used a 150W halogen personally and I'm curious in what residential application you would want that much light from a pinpoint source - better not look directly at it. My hew house doesn't have a fixture that could take 150W and I don't own a single lamp that is rated that high.

So I don't think you can honestly say that 150W halogen is within the realm of what most people have in their house except perhaps in special applications. It is ok for a basement in a keyhole light as a really cheap way of lighting a big space ... but don't look up. I don't even have 100W bulbs - I think 75 is the most.

"...light in the cupola for a nighttime glow,...."

It sounds as if "dim" would be perfect.