Lights all night on a 100 watt solar panel

I wanted to see what could be done with a small solar panel. So keep in mind that this light could
be in your BOL. You could have dim or bright LEDs to fit your particular application.
You could just run the wires to a LED bulb and have a light inside.

When the SHTF supplies will limited and you will need to use whatever you can get your hands on. This an example of that. I didn't use a deep cycle battery I used an old car battery that I have been
using for experiments for years. This battery was removed from a car when it no longer had the power to start it. I have plenty of good deep cycle batteries but I want to do like post SHTF.

I took a security light and switched it over to a 12 volt LED light bulb. For power I used that old car battery
and to charge the battery I used a 100 watt panel. I used a 12 volt photocell switch to turn it on and off.
The battery is the same one I have been using for experments for years It sat out all winter and showed about 10 volts
it took some charge and seems to keep up. The bulb pulls less than 1 amp
so it doesn't take a lot of power to operate. Even this junk battery can do it.

So the same bulb could be in your house for light when the electric is out

I put aluminum foil on the back side so it doesn't blind you at night if you are on the back porch.
Also you can see the photocell (little white box)


I can't believe this battery still will hold any kind of charge it's been completely drained many times in the last
three years doing experiments. That voltage was with the panel charging it drops quick when the sun goes down


I unhook this 100 watt panel from my system and use it for experiments when I need solar power.
If you look close you can see the controller I use it's one of those $14 ones


So for less than $150 and a junk battery you could have what you need for emergency lights
It will run all night and recharge during the day no problem.
this battery drops to about 12.3 over night but I'm sure a good battery would do much better

I'm going to let this run for a few weeks and if no problem arise I'll wire it into my battery bank

 

At our farm, I ran two separate solar arrays. The primary array provides power needs inside the little farm house, including interior lighting. All exterior lighting is provided by a single panel, a 10 amp solar controller that switches the lights on and off automatically, a 50ah deep cycle battery, and 10 watt LED floods. Here is the thread:

Solar & Rainwater Harvesting At Our Farm | Survival Monkey Forums

 

I started my system when we got our first computer, and bought a gel cell battery and inverter.
My battery charger (on the grid power) kept the battery tight ,and the inverter made the AC for the computer.
As time went by I bought a used 20 watt solar panel at the swap meet , and added it to the charging and the more I added the less the battery charger needed to work .
Later I learned about 6 volt golf cart batteries and created a new system and built it in my shop trailer, I eventually bought a wind mill and added it to the system . every component is on it's own switch to it can be tested at random and switched in or out of the system.
Panels don't have to be all the same so long as they put out more than 12 volts unloaded .even little ones make a contribution .
My meters prove it day after day.
I can test each panel and note it's own out put , then begin adding one at a time to the system, and see the amperage stack up corresponding to each one's out put.
Clouds and dirt and shade all play a part in reducing optimum out put ,which makes it important to know why something is not performing. I've gotten panels that did not perform due to a fault diode on the panel easily enough replaced.
If you've wired them all together , you don't know who is performing and who isn't.
Do not go cheap with wire , especially for long runs .