A QUICK AND EASY WAY TO ADD A SOLAR POWERED LIGHTING SYSTEM

I mentioned awhile back how living on my boat with it's LED lights and Solar Panels inspired me to build the solar powered lighting system for my house.
Now a company called BIOLITE has come up with a compact solar lighting, charging and music system that is priced reasonably and could be used at home or on a boat.

It even has an FM radio and MP3 player built in. Here is an overview:



Looks like a quick and easy way to add a solar powered lighting system to a boat or home.

 Kit includes a 6 watt solar panel, screws, the control box, three individual string lights with individual switches, including one with a motion sensor.

• Lighting includes 3 over-head lights with their own switches: 2 100-lumen string lights and 1 motion sensor light.
• Control box includes 20-watt hour rechargeable battery to store solar energy, 2 USB device charging ports, digital display for feedback on power availability, and speaker control
• Enjoy the built-in FM radio and speaker or use the SD card reader to play your MP3 music

At $149 the BioLite SolarHome 620 Portable Off-Grid Solar Lighting System is at a minimum a great way to light up your evenings or if you already have solar it could provide the backup lighting you need for nights at anchor. While allowing your current system to deal with important functions like refrigeration. 

Hat Tip: Boat Bits

ANOTHER IMPROVEMENT IN ENERGY SAVINGS

When I first bough BIANKA in the fall of 1995 she had two clip on lamp fixtures each with a 60 watt incandescent bulbs. I used them for the cabin  illumination when I was tied up to the dock as they used 120 volts AC. They worked well as long as you did not drop them when they were on as the hot filaments were very fragile. I replaced them a number of times. Then a few years ago along came compact florescent lights. They only used about 16 watts for the same amount of light as the delicate 60 watt incandescent they replaced. They were not as susceptible to damage but, I still did manage to break one in the cabin when it fell. Since these lamps also contain mercury it is a good idea to clean it up ASAP. This spring in order to avoid another accidental mercury spill this spring I bought some new TCP LED 60 Watt Equivalent Light Bulbs. These bulbs are even more efficient than the compact florescent bulbs they are replacing.  The TCP bulbs use only 9.5 watts compared to the compact florescent 16 watts. An energy savings of 40%. The bulb cover seems to be made of a high strength plastic not glass too. So there is no chance of filament and glass breakage like the incandescent technology or glass breakage and Mercury leakage like with the compact florescent bulbs.  Since I am also using my Ames 48 volt inverter more and taping into the electric propulsion battery bank the low wattage of the LED bulbs also means I'll be using  less power for the same illumination.  In short it is a big improvement in illumination and safety on board the boat .

KEEPING THINGS NAUTICAL OVER THE WINTER AT HOME

This winter has not been one conducive to working on board the boat so far. So I've been sitting around thinking about the projects not getting done, whether or not I need a Sailrite sewing machine in my life and other wishful things. Every once in a while a tangential project comes along like this:

Over ten years ago I won a stained glass lighthouse at the Nonsuch Rendezvous dinner in Boston. As far as I can figure it is modeled after the Absecon Lighthouse in New Jersey near Atlantic City:

Being real glass it's too fragile for use on the boat so for the last few years it has been used as nightlight in the bathroom. Where it guides this sailor to the right port in the night. Well, last week the 120 volt 5 watt incandescent bulb that lights it internally burnt out.

Now I could have probably found another bulb and replaced it. But, then it would still have to be turned on manually and it would still be powered by plugging it into the electric grid. Costing money as part of the monthly electric bill. A small issue but, one of my mottos is "if you watch the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves". Also having electric propulsion on board has made me more aware of where the energy one uses comes from. Plus I've already built and have used for several years a solar powered whole house lighting system. Hmmm, why not replace the incandescent lamp in the night light lighthouse with an LED bulb and hook it into the solar powered lighting system? Why nor indeed!
I had a few spare 3 LED Module 12 volt White Waterproof Lights  sitting around that I've used around the house and also on the boat. So I put one inside the lighthouse and connected it up to the 12 solar powered house lighting system.

Now when dusk comes the lighthouse light comes on just like the big boys:

 I never have to turn it on since the solar light controller does that automatically and it is greener and more efficient than the old incandescent bulb. Plus it is not longer taking any green paper out of my wallet as part of the electric bill. A win, win, win situation. I like that.

REWIRING THE HEAD LIGHT: PART ONE

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When I bought BIANKA she had a combination of lights. Some were fluorescent and some were regular tungsten lamps. Which are power hogs compared to the florescent lights. I've been replacing the tungsten lamps with much more energy efficient LED lamps. I also am replacing the fluorescent fixtures with LEDs as they fail instead of getting them rebuilt. The fluorescent fixture in the head area died a while ago and the other day I decided to rewire it for an LED replacement:

After making sure the breaker was turned off I first removed the bulbs and then the metal shield that covered the ballast electronics::

I was then able to cut the power wires to the fixture and remove the four screws holding the fixture to the cabin top. There were two wood shim pieces on the back of the light to take in account the curvature of the cabin top. I am going to reuse the fluorescent fixture and it's switch but, I have no use for the failed ballast circuit board so I will remove it and a lot of the associated wiring:

To remove the ballast board I had to drill out the two rivets holding the circuit board to the light frame from the back of the fixture:

With the circuit board gone there is a lot more room to install the LED replacement lamp(s):

Turning back to the light wiring. I noticed that someone had used wire nuts to attach the light to the boat wiring:

This is not a good idea for a whole bunch of reason on board a boat, Especially from a corrosion standpoint. I removed the wire nuts and replaced them with versatile  Anderson Powerpole Connectors :

This will make it east to reconnect the new LED lights when the fixture is installed. It will also allow for easier modification and changes in the future.

REWIRING THE HEAD LIGHT PART TWO CLICK HERE  

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