Solar Indoor Lighting

bonzer

You need a large expensive solar cell to produce any decent amount of power. I don't think you'll find any at a reasonable price that will be particularly bright. I've seen garden ones that power a few LEDs for a few hours but they're only really decorative. They wouldn't give anyone the impression anyone was in.

An 11 watt compact fluorescent, roughly equivalent to a 60 watt normal bulb, will cost you maybe about a penny to have on for 12 hours overnight. So if you have a two week holiday you'd use 14p of power. A timer's maybe about a fiver. As penrhyn suggests, is it really worth investing in solar for this job?

RaiderHammer

bonzer wrote: »

You need a large expensive solar cell to produce any decent amount of power. I don't think you'll find any at a reasonable price that will be particularly bright. I've seen garden ones that power a few LEDs for a few hours but they're only really decorative. They wouldn't give anyone the impression anyone was in.

An 11 watt compact fluorescent, roughly equivalent to a 60 watt normal bulb, will cost you maybe about a penny to have on for 12 hours overnight. So if you have a two week holiday you'd use 14p of power. A timer's maybe about a fiver. As penrhyn suggests, is it really worth investing in solar for this job?

Thank you. I thoughts were because I have heard stories that timers are not safe when away and can cause fires. That's why I was exploring the solar side with the panel against a sout facing window rather than running costs whicgh are so low it's not an issue. The safety side is my concern.