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Forum Index : Other Stuff : house lights
| Author | Message | ||||
shawn Senior Member  Joined: 30/03/2010 Location: New ZealandPosts: 210 |
Some advice please. I live off grid, have a 24vdc system and a 6kw invertor. I am ready to wire my house up and not sure if I should wire my house normal and run everything at 240 ac via my invertor or wire up the lights separate on 24vdc Any advice welcome. |
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| VK4AYQ Guru  Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Shawn I have been trialling some 240 volt led lights from 1.5 to 10 watts, they are a reasonable light but have found a few that didnt work, on the other hand I have some 12 volt ones that are very reliable, I found it difficult and expensive to get 24 volt ones. If you are wiring and setting up from scratch I would recommend 12 volt with a voltage reducer as in a truck 24 to 12 volt unit. The advantage is that you still have light if the inverter goes out, and there is a lot of 12 volt globes available at reasonable prices. All the best Bob Foolin Around |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Yeah I agree with Bob, better to go for 12v LED's, 24V will be harder to find. A 24V to 12V inverter is cheap enough, they are used in trucks to power the 12V stuff of the 24V battery bank, fairly efficient, and will supply several amps. I'm in the same boat with my new place. I'll be running a 48V inverter with its own batteries and panels, but I also have some odd batteries and panels that wont work with the 48V system, so will run a 12V system as well. The 12V will power some lights, solar hot water pump, workshop radio, etc. Plus I have a 12V 300W sinewave inverter as a backup if there is a problem with the main inverter. Today I ordered a 10W LED yard light from Oatley electronics http://secure.oatleyelectronics.com//product_info.php?produc ts_id=971&osCsid=18445245b5a24de2550338a24aa3248c , be interesting to see how bright it is. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| shawn Senior Member Joined: 30/03/2010 Location: New ZealandPosts: 210 |
Thanks guys yes am starting this new house from scratch including hot water under floor (concrete) heating. some of my thoughts were also for if in future I sell this property if its wired up the standard way the new owner could connect to the grid and everything would run normal,and I would take all my good stuff with me,there are still plenty that think we are just a bunch of greeny crazys! Bob your system is a good idear! I also have a spare invertor its only 3kw but will run things no problem at the moment its about to be put into use as a dump load my new controler will start up if the (always used) dump fails. Much to think on. |
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| Barry T Coles Senior Member Joined: 30/07/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 109 |
Hi Folks 
I have been running a MR16 Ledlight out on the patio for around 2 years now as a trial for when I build down south & am really impressed with the output of the 3X1 watt unit; it's only roughly done but it runs off a Panasonic sealed lead/acid 12V 7A/hr battery that hasn't been charged since I connected it up, gotta be happy with that. Cheers Barry I need to learn from the mistakes of others. I dont have the time to make them all myself. |
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| Disco Stu Newbie  Joined: 13/12/2009 Location: Posts: 16 |
barry those are great little lights i have one as a reading lamp and 2 on either end of porch illuminating the entrance gate. i got mine of ebay for next to nothing, also if you have a look through ikea if you ever get dragged there they got some go have a look at there led lights good bang for buck, and can be easily adapted for 12v use as they usually have external power supplys stu |
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| Barry T Coles Senior Member Joined: 30/07/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 109 |
Thank's Stu I'll be down in Perth in March & there's a huge Ikea store near my sons's place, I never expected that they would deal in that sort of thing. The one I got was around $25.00 & had to get it from South OZ but I see the prices are gradually comming down to an affordable value balance. When I got mine I checked it's brightness against a 60 watt halogen with a light meter for my old Agfa 35mm camera & they came up the same level, so effectivly a 50 watt saving & worked out over the years should be a significant saving if costs keep comming down. Cheers Barry I need to learn from the mistakes of others. I dont have the time to make them all myself. |
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| windlight Guru Joined: 03/03/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 331 |
Shawn they are all full of sh*t, the only way to seriously go is 240V. A of J "I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - (Act II, Scene IV). |
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norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Go 240v all the way, flouro`s for lights. Light power consumption is not a great issue from my viewpoint and doubt whether it is to any long term off grid user. Refrigeration consumes the most by far. Wired my place up originally with 240 & 12v with some 12v lights, after 5 years only thing I use 12v is a car radio,only because I need an external antenna as I live in a fringe radio reception area. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Allan You may be right about about my head because my wife says that all the time, but that said, I have found that the 240 volt led lights are very unreliable compared to the 12 volt ones as the internal regulator dies. I have never had a 12 volt one die even when I inadvertently connected to 24 volts. On the other hand the CFL globes on 240 volt have lasted over 5000 hours but the 12 volt ones where unreliable, once again a component problem with the internal inverter, the worry on that is the risk if one is broken and you get a bit in you, highly poisonous. As Vic says the light use if sensible is a small part of the overall load, so even low wattage halogen globes perform well, for many years i used 32 volt incandesant globes rated at 20 watts and they gave a light comparable to a 70 watt 240 volt unit, that was all that was available back in the steam age, so you takes your pick and educate the family to turn off unused lights. I turned off the power and told them they had flattened the batteries and gave them some smelly kero lights for the night, (accomplished by a little distillate in the kero) after a couple of exercises like that I trained them to turn off the lights, then lots of praise for doing so, and a few little treats bought with the money saved from generator fuel. If you got bananas you can train monkeys. 
All the best Bob Foolin Around |
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| windlight Guru Joined: 03/03/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 331 |
One point to remember if you do wire for low voltage is cable size verses current. A of J "I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - (Act II, Scene IV). |
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| shawn Senior Member Joined: 30/03/2010 Location: New ZealandPosts: 210 |
Thanks for all advice guys, I will wire for 240 volts!! I agree that the light is only small power use I run a large chest frezer, house fridge washing machine etc etc none of these are power frendly types my thought was the money spent replacing all of these could buy more PV . sounds good in theory then as they die replace with power frendly types. |
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| Barry T Coles Senior Member Joined: 30/07/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 109 |
Here ya go Shawn The perfect power free washing machine. 
Cheers Barry I need to learn from the mistakes of others. I dont have the time to make them all myself. |
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| Georgen Guru Joined: 13/09/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 462 |
Not sure if I should start new thread or try to utilise existing one? Anyway have question regarding “Warm” LED lights. At the moment have 240V to USB adaptor and 1.5W drawing 3 LED light (1.5 W measured on 240V energy meter from ALDI) So far so good, but my better half hates the colour and we have to use 7.5W night light (one with sensor that turns itself off during day) Not much, but several hours each day adds up, not to mention that 7.5W globe doesn’t last that long. So the question is where can I get really almost yellowish LED light to get it my way (.) George |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Hi Georgen You could have started a new thread, doesn't really matter. Yes, you can buy LED lights with different colours, temperatures they can be called. One problem with LED's is the narrow bandwidth light doesn't feel the same as a wide bandwidth light from a incandescent light bulb. Also LED's are painfull on the eye to look at, very intense. But old bulbs also draw a lot more power, so its a compromise. One solution might be to let the better half choose the colour 
I recently bought a LED outdoor yard light, 10 watts. It works well, but looking at the light directly truely is painfull, unlike the 50watt light bulb it replaced. To fix it, I cut up a plastic milk bottle, and fitted the opague white plastic over the LED. It did reduce the light level slightly, but its now a difuse light, so shadows are less intense, and I can look directly at the lamp without pain. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Georgen Guru Joined: 13/09/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 462 |
Honestly would not like to go above 7W as it would defeat my original purpose of dropping power usage. Will have to experiment with yellow transparent plastic. George |
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| JA Robby Newbie Joined: 20/07/2010 Location: JamaicaPosts: 13 |
Hi Shawn I have notice you have said that your off the grid. I would like to do the same, but there are a few things that i would like to know.What size battery bank would be ok,i have four 6volts batteries, a wind turbine made from a ceiling fan and a 5000 watts wagon inverter.I am hoping to add a few solar panel in the future,would this be ok all comments are welcome. JA Robby No man is an island. |
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| windlight Guru Joined: 03/03/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 331 |
JA Robby For me the overriding factor in battery bank sizing is how much power I will use overnight when no power is coming in, then sizing the batteries to stay within the top 30%. There is much written about 3 days autonomy, personally I prefer to top them up each day when they have discharged overnight to the 30% DOD. Basically if you don't have enough to regularly top them up each day then waiting 3 days is just putting off the inevitable. If you have hydro or good overnight winds then the equation changes. I live in the tropics and run air conditioners, so at times I run the DG in the evening to ensure I stay in the top 30% over night, just my way of managing my system. For me I have a 1600 A/h bank @ 48V that relates to 930 A/h at the 10 hour rate, so overnight I have available around 14 Kwh to stay within the top 30%. (930 A/h /20 (a/h/KW roughly) x 0.3 = 14Kwh). For me batteries are expensive so I tend to look after them. A of J "I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - (Act II, Scene IV). |
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Spook Newbie Joined: 17/12/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 9 |
Shawn, I have the same setup as yourself and I'm wired 240 only. Works a treat. Normal? Me?.......I don't think so! |
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| shawn Senior Member Joined: 30/03/2010 Location: New ZealandPosts: 210 |
Yes works well (so far) only thing I also run a dc cable direct from my bank to the house I hooked up one of those cheap volt meters and put it on the wall, its nice to see the bank all charged up and floating at just a quick glance somtimes even at night with windpower. |
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