# Forum Home Renovation Lighting  Shed solar powered LED lighting with rechargeable batteries?

## Watters

Got a shed for the wife that will become her she shed. It needs light and I don't want to connect it to 240V power. 
Is there a kit or combo of components that can provide dimmable warm white lighting, say, 13 watt LED bulbs (that don't look like floodlights, more aesthetically appealing), with a suitable solar panel and long life rechargeable batteries? 
Perhaps the camping world has something that might suit e.g. for caravans?

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## Random Username

I think you'll find by the time you have a working 12v solar system you'll have passed the cost of a trench or a catenary and some twin and earth!  And schlepping a lead acid battery back to the house for recharging will get old quickly if you don't get enough solar panels for the expected usage.

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## Spottiswoode

...and you'll eventually realise that you would like power for a radio, phone/USB charger, some sort of power tool relevant for the she shed operation etc.  
You will also need to work out how long you will be using the lighting for and how often to allow for charging time and battery capacity. I've twice a week for a few hours will be a lot less panel, battery etc compared to daily for 6hours.  
yes, there are plenty of options, and yes camping is a good starting place.  
Our deep cycle car battery runs three 1m-ish strip led lights for dusk til bedtime for a few nights and also does the fridge for a couple of days on a single charge with a 20w trickle charger on. Plug in 80w and we should get a week out of it in good solar conditions.

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## SilentButDeadly

There's plenty of options out there but few if any are set and forget. It ain't hard to set something up but don't expect much change from $500 for something you don't have to fiddle with...

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## OBBob

Jaycar perhaps Jaycar Electronics | Components, connectors, switches, power, and more

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## FrodoOne

> Got a shed for the wife that will become her she shed. It needs light and I don't want to connect it to 240V power. 
> Is there a kit or combo of components that can provide dimmable warm white lighting, say, 13 watt LED bulbs (that don't look like floodlights, more aesthetically appealing), with a suitable solar panel and long life rechargeable batteries? 
> Perhaps the camping world has something that might suit e.g. for caravans?

  Yours is an interesting request.  The responses that you have received quite rightly mentioned the problems of maintaining storage batteries and the costs involved - so I was prompted to look up "LED Caravan PV" to see what might be available.
There are quite a few "set-ups" of various sizes available but, as others have mentioned, their cost is likely to exceed the cost of providing mains power to the shed. 
However, one company (Solar Lighting - LED Light Kit | Sundaya T-Lite & Ulitium Lamps) is offering "kits" ranging from 1 light at $110 to 4 lights at $300 with the possibility of adding additional solar panels and lights as required.  Each light (which can be dimmed) contains its own lithium ion storage battery which is claimed to operate the light for 6 or 7.5 hours at full brightness when fully charged. 
One "catch" is that the output of each light is only claimed to be 200 lumen. 
(Compare that to a 9 W Philips LED which I have in front of me which claims an output of 800 lumen - being the equivalent of a 60 W incandescent lamp!)

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## PlatypusGardens

> I don't want to connect it to 240V power.

  
First question: Why not?
Don't want to dig trenches, run conduit, hook up power etc?  
If it just "needs light" during daytime, replace some of the roof with opaque sheets to let light in.
If it's for after hours, why not just get a couple of rechargeable camping lanterns/lights and hang them from the roof?      :Smilie:

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## justonething

I've gone a different route. I bought an motion sensing LED with magnet for the shed. It uses 1 or 2 AAA batteries. It comes on when someone opens the shed and goes off if there is no movement for a while. It's been over 6 months and I haven't had to change batteries yet. Depending on the size of the shed, just add more LED as required. It couldn't be easier for me.

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## phild01

> I've gone a different route. I bought an motion sensing LED with magnet for the shed. It uses 1 or 2 AAA batteries. It comes on when someone opens the shed and goes off if there is no movement for a while. It's been over 6 months and I haven't had to change batteries yet. Depending on the size of the shed, just add more LED as required. It couldn't be easier for me.

   That's neat, who sells them?

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## justonething

> That's neat, who sells them?

  Aldi. It should be coming back soon. But master also sell one, not sure if it has a magnet though. https://www.masters.com.au/product/9...or-light-8-led

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## justonething

The motion sensor LED light is on sale in Aldi next wednesday.

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## Spottiswoode

> The motion sensor LED light is on sale in Aldi next wednesday.

  We got a couple of those a while back. Not much chop, too sensitive or not enough depending on how we worked it. Also seemed to consume batteries at a rate of knots.

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## Black Cat

Probably the first question should be what she plans to do out there. If she is into sewing she will need electricity for her machine and iron, if she is into painting she will only need overhead lighting. So best ask her what her plans are for the shed before you get in too deep.

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## johnc

Aldi and Ikea sell cheapies, I have them in the woodshed and mower shed area three in total and work fine. If it is just a storage shed then they do the job but at that price you have to factor in failure so buy an extra just in case

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## METRIX

Don't bother with 240v, run 12v garden cable down there and run any of the garden type variety of lights, because it's 12V no need to dig it deep and conduit,

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## Spottiswoode

Calling OP, calling OP... Give us some more info on your needs please.

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