Do they make 12volt Compact Florescents

[maradcliff]

I never knew that group existed. Hope I can get it. Some groups dont appear on my server. Never could figure out why they dont have them all.

Yes, I can get it. I just checked.....

Thanks

[David Nebenzahl]

[e-mail] spake thus:

Another angle to consider: get a small solar photovoltaic panel to recharge the battery. Should cost significantly less than the 3 grand you say the power company wants to run power out there. That way, he could use an inverter to get 120 volts (which does waste some energy) and still be able to recharge the batteries on sunny days.

One place to check might be Real Goods.

[Goedjn]

Or you could cut a few strands off a cotton mop, shove them into a can of vegetable shortening, set said can on a platter, and set them on fire.

[Rich256]

Many of the RVs have fluorescents or LEDs. LEDs are kind of directional and expensive.

For power in mine I have a pair of 6 volt golf cart batteries (About $50 each at SAMS) hooked in series. Gives over 200 ampere hours. For long battery life I try to limit to 100 ampere hours or less between charging.

Then I have a small Honda generator to keep it charged. Can also run some 110 volt stuff off the generator when desired.

Light fixtures:

Try WalMart and RV stores.

[Don Klipstein]

In article , Rich256 wrote in part:

There are some wide coverage LEDs out there now.

However, cost of LEDs remains a valid issue, especially for wattage more than just a few watts.

Other LED issues:

1) Although there are now some with as much efficiency (more properly "overall luminous efficacy") as high as that of most compact fluorescents, most LEDs are not that efficient. Meanwhile, LEDs have had all sorts of hype as to efficiency, with a good bit of this hype being definitely untrue. 2) The more efficient white LEDs have color of "cool white" and "daylight" shades. These can easily have a "dreary gray" effect when doing room lighting with illumation level below the levels of near or over 100 footcandles or 1100 lux common in offices and classrooms. There are "warm white" LEDs, but so far in my experience they are dimmer and less efficient than their relatives of "cooler" shades of white. 3) White LEDs mostly have color distortions roughly in the same direction as most non-triphosphor fluorescents - making reds and greens darker and more-brownish (sometimes more grayish). Thankfully their color rendering is better than that of "old tech cool white" fluorescents! Most non-dollar-store compact fluorescents have a triphosphor formulation, and avoid these effects - my main color rendering complaint of those is that many red objects are rendered a bit orangish.

However, I am all in favor of LED and other non-incandescent lighting whenever and wherever it does work! LEDs are advancing but somewhat slowly!

- Don Klipstein ( [e-mail])

[maradcliff]

I was thinking about taking a lawnmower engine w/horiz shaft and rigging it to a GM alternator with built in regulator. Seems to me that would be the cheapest way to charge batteries since the ting could be built from junkyard parts, and requires less gas to run a small engine than a car or truck. Has anyone ever tried this? As far as I can see, there is no wiring othert than the ground to the alternator shell and the hot lead to the battery. The rest would just be the alternator, engine, and 2 pulleys and a belt. Possibly a belt tightening clutch too, like on a clother dryer, or ir might be hard to start the engine.

Mark

[Rich256]

Should work - OK as long as you don't have neighbors:-). Trying to charge by running a car or truck engine is a losing proposition. It takes hours to fully recharge a deeply discharged battery.

The problem I see is that the alternator is made to charge car batteries that normally do not get discharged deeply. For long life Deep Discharge batteries need special care.