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  • Solar power system for display box

    Greeting to you all!!
    I have a project I need direction on:
    I want to build display boxes with self contained solar powered LED lighting systems. The first is a wall mounted shadow box that would be self contained so I wouldn't have to have an ugly cord hanging down.
    I see little solar panels available that I could put in inconspicuous places but what I really need to know is a bit about how such a system might work.

    Where re should I look for design info?

    Thank you!

  • #2
    Hello Mission16 and welcome to Solar Panel Talk.

    Where do you plan on mounting these shadow boxes and how do you plan on wiring the LED lighting for them?

    Also what is the wattage for each lighting system and how long do you plan on having the light on?

    Without knowing how many watt hours a lighting system uses a day it would be hard to determine the battery and solar panel wattage for your system.

    Comment


    • #3
      Hello Mission 16.

      I have just joined this board myself, and almost everybody here knows more than I do, but the more they know the more they want (need?) to start from the demand side. Just know that you can also start work from the supply side, I nearly always do. I assume the physical characteristics of a shadow box are going to limit you to a very small subset of hobby panels that have the right size parameters. Have you found any that will fit your concept for sure? How many of those can you mount? Were you thinking about putting them along the top frame of the box (which collects dust)? Were you thinking about a larger one that would be the background for the box (which might be rendered useless by the item(s) in the foreground)? After that, do you want it to be lit when the room is dark, or are these accents that would only be needed when the room was lit? Don't worry about the batteries yet, with the size they will end up being they will be easily hid I suspect.

      You said you have seen some panels that are suitable. Tell me/us all about those. If you have a picture of a box you would like to convert I would like to see it.

      Oh, your question was, "Where re should I look for design info?" I suspect the answer is right here, but true solar hobbyists might be able to chime in with better places.
      Last edited by AzRoute66; 07-23-2017, 08:47 PM.

      Comment


      • #4
        Once you realize the cost, you will not mind the cord one little bit. You are talking several hundred dollars to generate 1-cent of electricity per day. Then in about 2 or 3 years you get to replace an expensive battery.
        MSEE, PE

        Comment


        • #5
          Oh come on Sunking. We're probably talking about a $10 hobby panel that can be soldered directly to a LED light strip, maybe with a NiMH AA. Tinkering is good fun.

          Comment


          • #6
            Something like this might work for you I think. The lights stay on all night and would allow you to line the perimeter of the box. Warm white looks best, cool white is harsh. You could incorporate the panel in the top of the box or mount it away for better sun, if needed. There are hundreds on Amazon and eBay solar string lights.png
            Last edited by littleharbor; 07-24-2017, 08:59 AM.
            2.2kw Suntech mono, Classic 200, NEW Trace SW4024

            Comment


            • #7
              I like this forum already!!
              You all have some ideas for me already as well as questions I didn't know to think of.
              Some answers and thoughts:

              -Anyone familiar with "magic lantern glass slides"? That's what the first few of these boxes will be for. Not sure on size yet, but no more than 24" square. 1-1/2" thick.
              -I was looking at LED strip lights at Home Depot. Can be cut to lenght.
              -Saw some 50mmx30mmx3mm solar panels on Amazon. That's when I realized I really don't know much about solar in an indoor application.
              -Dust will not be an issue. The wife is a neatnik. The kids call our house "the museum" .
              - A cord will be an issue,
              - I wouldn't care for them to be on all night. So switches or even better, motion sensors, could be integrated perhaps?

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Mission16 View Post
                ....That's when I realized I really don't know much about solar in an indoor application....
                Nobody does. Solar power is an outdoor thing. You can run a little calculator off a smallish PV panel, but they consume much less than LED lighting.

                First, figure how much power your desired lighting level requires.

                There is "Speaker Tape" that goes on the wall, and then you paint over it. You could use a small wall wart and feed a small amount of power through that to the shadow box
                https://sewelldirect.com/sewell-supe...ft-spool-white Running power is a non-approved use of it.

                But the size of a solar panel to harvest indoor light, is going to surprise you, along with it's cost.
                Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
                || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
                || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

                solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
                gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

                Comment


                • #9
                  For an indoor shadow box that gets its power from solar you will need to run wires from the panel (which is outside and pointed at the sun) to a charger/battery. Then from the battery to the LED lights. There is not enough light for a solar panel to work inside or even if it is pointed at a window.

                  I understand your desire to play with solar but in this application maybe a simple battery power LED system would make the shadow boxes practical. You could always build a solar pv system to re-charge those batteries and then move the batteries to the shadow box.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by AzRoute66 View Post
                    Oh come on Sunking. We're probably talking about a $10 hobby panel that can be soldered directly to a LED light strip, maybe with a NiMH AA. Tinkering is good fun.
                    The OP will still need to run "wires" between the solar panel (which is outside) to a battery system. Going from the panel directly to the LED light strip will not work on cloudy days which may not be what the OP wants so some type of battery is needed..

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by AzRoute66 View Post
                      Oh come on Sunking. We're probably talking about a $10 hobby panel that can be soldered directly to a LED light strip, maybe with a NiMH AA. Tinkering is good fun.
                      You do not know what you are talking about. He is way beyond a 10 watt panel and flashlight batteries.
                      MSEE, PE

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by AzRoute66 View Post
                        Oh come on Sunking. We're probably talking about a $10 hobby panel that can be soldered directly to a LED light strip, maybe with a NiMH AA. Tinkering is good fun.
                        All just soldered together? All 3 have different output/input voltages, OP will be 'tinkering' with that forever with 0 results.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Indoor solar is a no-go except for micropower devices like calculators (and even those are flaky).
                          Just run the wire, or use a battery.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by SunEagle View Post
                            For an indoor shadow box that gets its power from solar you will need to run wires from the panel (which is outside and pointed at the sun) to a charger/battery. Then from the battery to the LED lights. There is not enough light for a solar panel to work inside or even if it is pointed at a window.

                            I understand your desire to play with solar but in this application maybe a simple battery power LED system would make the shadow boxes practical. You could always build a solar pv system to re-charge those batteries and then move the batteries to the shadow box.
                            That...could work!
                            Like I kinda alluded to in my opening post, I don't know WHAT I needed to know about solar power systems in an indoor application. It's now clear to me that my original plan isn't feasible. Battery power is something I did not even think of in this context. And while I could just charge batteries on an outlet, the idea of solar charging them is kinda cool to me.

                            SO...where do I go from here? Where should I look for info on building a BATTERY powered system?

                            Thanks

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Mission16 View Post
                              .......SO...where do I go from here? Where should I look for info on building a BATTERY powered system? Thanks
                              For each shadow box, we need the power specs. LED wattage, how many hours a day. So the total daily watthours for each box, gets calculated. Then we figure out how many
                              rechargeable AA batteries are needed for that amount of power.

                              Then a charging station for the batteries needs to be designed. (or just use a Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger w/12V car adapter)

                              Now calculate a PV array to harvest 2x the daily WH usage, and a 12V charge controller and a 12V deep cycle (or cheapo marine) battery.


                              But it all hinges on the daily watt hour consumption for all the boxes.

                              Carry AA batteries from boxes to chargers and back

                              OR
                              get some of the invisible-paintable speaker wire tape and a wall wart

                              Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
                              || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
                              || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

                              solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
                              gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

                              Comment

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