Share your 12V LED Lighting experiences
Hi All, just stumbled across this group and thought ...Greener Nudists?... I guess that's us :-) So we're looking forward to contributing. Take a look at our profile for our backstory but in summary, during the summer months, we operate an off-grid, clothing optional, eco campsite in Montenegro (South of Croatia in the former Yugoslavia).
So I thought I'd (Steve) I'd kick off with my growing enthusiasm for 12V LED lighting.
We've installed a couple of small 12V Photovoltaic systems. You know the type - Solar panels provide power to a controller that directs some of that power directly to the consumer devices and the rest it uses to charge a 12V battery. When there is no sun it uses the 12V battery to power the consumer devices.
One of these systems we use to drive our compost toilets and waterless urinal systems. This sytem is close to full capacity but does provide enough surplus to cope with the occasional daytime use of devices through a 300W inverter and 2 12V cigar lighter sockets with USB adapters that customers can use to charge USB compatible devices.
The second PV system serves our 12v LED lighting in the main facilities building. This provides enough light for guests to find their way around the building at night but not really enough for cooking, eating, showering, socializing etc. So we still need to run a 240V generator for up to four hours a night. I'd love to be able to do away with using the generator for everything but the occasional use of power tools. Consequently, I'm considering increasing the number of LED lights attached to this PV system.
Anyone else using Solar PV or 12V LED lighting? I'm no expert and the existing system is a bit of a experiment/work in progress but I would be happy to describe it (and future plans) if any one is interested.