[RE-wrenches] Solar 12 volt DC lighting for school in Haiti

[Walt Ratterman]

Hello Lee,

 

Walt here.

 

I will be leaving for Haiti in about a week, and be there for three….

 

We have done lots of schools.  If you are strictly 12V, your choices primarily are 12V CF and LED lights.  There are lots of pros and cons to both.

 

The real question is what you intend to use the lights for.

 

If you go to our photo gallery (link from home page:  www.sunepi.org ), and check out the Sierra Leone gallery, you will see some clamp-on LED Lights that are 12V and are used for night time studying. They are pretty much task lights and are low level.  If you are trying to keep the system really small in terms of watts of solar panels, (and cost) these can be great, but again – the primary question is what will the light be used for.

 

A step up from that would be the 12V CFL’s. Might be tough to get in Haiti (for replacements).  I can check next week and let you know.

 

If you have any kind of distances involved, you will probably want to consider an inverter (Morningstar SS-300 is great) to avoid the losses associated with 12V dc wiring.

 

Feel free to contact me off line if you want to go over this some more….

 

Thanks,

 

Walt

 

 

 

From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Lee Bristol
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 2:53 PM
To: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Solar 12 volt DC lighting for school in Haiti

 

Can anyone recommend lights for a school in Haiti.  I am going there in a couple of months to install a 12 volt solar PV system and need to illuminate seven 16 x 20 foot school rooms.  I am so confused by all of the light bulb options, base options, CFL vs LED, what wattage is required, etc.  I would expect that two fixtures with bulbs would suffice for a room.  Any ideas?

There is no grid power available…this is really out in the boondocks.

 

Thanks

Lee

-- 
Lee Bristol
NABCEP Certified Solar Designer/Installer

Chief Technology Officer
Standard Solar, Inc.
202 Perry Parkway, #7
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
(301) 944-5105
(240) 479-1510 (c)
www.standardsolar.com

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