I built a shed out back and I would like to install a solar panel to power a small light inside and outside of the shed. Or maybe just the inside. Does anyone have any advice and suggestions?
I’m confused now
Well, i plan on just using it when i go out to the shed and need a little light on to see inside at night.

Wow, so many great answers!

Best answer:

Answer by caffine_loady
My suggestion is to buy a solar powered shed light.

I suppose you could make one… figure out the maximum amount of time you could possibly need the light during a day, convert to hours… multiply that by the wattage of the light source you intend on using… that gives you a watt/hour rating for a battery storage device. Find yourself a solar panel with a voltage that’s usable for the circuit you are making, 12v usually or maybe 5v for led lights (but then there’s some circuitry that needs to happen to make that one work). You figure out the amount of sun you’ll get there on a short day (think winter solstice) in hours and then figure out how many watts your solar cell needs to put out to charge that battery from earlier.

Say you have a 18 watt/hour battery (12v) and a 2 watt solar cell (12v) and you get 9 hours on the solstice… see? 2×9=18
Now you need to put in an overcharge preventer, so you don’t overcharge the cell on longer days, or days you don’t use the light… and voila!

Or you can buy a solar powered shed light….

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