ClubCJ - The CJ Lancer Club

I know this is a bit off topic but...

We have a tiny 2.4 x 4.8 meter shed with no mains power and I wanted to get an LED strip wired up with a small solar panel and battery but can't find anything off the shelf.

I have seen one from Bunnings but all the light is from one panel like this.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/solar-magic ... t_p4351882

My idea was to use a 3 meter (or so) lead of LED lights around the shed to spread out the light, it would be far better set up given the low roof line. The solar panel on the roof and a switch near the door or end of the lead.

Has anyone made anything like this with parts you can get at JayCar?

You can get 20 meter 12v strip led off ebay.
You can get a solar panel off ebay a lot cheaper then Jaycar. When you get the strip led you will need to increase the length of the wire from the battery to the leds to get them to the roof of the shed. If you have no idea how to use a soldering iron your safest bet would be to use some "positap" plugs to lengthen the wires.you can buy those off ebay from a company in melbourne.

Two of those units from bunnings would be awesome. One in diagonally opposite corners of the shed

bumblebee wrote:You can get 20 meter 12v strip led off ebay.
You can get a solar panel off ebay a lot cheaper then Jaycar. When you get the strip led you will need to increase the length of the wire from the battery to the leds to get them to the roof of the shed. If you have no idea how to use a soldering iron your safest bet would be to use some "positap" plugs to lengthen the wires.you can buy those off ebay from a company in melbourne.

Two of those units from bunnings would be awesome. One in diagonally opposite corners of the shed

This means the lights only work during the day.
You can buy cheap shed lights with rechargable batteries already fitted and solar panel.
I have one and it works fine

If you use the battery that was mentioned earlier in the conversation with the solar panel your a step closer to achieving your goal

The simpliest is to buy two of the bunnings units mentioned earlier

we have a harry potter cupboard (under the stairs hence name) and we just got an LED bar with batteries from bunnings, they last quite a while provided they arnt running 24/7 consistently. 3 years ours hasn't skipped a beat. it does cost a bit more than wiring an led strip like Aspir3 is talking about though, and depending on your ideal setup it might not give enough lighting area compared to strips around the ceiling of the shed

if you want a recommendation i can give you a link, used to work in that tiny ass corner of lights in bunnings, now i just deal with unqualified idiots trying to build half their house for under $20 at the other end of the store lol

Thanks for the ideas, I was thinking of 2 of those light but aren't they more of a spot light? Last thing you want is a light are eye level in your eyes, The shed is maybe 2 meters at the peak of the roof and just over 1.8 at the sides.

I did get a mains powered LED kit from Aldi once with a remote and it works great in the house but needs mains. I'll have a poke around Bunnings over the weekend to see what they have.

Hiw about a standard old "dolphin " torch?

I have a 'head' light but want something a bit better.

Got spot lights on ya car?
Drive ya car round and open the doors up on the shed and fire up the spotties

we point ours upward, bottom of the stairs reflects pretty well in the cupboard, so thats what we do, depends entirely on your shed, if its tin/colourbond the lights pointing upward would work, there are also some pretty good trigger lights now, as you open the shed a button on the light releases turning it on and vise versa.

Pointing upwards to reflect is a great idea. Go nuts with the bunnings ones and get 4 and put one in each corner

Yeah I might try that in the back corner and see how it goes.

This will do for now...

Nice one

Its a start, not very bright but enough if I need to get something at night.
I do wonder if I can hack the unit and run some LED strips from it!