Yes... Light has come to my darkness.
An inexpensive Walmart lantern taking D cells has given light to my darkness. It's 500 lumens only so its not that bright but it's brighter than the darkness so its somewhat of an improvement.
As I'm trying to work out the cheapest way of doing things, it seems to make sense rather than installing expensive cabling and light fixtures just to have a couple of led lanterns.
The minimum I could get away with is a single 120v socket. That could be used to power the fridge then be switched out to power a microwave or a kettle. I'm definitely going to need some 12v power for water pumps and for powering USB chargers etc. For water heating, the best solution seems to be solar power and a 12v heating element though the unit needs a temperature regulator rather than being solely a dump load.
I've been advised that 12v marine batteries aren't really deep cycle but on the other hand they're readily available. I have a feeling I'm going to be better off putting in a 120v system that runs off a Harbor Freight cheapo generator initially then build up to a full solar system.
One things for sure - that lantern isn't bad. It takes 4 D cells so it should last a while between batteries. Maybe I could find some rechargeable D cells too.
An inexpensive Walmart lantern taking D cells has given light to my darkness. It's 500 lumens only so its not that bright but it's brighter than the darkness so its somewhat of an improvement.
As I'm trying to work out the cheapest way of doing things, it seems to make sense rather than installing expensive cabling and light fixtures just to have a couple of led lanterns.
The minimum I could get away with is a single 120v socket. That could be used to power the fridge then be switched out to power a microwave or a kettle. I'm definitely going to need some 12v power for water pumps and for powering USB chargers etc. For water heating, the best solution seems to be solar power and a 12v heating element though the unit needs a temperature regulator rather than being solely a dump load.
I've been advised that 12v marine batteries aren't really deep cycle but on the other hand they're readily available. I have a feeling I'm going to be better off putting in a 120v system that runs off a Harbor Freight cheapo generator initially then build up to a full solar system.
One things for sure - that lantern isn't bad. It takes 4 D cells so it should last a while between batteries. Maybe I could find some rechargeable D cells too.
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