So much for wanting a solution that wasn't so expensive! It does sound like a fun project, though. For you, not for me, I'd be worried about electrocuting myself 😆

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Haha yeah I haven't committed to anything yet. It's just the cheaper options I'm not 100% sure are going to work correctly and if I that happens I'm going to have to spend even more to fix it anyway!

But I've thought about making a portable solar charging station for a long time to learn a bit of how it all works. I've found there is actually a lot of information online for setting up solar and batteries in the RV/camping and vanlife communities, although it's definitely overkill to just power some lights 😂

I'm not as nervous around batteries as I am around messing with 240V. I know it's all dangerous though, I'll do a lot of reading first before I do anything I'm not sure about. Got to make life a little exciting somehow 😁

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I assumed it was 240v, since you have normal plugs for plugging in to, right? I guess with lights you can set it up specifically for the lights and get away with a lot lower voltage.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

The inverter will be for converting 12v to 240v. I think it's just simply wiring it to the 12v lithium battery, then plug in lights to inverter. I can't find a simple answer on if it's possible to convert the lights to use DC and it seems way more difficult, even though I lose some efficiency from using an inverter. If I ever add more I'd go the route of looking for DC powered lighting.

Inverter will be handy though as I could use the battery in a power outage to power other things as well.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

It will be interesting to hear what you decide to go with and how it works out. Good luck!