I've been slowly putting together this solar LED lighting system. It uses my original 5w panels. I originally had it configured for 6v, with one of the panels, trying to use an old laptop charger as the charge controller; which didnt work.
I've now put both panels into action for 12v using the two 6v 4ah sla's, using the 1.5A charge controller I already had. I've made two lights, one for the attic(right above my room), using two 'modules' of 10 LED's. This was easy to configure for 12v, cutting the wires between them and putting them in series.
The other light is made out of 20 'warm white' LED's; a much more natural colour, built into a burnt out GU10 halogen bulb. I couldnt really glue the pins in the right orientation etc so I just attached a cable. It fits nicely in an ordinary downlight fitting. I've attached a small push switch(the green thing next to it) on the ceiling as well; the ceiling is pretty low so I can reach up to push it.
The attic light has been up for a while but I mounted the roof light yesterday and installed the switch today so its all up and running :-D
The panels have been 'mounted' outside the window. One is attached to the wall with shelf brackets bent to the right angle and the other is currently sitting on the windowsill.
Notice the Poll...
Heres some pics:
Ceiling Light:
v. messy Battery wiring :-)
Panels:
Attic Light:
