To be honest, we’re pretty much just hacking a cheap lighting system into a solar lighting system. Most of the parts we will need come preassembled. We’re mostly just wiring things up. The nice part about that is the fact that we only have to do a little soldering.
Parts:
Cheap Lighting System (With 2 or more metal “heads”)
Heavy Duty Outdoors Wire
High Powered LEDs (1 Watt or 3 Watt depending on your needs)
High Powered LED Driver
Heat Sinks
18V or better Solar Panel
12V Solar Charge Controller
12V Battery
Wire
Plastic Container
Washers
Cable Clamp
Terminal Strip
Tools:
Soldering Iron
Helping Hand
Screw Drivers
Silicon Calk
Wire Stripper and Cutter
I bought all the electronics off of eBay on the cheap. The hardware parts I bought from a local hardware store. The total cost of this project was in the range of $75 – 100. Not overly expensive, but much cheaper than any store bought high powered solar lighting system. Plus a whole lot more powerful.
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This lighting system was bought on clearance, so I have no issues gutting it. First cut the wires going into the housing. Then remove the various electronics on the inside. In this case it's just the connector that would hook up the regular light bulb. Just cut and pull.
Now your new wire and thread it back along the same path. I had to use some needle nosed pliers to help pull it through at one point. Not too tough to do, but slightly awkward. Make sure to leave a good amount of wire sticking out the top so we can solder. Strip the ends of the wire. Use a helping hand, or some other holder, to grip the LED. Now solder one wire onto a + tab and one onto a - tab. After I soldered the LED I also put a heat sink on the bottom of the LED. These guys can get hot, and since we're in a mostly enclosed space I don't want to take any risks.
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