Looking for some ideas... I have several sets of 12v LED lights (cheap ones off eBay) that come with a small solar panel and rechargeable battery. The ones I've looked at in most detail have a single 1.2v NiCd cell, and a circuit which charges the battery when light then turns on the lights when dark (I assume based on the voltage from the solar panel dropping off), with the option to flash the lights or just switch them on (as well as a voltage multiplier to supply the 12v where needed).
I don't expect the batteries to give me much life, so I'd like to look at getting a half decent solar panel coupled to a 12v car battery, but that alone will just give me lights that stay on 24/7, no blinking, and no "intelligence" to turn them off during the day. I have both an RPi and an Arduino at my disposal. I have no experience with the Arduino so figured this might be a good "getting started" project; the RPi I have only used as a Debian server (so no experience beyond normal Linux server admin stuff), so again it might make a good project for that. I have very limited electronics experience so I'm jumping into the deep end a bit here. The link last week to Spiratronics may well come in handy for parts. Oh, and the whole kit will have to live and work outside in the cold and wet. I don't have any mains power outside which is why I looked at 12v and solar in the first place. So, what can I do in the limited time between now and Christmas? Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG
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