Outdoor Solar Lights

Tonight I went out into the garden, for a cigarette.

As I stood there, smoking, I looked around at the moon and the starry sky and the wisps if clouds, at the plants, darker shadows against the backdrop of the moonlit night, that turned the darkness of the bushes into mottled shade, I saw a glow in the undergrowth.

I wondered at the cool, bright light, it was not the diaphanous glow of a cats’ eyes, for those would blink, nor could it be a torch, for that would shine a beam somewhere further than itself. Was it St. Anselmo’s fire, I was not in a swamp and there were so no marsh gases to burn.

Was it a star, fallen to earth and lost in the damp coolness of the darkened greenery? Or a tiny alien ship, hiding from view? Perhaps it was a fairy, or a pixie, carrying a minuscule lantern?

I had to investigate, so, crouching by the wall, looking through the perforated brick I tried to gauge where it was located.

After a while I climbed on a ledge, I saw that I was seeing a shiny leaf reflecting the light of the moon that peeped through the branches above.

At first I felt disappointed, there was no fallen star, no tiny alien ship, no fairy and no pixie; but then I began to wonder about the nature of perception and how the ignorant mind observing something wondrous and unusual has several choices open to it.

It can ignore it and return to its mundane concerns, it can decide to make-up some outlandish explanation, or it can go and investigate.

A leaf reflecting the moonlight then seemed to me a metaphor for the wonder of the world, the moon, sun and stars, all inexplicable to the primitive mind.

Some have chosen to accept and ignore them, others have constructed myths and gods to explain them, however implausible, while others have set about discovering what it is made of, how it all fits together and science evolved.

I find myself glad that I went to take a look and that I found that a tiny leaf hidden in the undergrowth, by sheer chance, against all odds, reflected the light of a celestial body millions of kilometres away.

Improbably, through that tiny discovery I had a glimpse into the religious mind, that would rather sit in darkness and call a leaf a miracle, instead of setting on the path to knowledge and open itself to discovery, surprise, disappointment even, but open nonetheless, instead of being content of remaining ignorant and dazzled by myths, legends and lies.

This has reminded me of Richard Dawkins’ “Unravelling the rainbow”, which lies still, unfinished, on my shelf. It made me want to go and read it again, from the beginning, and revisit his weighty tome on the glory of knowledge and discovery, countering in far greater depth than I can, here, the accusation that science kills romance and wonder.

Like him, I believe science opens the mind to wonder in a way that no mythology of gods, miracles, angels and portents can.

Therein lies the eternal joy of learning something new every moment of our lives, instead of revisiting someone else’s tales and convoluted lies about a god I have never seen.

In nature and in the universe beyond our world, I see a host of the the most amazing miracles, each a wonder in itself, from the vastness of the cosmos to the unravelling discoveries of particle physics.

An atom, though not really much like a solar system, yet in some ways behaves a one, to my mind, and each electron might be a planet, inhabited by bipedal creatures hat muse at the existence of their universe, which I call my body.

I do not require them to worship me, I made no conscious contribution to their existence and such adorations would be both, undeserved and wasteful.

I would far rather they studied Universe Me and discovered that matter is made of particles, put together thus and thus, that energy behaves in this and that way, that the two interact in predictable ways, mostly, and that even the unpredictable can be understood, if they put their microscopic minds to it.

I would encourage those who consider science dry and unromantic to look again, to study and learn to appreciate the exquisite beauty of the universe, the world and ourselves and be grateful that we ave evolved such a wonderful brain.
Many miss the point: it isn’t necessary for the "god" they believe in to be the creator anymore than it it is necessary that I "create whatever inhabits the atoms of Uiverse Me. I simply exist, whatever inhabits those subatomic dimensions simply exists, there is no act of "creation", just existence on many levels, all contained within each other, like Russian Dolls.

Thus gods are surplus to requirement, if we allow ourselves not to be afraid to explore, we become part of that continuum… without need for mythologies to justify our wonder, nor of gods to explain what, in time, we may or may not understand.

I love how there’s no mention of scientific laws and theories in the bible but whenever a new scientific discovery is made the religious folk chorus ‘oh yeah..well erm…god did that!’ Rather convenient that no matter what a sane person discovers or says about the universe and life, a religious believer can just say ‘god made that’.

There is no arguing with them, leave them to their frankly, really boring fantasies, whilst the rest of us learn and discover the real wonders of life and the universe. It’s their loss that they don’t seek out truth because it’s a million times more amazing that the little ‘miracles’ in that old book they bang on about.

Tonight I went out into the garden, for a cigarette.

As I stood there, smoking, I looked around at the moon and the starry sky and the wisps if clouds, at the plants, darker shadows against the backdrop of the moonlit night, that turned the darkness of the bushes into mottled shade, I saw a glow in the undergrowth.

I wondered at the cool, bright light, it was not the diaphanous glow of a cats’ eyes, for those would blink, nor could it be a torch, for that would shine a beam somewhere further than itself. Was it St. Anselmo’s fire, I was not in a swamp and there were so no marsh gases to burn.

Was it a star, fallen to earth and lost in the damp coolness of the darkened greenery? Or a tiny alien ship, hiding from view? Perhaps it was a fairy, or a pixie, carrying a minuscule lantern?

I had to investigate, so, crouching by the wall, looking through the perforated brick I tried to gauge where it was located.

After a while I climbed on a ledge, I saw that I was seeing a shiny leaf reflecting the light of the moon that peeped through the branches above.

At first I felt disappointed, there was no fallen star, no tiny alien ship, no fairy and no pixie; but then I began to wonder about the nature of perception and how the ignorant mind observing something wondrous and unusual has several choices open to it.

It can ignore it and return to its mundane concerns, it can decide to make-up some outlandish explanation, or it can go and investigate.

A leaf reflecting the moonlight then seemed to me a metaphor for the wonder of the world, the moon, sun and stars, all inexplicable to the primitive mind.

Some have chosen to accept and ignore them, others have constructed myths and gods to explain them, however implausible, while others have set about discovering what it is made of, how it all fits together and science evolved.

I find myself glad that I went to take a look and that I found that a tiny leaf hidden in the undergrowth, by sheer chance, against all odds, reflected the light of a celestial body millions of kilometres away.

Improbably, through that tiny discovery I had a glimpse into the religious mind, that would rather sit in darkness and call a leaf a miracle, instead of setting on the path to knowledge and open itself to discovery, surprise, disappointment even, but open nonetheless, instead of being content of remaining ignorant and dazzled by myths, legends and lies.

This has reminded me of Richard Dawkins’ “Unravelling the rainbow”, which lies still, unfinished, on my shelf. It made me want to go and read it again, from the beginning, and revisit his weighty tome on the glory of knowledge and discovery, countering in far greater depth than I can, here, the accusation that science kills romance and wonder.

Like him, I believe science opens the mind to wonder in a way that no mythology of gods, miracles, angels and portents can.

Therein lies the eternal joy of learning something new every moment of our lives, instead of revisiting someone else’s tales and convoluted lies about a god I have never seen.

In nature and in the universe beyond our world, I see a host of the the most amazing miracles, each a wonder in itself, from the vastness of the cosmos to the unravelling discoveries of particle physics.

An atom, though not really much like a solar system, yet in some ways behaves a one, to my mind, and each electron might be a planet, inhabited by bipedal creatures hat muse at the existence of their universe, which I call my body.

I do not require them to worship me, I made no conscious contribution to their existence and such adorations would be both, undeserved and wasteful.

I would far rather they studied Universe Me and discovered that matter is made of particles, put together thus and thus, that energy behaves in this and that way, that the two interact in predictable ways, mostly, and that even the unpredictable can be understood, if they put their microscopic minds to it.

I would encourage those who consider science dry and unromantic to look again, to study and learn to appreciate the exquisite beauty of the universe, the world and ourselves and be grateful that we ave evolved such a wonderful brain.
Many miss the point: it isn’t necessary for the "god" they believe in to be the creator anymore than it it is necessary that I "create whatever inhabits the atoms of Uiverse Me. I simply exist, whatever inhabits those subatomic dimensions simply exists, there is no act of "creation", just existence on many levels, all contained within each other, like Russian Dolls.

Thus gods are surplus to requirement, if we allow ourselves not to be afraid to explore, we become part of that continuum… without need for mythologies to justify our wonder, nor of gods to explain what, in time, we may or may not understand.

I love how there’s no mention of scientific laws and theories in the bible but whenever a new scientific discovery is made the religious folk chorus ‘oh yeah..well erm…god did that!’ Rather convenient that no matter what a sane person discovers or says about the universe and life, a religious believer can just say ‘god made that’.

There is no arguing with them, leave them to their frankly, really boring fantasies, whilst the rest of us learn and discover the real wonders of life and the universe. It’s their loss that they don’t seek out truth because it’s a million times more amazing that the little ‘miracles’ in that old book they bang on about.

I built a tiki hut and would like to put some flickering lights in a couple of old lanterns inside of the hut. I have low voltage wiring around the hut now for other garden lights, can I take my fake electric flickering candle out of my house cut the plug off the end of the cord and connect it to the low voltage wire to get the candles to work/flicker in the lantern in the hut? The fake candle is 110 the wire is a lot smaller/thinner than the low voltage wire. I do have a transformer and do not have very many lights on it now. Hope this was not hard to understand. I would like to have flickering lights out in the hut but don’t have the solar knowledge on how to set it up and don’t want to do the battery thing. thank you very much

ZZ, I am a journeyman electrician, I have been for almost 40 years.

The 110 volt bulb will not light on the low voltage, sorry.

But……….. You can put a 12 volt battery in the hut, and a 12 volt to 110 volt converter, and use it that way. A small output converter would run a number of the bulbs, a 400 watt, or even smaller.

You can use solar to recharge the battery.

I want to make solar powered Christmas lights for my experiment. I will make little lights like this

http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/lantern

string them up and paint the jars red and green so the light shines through teh paint. One problem, i need a question to test. Thank you

Can the sun light up a Christmas tree?

Or how do solar powered lights work?

He has 140 people from 20 countries meeting to discuss a high school curriculum to train disadvantaged rural youth to plant a vegetable garden and then show them how to sell tomatos. I could do that out of the back of my car. He has a noble prize winner consulting with him on replacing kerosene and paraffin lanterns with solar lighting devices to combat global warming. What a joke! I could reduce green house gases more than that just by walking around the block. Visa is going to teach 10 million people financial literacy. I think they will learn plenty about finances when they find themselves trapped in a debt spiral.
This whole Clinton Global Initiative seems like a scam to me. It sounds good on paper but when you look at the details there is nothing there. It seems like another way for companies to give themselves big pats on the back while claiming business travel tax deductions. Thoughts?

http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=2154&srcid=1399

He will not help W.Virginia but let me tell you this:

Coal has NEVER made people from a specific region rich. It keeps people in low or average paying jobs focused on backward economic activity. The short term profit is for investors and generally the users of the energy (national and international level) while the environmental and social negative impacts are high locally.

I would abandon right now the coal industry and really do everything to attract high tech jobs. If I were there, I would gladly show your local government the way to go.

What you really need are entrepreneurs and elite technology universities with people willing to stay and improve things locally instead of fleeing to high-paying states.

He has 140 people from 20 countries meeting to discuss a high school curriculum to train disadvantaged rural youth to plant a vegetable garden and then show them how to sell tomatos. I could do that out of the back of my car. He has a noble prize winner consulting with him on replacing kerosene and paraffin lanterns with solar lighting devices to combat global warming. What a joke! I could reduce green house gases more than that just by walking around the block. Visa is going to teach 10 million people financial literacy. I think they will learn plenty about finances when they find themselves trapped in a debt spiral.
This whole Clinton Global Initiative seems like a scam to me. It sounds good on paper but when you look at the details there is nothing there. It seems like another way for companies to give themselves big pats on the back while claiming business travel tax deductions. Thoughts?

http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=2154&srcid=1399

Clinton who? I have lost respect for both of them…..I have never seen anyone who would go out of their way to destroy the Democratic party……Obama08!!!!!! And he does not need Hillary or her baggage on the ticket, just because she was first lady does NOT qualify her to LEAD this country……..

User friendly easy to operate this compact solar home lighting system provides uninterrupted omni directional light for 4 to 6 hours and is completely noiseless smoke free and free from fire hazards .The independent lighting system consisting of a 7-9w CFL tube light 12v 7.5 ah SMF battery and a S P V module which provides full charging to incorporated battery with in 8 to 10 hours of exposure in sun light . The system is designed to work under even adverse climatic conditions like high temperature, dust storms and 0o or even minus tempratures.The electronic sub assembly is easily replaceable in case of very unlikely fault occurrence situations .

RK1049@gmail.com

neat-o.

If I were to move to my cabin that I have in the mountains. This cabin is nice and rather remote. It has no plumbing. It is not wired for electricity. It has a wood burning stove and fireplace for cooking and heat. I use lanterns for light. Solar power won’t work because of the tall pine trees that block the sun. I can use a horse to get around instead of a vehicle. Some of my food needs can be taken care of by fishing and hunting. I usually spend about two weeks there every summer. I’m not real sure if I would want to live like that all the time unless I really had to. How would this be for green living? Living in that cabin is almost like going back in time a hundred years or so. How would you like to try that out?
Water comes from a well nearby. The old hand pump type. The outhouse is in back. No bath or shower but there is a lake not far to the west.
A wood burning stove and fireplace is the only option here and the most practical fathead. Consider the remoteness of the cabin.
The outhouse is OK. The water supply is better then most and far better then what you get in the cities. Never use soap in the lake.

You would be living off the land, and being that the cabin is so remote, you would be harming no one. I would love to vacation in a place like that–but don’t think I could do it year-round–particularly not in the winter months.

We are into social work in rural areas and we really need low cost yet reliable lights, to light up even say a few square yards for our workers to walk safely through uninhabited roads/areas, Thank you for your help.

you can check with SELCO, India. They are based in Bangalore and are into solar lighting in rural areas.

I have a set of solar powered garden lanterns I need to use for a play. The man at the store said to leave them in full sun (I’m in England, so that’s never going to happen!) for three days before turning them on. However, I need them before that for rehearsals. Is there a way to quickly and artificially charge solar cells? What sort of artificial light works/works best in charging solar cells?

Any form of bright light will do, but sunlight, because it is so bright, works best. The three day initial charge is needed only for the first time, if at all, and after that you can simply recharge them during the day and recharge them at night. Another thing to try would be this: your typical solar garden lantern has two rechargeable AA cells. Try replacing these with alkaline batteries (take note of polarity), and the lanterns should work. These cells can be removed after the show and re-used until exhausted.