neat idea to save on electric

**nodmicks** · 06-30-2009, 11:01 AM

http://2good2lose.com/solar-lights.shtml

What a terrific idea! I'm going to see if dh will go for this!

**pinetree** · 06-30-2009, 01:17 PM

Thanks for posting, I'm going to look into this. Sounds like a great idea.

**sunshine** · 06-30-2009, 11:09 PM

The lights are generally "anemic" so be prepared for low lighting issues. We have solar lights on our porches outdoors, and we love them, and I'm intrigued with the idea of using them indoors for some aspects -- but cant' see changing over entirely to solar lights such as those, indoors.

**Grainlady** · 07-01-2009, 08:24 AM

We have large (10"x5"? or there abouts) Westinghouse solar lights inside and outside of our shed (we got them at Sam's Club) and they work really well and are very bright - even comes with a remote for turning them on/off.

There are also solar-powered LED "Christmas" lights which work great on a deck or patio. The twinkle lights don't attract moths and other bugs. We also have a solar light that illuminates our deck steps, which is designed for steps, and the traditional solar-powered path lights and up-lights to illuminate the front of the house.

Speaking of Sam's - we've purchased LED lightbulbs from Sam's to save electricity. They use even less electricity than compact florescent bulbs and these bulbs would be a good choice anywhere you chance a CF bulb breaking (because of the mercury), like a lamp or in a child's room. We've replace some recessed lighting with these LED lights (there are two styles of LED bulbs) and others with CF lights.

We enter our house from our garage into a windowless laundry room. Then we have another door into the kitchen (our little air-lock to help maintain the air temperature in the rest of the house). Instead of turning on the light or stumbling in the dark, we installed a large motion-activated nightlight that stays on for 90 seconds, which is more than enough time to pass through the room or put away or get something out of the room without having to turn the ceiling light on. We did the same thing in our bathroom (also no windows). It's enough light to "do your business" and see to wash your hands rather than turning on 6 CF bulbs and 1 LED bulb for those few minutes. Switching CF lights on and off for brief use will shorten their life.....

Another use for those solar pathway lights... A few years ago we had an ice storm and we were without electricity for a prolonged period of time. We would bring in the pathway lights each day to light several rooms of the house. You could also use the batteries out of them in an emergency and recharge them each day.

**nodmicks** · 07-01-2009, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by Grainlady

We have large (10"x5"? or there abouts) Westinghouse solar lights inside and outside of our shed (we got them at Sam's Club) and they work really well and are very bright - even comes with a remote for turning them on/off.

There are also solar-powered LED "Christmas" lights which work great on a deck or patio. The twinkle lights don't attract moths and other bugs. We also have a solar light that illuminates our deck steps, which is designed for steps, and the traditional solar-powered path lights and up-lights to illuminate the front of the house.

Speaking of Sam's - we've purchased LED lightbulbs from Sam's to save electricity. They use even less electricity than compact florescent bulbs and these bulbs would be a good choice anywhere you chance a CF bulb breaking (because of the mercury), like a lamp or in a child's room. We've replace some recessed lighting with these LED lights (there are two styles of LED bulbs) and others with CF lights.

We enter our house from our garage into a windowless laundry room. Then we have another door into the kitchen (our little air-lock to help maintain the air temperature in the rest of the house). Instead of turning on the light or stumbling in the dark, we installed a large motion-activated nightlight that stays on for 90 seconds, which is more than enough time to pass through the room or put away or get something out of the room without having to turn the ceiling light on. We did the same thing in our bathroom (also no windows). It's enough light to "do your business" and see to wash your hands rather than turning on 6 CF bulbs and 1 LED bulb for those few minutes. Switching CF lights on and off for brief use will shorten their life.....

Another use for those solar pathway lights... A few years ago we had an ice storm and we were without electricity for a prolonged period of time. We would bring in the pathway lights each day to light several rooms of the house. You could also use the batteries out of them in an emergency and recharge them each day.

I love the things you mentioned doing. I have the stake solar lights around the deck and they do a good job!!!

I also saw a piece on amazon you could add to a regular light to make it motion activated. I thought that would be great for our mud room as dh and the kids constantly forget to shut it off. We leave 1 CF low watt bulb on in the kitchen all night. I thought the solar would work great there.

**FrugalMomof3** · 07-01-2009, 03:41 PM

I might look into this, sounds promising. My electric bill isn't that high but I would love to have it go down

Thanks for sharing!

**maryannsms** · 07-23-2009, 12:29 AM

The recent global economic meltdown has made millions of people look for ways on how to save money on electric bills. They are doing drastic changes in their lifestyles.

Thanks for sharing this