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Seymour Stained Glass Seattle, WA, USA 206-525-1577
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Solar etc.: additional places to look for revised 8/17/10 Please also see p 42 electronics layout correction Contact me if you are having trouble -- preferably by phone (206-525-1577 between 9am & 9pm Pacific time) and I may be come up with other suggestions. As a convienience, I can send you a kit of parts for the lantern electronics:
Many local stores have solar lights on special at the end of summer (Target, Fred Meyer, Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, True Value, Kmart) but I haven't found any solar panels that directly transfer to produce usable parts. (note that I have no connection to any of the retailers listed here). Walmart has $2.99 solar stakes with 1 and 9/16" square glass solar panels on top (these appear to be in store only). 4 of these panels will fill the top of the stained glass lantern nicely. Carefully cut the plastic away and pry up the glass solar panel. It is glued in the middle but not on the edge. Please be careful: it is easy to chip the edge or cut yourself on the sharp glass. Each panel gives about 3.4 V and 35 mA. Link 2 panels in series and then link these sets in parallel to the circuit in the book. This gives about 6.8 V and 70 mA in moderate sun. EBay store "xscyz" often has a 5v, 85mm x 85mm solar panel that works well (shipping is from Shanghai so buy several at once if you think you'll want them) Other possiblities: As mentioned in Garden Light, almost any of the inexpensive solar lights can be taken apart for their solar panels. These panels are commonly about 3/4" x 2 1/8" (17mm x 55mm) in size and about 1 volt . With our circuit, you should have at least 4.5 volts (and 72 mAmps) so you'll want to put 5 panels on the top of the lantern, wired in series (one to the next). Adding more panels allows it to still have enough voltage to charge the batteries on cloudy days. Solar light strings: Silicon Solar has several light strings, most of which look very blue. Target on-line: 50 points These look like what I bought last year from improvements.com. Those were only 1AA battery and very low power so they didn't illuminate the stained glass well.. Grandinroad warm white solar light string for remote solar for lanterns, birdbaths and tables. |
