DIY Solar Shed Lighting! Affordable LED Setup

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I built a 12x16 garage over this last summer and I needed a way to light it up. This was the DIY solution that I decided to put together!
These LED strip lights are super bright and I can see everything clearly without a flashlight. All the parts used in this project are listed below. Let me know if you have any questions or comments on the process!
DIY Project Parts List:
12v 5630 LED Tape Lighting:
amzn.to/30jhE84
amzn.to/3cMACbT
amzn.to/2GstsgT
Solar Charge Controller:
amzn.to/2Fe1LYp
12 Volt 7 Amp Hour Battery:
amzn.to/2JRxihq
25 Watt Monocrystalline Solar Panel:
amzn.to/2qAjGOI
Plastic Nailing Clips:
amzn.to/2JVf4M4
8 Feet of 1/2 inch Aluminum Angle:
www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-...
16-2 AWG Landscape Wire:
www.homedepot.com/p/Southwire...
Heavy Duty Light Switch:
amzn.to/2EqlYdI
Being an Amazon Associate, the following Amazon links are affiliate links that when used throw a small commission to me. Your purchases help me keep new content coming, thank you for your support of my channel!
- Jasonoid

[@Jasonoid]

Check out my website for other awesome content! jasonoid.com/

[@babascustomlegocreations8837]

Only 5k views? This video is Better quality than a 500k video !

[@davidhoque5864]

Thank you for posting this Jasonoid. Very easy, clean and a great idea! Thanks for emailing me back so fast in regards to my questions as well.

[@btwes]

I just remodeled my shed and this was a great finishing touch. Thanks for the links to the materials. I was able to get everything off Amazon except the angle iron. One thing to watch out for - if you drill holes in the aluminum and screw that into the beams, be careful not to short out the strip. It's really easy to do. If the lights keep going out, loosen the screws and put them back in gently.

[@Jasonoid]

I'm glad it helped! Thanks for watching and thanks for the tips!

[@innergoof19]

Getting my shed built this week! Perfect low power system, and I already have a 7ah battery from another project that's ready to go!

[@TimConlan]

Thanks for doing this, I followed it to light my backyard shed. Works great!

[@Jasonoid]

Thanks for watching, glad it helped your project! Love to hear other people are doing it!

[@viduransivakumarasingham2640]

That's exactly what I want to do! Thanks for the help bud.

[@kapahi15]

Great job bro! I like it!

[@j.ericswede7084]

Very nice explanation. I am building a 14 x 18 wood shop and this is what I will use to light the darker corners. Thanks for the thorough explanation.

[@Jasonoid]

Happy to help!

[@miltonaraki7572]

Very informative and well done! Thumbs up!

[@gd9704]

Thanks for the great video. You inspired me to install a solar lighting system in my 12' x 16' shed. Works excellent-way better than any pre-packaged system, and costs way less. Plus, I have the satisfaction of having built it myself. Consider yourself subscribed!

[@Jasonoid]

That is awesome!

[@WayneRigley]

Nice and simple ! Good job..

[@duannguyen1550]

That is one clean and organized shed. Don't forget an inline fuse or two. I know it's a hassle but it's pretty cheap and peace of mind goes a long way.

[@Jasonoid]

duannguyen thanks appreciate you tuning in, planning on putting a fuse in shortly!

[@mikep2590]

What fuse / configuration did you end up installing? Great video - this is exactly what I need, installing as soon as parts arrive, thanks so much for posting!

[@FLT1979]

What is the inline fuse for? Just learning about this cool stuff.

[@MrCcarter7]

Very nice job thank you for posting! God bless!

[@toobukume]

thanks for pointing me in the right direction! I've got a 30x8 shed (i know it's goofy dimensions but previous owner built it) about 100 yards from the house so i didn't feel like running electric to it. No need for outlets either, just light. i'll adapt it this for a switch at each end of the shed and lights running the full length but I like the angle idea and cheap charger. thanks!

[@Jasonoid]

thanks for watching, i'm sure you can get the perfect setup for your shed.

[@JoeMalovich]

Well done!

[@unclea1bert]

So my 1-window shed (which is in tree shaded area) is in need of some lighting. I love this setup! Seems simple and inexpensive. Im just looking for having lights when i step out there to look for something. Might pickup a cheap portable generator to power some tools in the future. This should work for my needs. Thanks for the video!

[@patriciaribaric3409]

I need to study up on connecting electrical wires. I have a 14 X 20 barn that your set up is perfect for. I'm impressed!!!

[@Jasonoid]

You can do it!

[@GManKeepsltReal]

Clean install!

[@cristidumitru3771]

Great video man! Exactly what I needed! Thank you!

[@Jasonoid]

Still going strong today! Couple years later!

[@eazyfreek]

Simple and works. Awesome . Thanks J............

[@Jasonoid]

You're welcome!

[@tubejim101]

Nice job on the shed.

[@sagarsane12686]

Nice video. I love solar projects.

[@sagarsane12686]

Where r u from

[@djames2377]

You should get an award how tidy your shed is

[@atothezeezee]

Perfect!

[@llkmartin557]

Nice job.

[@richesposito]

Great video and thank you so much for the parts list. I used the same parts and installed solar lighting in our community's Boy Scout shed and it works great. Thank you.

[@Fordgroup00]

I want to do this. And also into our house. This would be great for outside as well!

[@Jasonoid]

Its very bright and would work great for outdoor patio lights

[@sundancedeb]

It would be great to have step by step instructions.... :) . Looks great!

[@naturalworld-nw1]

Thank you for sharing

[@fishonph8955]

Nice set up.. new subscriber here.. ❤ from Philippines

[@williamvaughan1218]

You should use the output load part on that charge controller that way you have over discharge battery protection. I have Two of those charge controllers and they work well.

[@Jasonoid]

I never use the lights long enough to discharge the battery to damage it. If I used them more I would use the load attachment points.

[@jsmythib]

I have been using RV bulbs, standard screw in base so you can use a standard light fixtures 12-24v. I also have some hand wired 10w LED cobs @ 250ma for free* lighting installed in every ceiling in my house. All of my outbuildings, shed, coup, greenhouse have independent systems like this...until recently. I just ran a 10guage pair, and a 6 wire solid core(control wire) thru every structure. Now I can have some fun :) I was just searching to checkout others projects like this. Thankyou! :)

[@Jasonoid]

Excellent ideas! This video is a bit old, I'd probably do it a little differently if I re did it now haha.

[@Eger118877]

This is an awesome video. I have two questions, should I use 2 inline fuses? Also, what type of connectors are you using to connect the wires to the battery?

[@scummyinoz]

Gday nice i put a car battery and a solar panel in my 40ft container and set up 3 1m long led lights on 3 switches and run a car radio i put the lights in a alloy channel held on the roof with hard drive magnets cos i did not want to put holes in the roof and all wiring is in poly pipe and the cam can not show how good the light is. cheers

[@juanvalverde7229]

Can you please present a video on how you wired the components to make it all work. Thank you.

[@lawrencedavidson6195]

The wiring is described at 1:20 A wiring diagram also comes with the charge controller. Greetings from sunny Jamaica.

[@gazsto6733]

Great video and a massive help on my new low energy design and layout. Your using a SH1228W battery and they are 8AH? do you have any calculations on the energy those lights use, the length of time they last on a full battery charge? What is the wattage per strip?

[@euphoricmonkey8409]

Hi really like the video and just what I intend to do in my sheds. Thanks for posting. Just one question, is there a reason why you connected your lighting circuit directly to the battery and not to the DC terminals on the solar controller.

[@Jasonoid]

Just preference, connecting the lights to the load out will keep you from discharging the battery too far. You can do it either way. Thanks for watching!

[@PROJECT1ZERO3]

Jason, great work. I just purchased everything to do lights in my shed. Any chance you could put up some closeups of the wiring at the battery and how you connected the lights and the battery to the terminals?

[@Jasonoid]

Google how to setup solar charge controller wires and you'll get some great images for a layout.

[@jerrydaniel1530]

left and came back to give thumbs up

[@Jasonoid]

Thanks Jerry!

[@johnmartin9019]

Nice grid

[@damian_the_mando_apprentice]

This is extremely helpful. My garage is about the same size so this will do wonders. The Amazon links still work but would you recommend any other upgrades as the video is now 2 years old?

[@Jasonoid]

Larger battery if you plan to use the lights more than 20 minutes at a time. Other than that, I love them!

[@vansgardens2304]

Nice install, I didn’t notice any fuse. Is there some over current protection between the battery and lights?

[@bobfalk2896]

Great video. How did you determine the solar panel size/wattage needed? I would like to get by with a smaller panel if possible. Thanks, bob

[@Jasonoid]

It's all based on how large your battery and current draw are. If you plan to run lots of amps consistently you will need a larger amp hour battery to handle the load. If you want to charge that battery faster you will need a larger solar panel. If you have lights that pull 3amps while running, you will need a 6 amp hour battery to run them for 1 hour. You never want to run the battery below 50% capacity. Hope this info helps!

[@Bido11561]

So you go from battery to switch then straight into the strip? How did you connect battery to strip lighting?

[@andrewleman3106]

Awesome setup! I just added everything to my amazon cart because this is exactly what I needed. What did you use for the switch mount?

[@Jasonoid]

It was a metal L bracket I had laying around, I just drilled a hole and painted it gray.

[@andrewleman3106]

@@Jasonoid gotcha. Thanks for the reply. I have some laying around but nothing that large. I wanted someone bigger so I don’t slice my hand when searching for the switch in the dark 🤣

[@Jasonoid]

@@andrewleman3106 there are probably many ways to do it, but yeah make sure it's not sharp to slice you in the dark! Good point.

[@djdannybhtx]

Great video. So im guessing the lights are on the angled aluminum? Also what isnthe black ends of the lights?

[@Jasonoid]

Solder joints with the other lights and wiring

[@donflores5227]

I did a similar setup in my shed with a deep cycle 12v battery. and led strips. The one problem I had is forgetting to turn the lights off and coming back to a dead battery two days later. I solved that by replacing the switch with a one hour timer mounted to a standard 110v wall switch box. Now if I forget to turn the lights off the timer runs out and the lights turn off. no more dead battery.

[@justincooper2865]

I am very curious as to how long those lights last when on continuously. My apartment landlord wants a solar light solution for his car ports and I think this could be very effective with low maintenance so long as the run time is good. Please advise. Great and simple video btw!

[@Jasonoid]

These lights in a full strip put out lots of light and use lots of power. If you want the battery to last all night use only a few feet of light.

[@mmmmmmmmmbop]

Hey Jasonoid, love your video! Is that battery still alive and kicking? Thanks so much

[@Jasonoid]

Yep, two years later it's working well. When this battery is toast I plan to get a larger battery for longer run times. Thanks for watching!

[@30iuoenyc]

How long of a run time do you get when on continuous?

[@vandrangivenkatesh2836]

How do I hook this up to my ceiling !!?

[@waynec1752]

Great concept! Just built an 8x10 shed. What modifications to this setup could I make to increase my lighting to 4-5 hours? Battery type, etc?

[@waynec1752]

Edit - found a batt calculator; would need a 120ah ($250) battery according to that.

[@Jasonoid]

Depends on how much power your lights use, 12 volt led lights are very efficient. If they only pull 2 or 3 amps, a 35 Amp hour battery would last plenty long.

[@waynec1752]

Hey there! Some follow ups bc I’m using this lay out and may help others: it looks as if you have 1 cable going to each angle piece which has 2 strips on them. Is this accurate? If so how did you connect each strip end to 1 cords + and - side; seems like you would need 2 cords per angle piece. Additionally I was going to use 3M Scotchlok connectors to bridge off of main line running to the back to feed the first angle piece any foreseeable issue with that? And did you just secure angle ends with electrical tape? Thank you!

[@Jasonoid]

@@waynec1752 The aluminum angle is secured using zip ties to each rafter. I wired the lights together using 14 gauge exterior landscape wire, each light has a positive and negative wire coming directly from the battery and I just daisy chained the lights by connecting positive to positive and negative to negative. Each LED strip has double sided tape that sticks directly to the aluminum angle. Does that answer your questions?

[@WinKongmuang]

Would there have been any difference between wiring up to the load terminals on the charge controller instead of the battery? or was that just preference to go straight to battery?

[@Jasonoid]

Just my preference. If you go through the load terminals you get the automatic shutoff when the battery voltage is too low. You can also schedule the power source availability. I just wanted to keep it simple and run my lights off a switch. Either way works well.

[@FRESNEL_COOKING_SOLAR_OVENS24]

Cool white light has a lot of blue light in it. You need multiple daylight 4000k series.

[@Jasonoid]

Listing said 5000k, which I like. They are really like 6500k... The reviews didn't have many pictures back in the day.

[@ericperez371]

Nice set up.question can you run another accessories whit this solar panel let me know.I'm trying to do in a chiken coop for the winter.but I wanna connect a heater lete know whatyou think.thanks in advance

[@Jasonoid]

Eric Perez thanks for the question. This solar setup is for low draw devices, you could run a heater off a solar setup but it needs to have a much larger battery storage and more panels. The concept is the same just larger. Electric heaters pull thousands of watts, my battery would last about 5 minutes running an DC to AC inverter and a small 1500 watt heater.

[@ericperez371]

Jasonoid thank you.

[@HobbyPicker]

I think you're supposed to hook in the load (lights) in to the extra port on your solar charge controller rather than taking the load straight out the battery. The reason behind this is that the solar charge controller would then prevent you from using the lights when the battery was not charged enough. It's unhealthy to over-discharge a battery.

[@Jasonoid]

Hobby Picker thanks for the tip, I understand how its supposed to work, luckily I understand how low to drain a lead acid before damaging it. I left it unhooked because I didn't want my solar charge controller always pulling a small amount of power from my battery.

[@mattburrows2615]

I agree, that is what the load terminal is for. The regulator would use a small amount from the battery regardless of whether you use the load terminal or not (such a small amount it's no worth worrying about) Better to have low voltage protection that the load terminal provides.

[@wheelerk2012]

@@mattburrows2615 Ok, so now i'm confused. I'm about to try this. :-) Should I do it the way the video has it or go through the controller? Keep in mind I know nothing about how this stuff works. 😃

[@mattburrows2615]

@@wheelerk2012 it's OK. I can answer any questions you have. It will work the way shown in the video but you will need to make sure you switch the lights off when the voltage gets low or lights look dim to greatly prolong the life of the batteries. The benefit here is you won't be left in the dark until the batteries are totally drained unless the lights have a low voltage protection. If on the other hand you wire the lights to the load terminals the controller can disconnect the lights automatically when the battery reaches the adjustable low voltage cut off value. This of course has the drawback of potentially leaving you in the dark without warning but a battery and panel sized for the purpose can avoid this. It just depends how many hours you want to run the lights for and how much power they use. You will get to know it's capability. I use the load terminals as I have the lights on 24h a day then adjust brightness on a dimmer as required. Hope this helps. Feel free to ask anything.

[@dryananderson]

@@mattburrows2615 helpful thank you

[@r0me09696]

I was looking for your tutorial on how to set up the lighting, couldn't find it

[@djc3949]

Nice video, how long does the charge last when using the lights and how long to fully charge. Thanks

[@Jasonoid]

This uses a small battery, it runs the lights for like 2 hours. If you want a longer runtime jut get a bigger battery.

[@diasporareturnee]

Total LED wattage? Did you have to cut the LED strips to size? If yes, how did you reconnect to the battery power line

[@markchapmon8670]

I don't have anything to compare this to, but I am curious why you didn't hook the light wiring to the load connections on the charge controller so you couldn't accidentally leave the lights on and over-discharge the battery. Other than that curiousity, I really like what you did and how clean the wiring work was done.

[@Jasonoid]

Mark Chapmon thanks for watching my video! Just personal preference, and for simplicity. I personally won't leave the lights on to over discharge the battery.

[@metratone5]

Is this a special battery for the solar panel or can you use a car battery? Would have been nice to have seen it been set up. Lovely shots of the components.

[@Jasonoid]

The battery I used is a sealed lead acid battery. They don't require any maintenance so it nice to use them in this setting. A car battery would work fine as well in a setup like this.

[@garyparker1081]

Hi! Writing to ask if the positive wire (supply) to the switch could have been routed from the "load" terminals on the charge controller? I understand of course that the positive wire directly from the battery to the switch does work, but I figured I'd ask why you didn't use the load terminals on the charge controller for that purpose. Thanks!

[@Jasonoid]

Yes, you can use the load terminals for the lights. It adds extra protection to your battery so you don't run it down too much. Just skipped it on my project.

[@TrevandJilladventures]

Do you have a wire diagram? Plan to do this for my shed this weekend

[@ransom99100]

Sorry this is way late but if I added a second battery and cables would it store more energy [From west Texas so sunlight is no problem around here] Thank you for the help

[@Jasonoid]

If you wired both batteries in parallel, yes it would add more storage. Thanks for watching!

[@bane1240]

Hi Jasonoid, really like this setup. Just had my own 12x16 shed installed on yesterday and think this setup would be perfect with a slightly larger battery and using the Load connection on the controller. Would like to know how the connection from the LED lights is made to the wiring going to the battery. The LEDs seem to have their own style connector which is recommended to be connected to an adapter but you didnt do that. How did you connect to the landscape wire? Did you use the LED connector or just cut that off a wire directly? Appreciate it!

[@Jasonoid]

A larger battery would be recommended after me using mine this long. I just stripped, tinned and soldered the landscape wire directly to the led strip. Works great, just use some heat shrink or elec tape to keep it insulated. Thanks for watching!

[@bane1240]

​@@Jasonoid so say a 24v battery? I want to power lights very similar, if not the same as yours and also may want to add a power inverter too later.

[@Jasonoid]

@@bane1240 these led strip lights are designed to run off 12 volts, and so are most solar charge controllers. So you can either parallel 2 12 volt batteries or just buy a larger Amp hour 12 volt battery for more storage. 24 volt systems don't work with my setup.

[@bane1240]

@@Jasonoid Thanks! appreciate the responses.

[@StreetKingz4Life]

if you use the load terminals on the charge controller to run the led lights is there anything that can go wrong?

[@Jasonoid]

No, using the load terminals is recommended if you want to keep your battery from being drained below it's low cutoff. I just decided not to use those leads in this case. Thanks for the comment!

[@FlexZero]

how many amps do your lights pull?

[@KeKoEpO]

I have a project in mind and I was wondering if there was any way I could attach an electrical socket to plug in a phone charger or a radio?

[@Jasonoid]

You could setup something very similar to mine, you would just need to add an Inverter also. You may want additional battery storage depending on how long you would want to run the radio/phone charger. The inverter would take the DC power and convert it over to AC power for a radio to use.

[@repairvideoforfilterqueenv7011]

What was the overall cost? Thanks! Great video

[@Jasonoid]

All the parts are listed in the description of the video. Around $100 depending on if you have any stuff laying around that you can use.

[@briamyx]

would this work on something that i would need lit for up to 24 months constantly? its for a self sufficient outdoor light sculpture project

[@Jasonoid]

Just add more battery capacity and a larger solar panel to scale the project larger. The idea is the same. Thanks for your comment!

[@BastelPichi]

1:44 use the load output of the solar charge controller. This way you can even set a shutoff timer, if you forgot to turn the lights off. Its also protcting from over discharge

[@Jasonoid]

I only use the lights for a few minutes at a time. I watch the voltage as I use them. I could see this being useful if they were being used all the time.

[@dillygaff7624]

Great video! I have a shed that is 12x24 so 50% more square footage. Is this system simply scalable? Looks like the next power solar panel is 50W and I have a 24x36 window. I'm thinking of going to a 15 ah battery and 4 - 6 strip lights. Do you see any issues with that? Any additona advice? Thanks.

[@Jasonoid]

It is scalable, it all is based off your desired run time. If your lights pulls 5 amps, then a 10 amp hour battery will last 1 hour because you shouldn't take it past 50% capacity. So if you want your lights to run longer, plan to have more battery storage. Also, make sure your if you put the solar panel in the window it will have light all year round. My south facing window gets full sun in the winter, and only half sun in the summer, due to the height if the sun and the soffit blocking the light. I recommend doing this project though, it's a great way to get power for your shed. You can also use the sun to charge other lead acid batteries to motorcycles and cars if they are close enough to the charge controller.

[@dillygaff7624]

Thanks for the quick info. One more question, sorry to be a pain. If I go with a 50w panel and a 12vl15ah battery do I need to upsize the controller?

[@Jasonoid]

@@dillygaff7624 no, a 50 watt solar panel puts out about 1.80 amps, this solar charge controller can handle at least 15 to 20 amps.

[@sicksand4]

can those lights you used do on a metal frame?I have a 26x31 metal building I wanted to try this in

[@Jasonoid]

Yeah, as long as the power connectors are insulated they won't short out. So just use either heat shrink or electrical tape where they connect to the LED strip.

[@mickjager5974]

Interesting, I was just thinking maybe I could use the solar trickle charger for a 12v battery I bought for my lawn mower, hook it up to an old 12v car battery I have to power up some LED lights for my shed that doesn't have AC power. As far as switch, it seem like you could use just a regular AC wall switch. And I'm also wondering if for a battery I could use my 18v power tool batteries. That way I could use one of them that was charged up if the one charged by the solar panels was low or ran out while I was in the middle of doing something. And as far as hooking up to that batter I have an old drill that recently died and luckily I didn't toss it because I can use it's base as the plug in point for my 18v batteries! How much heat do these strip lights put out. Do you think you could use some of the LED tubes that replace fluorescent tubes in a fluorescent fixture without ballast or maybe one of the plug in tube fixtures and just bypass whatever ac/dc converter it has? I actually bought a couple led lights at the auto parts store that had two 9 volt batteries hooked in series to provide a store demo so I'm thinking some more lights like them should be able to run off my 18v ryobi batteries.

[@Jasonoid]

These lights don't put off heat at all because they are LEDs. A 12v battery would power these light just fine. If you wanted to run higher voltages like 18v you'd want to make sure the leds you bought support that voltage. This video is pretty old and my lights still are working great!

[@stevenl8420]

How long would that battery last im considering doing this in my chicken coop the lights wood be on all night in there i am also curious to know what type of strain that would cause on the battery thanks and good job on the vido

[@Jasonoid]

You can do the same idea, just add a 100 watt panel and maybe 100amp hour battery. Just look up some more info online and it will make sense.

[@FlexZero]

If I used this exact setup what size fuse would I need?

[@Jasonoid]

15 Amp fuse would work. I doubt the lights pull more than 10 amps. Probably closer to 6 or 7 amps

[@HomerBartStewie]

What kind of roll-up door is that and how much does it cost? I'm going to build a shed in a few weeks. Thanks!

[@Jasonoid]

Its the type of door that goes on a storage unit. I searched around and found a local company that builds storage units so they could get me "roll up garage door" at a good price. Cost a little under $400. I installed it myself, there are many KZbin videos on the subject.

[@Kwijibo11]

If I wanted to run my lights longer than an hour, what battery would you suggest purchasing? Will that solar panel still be adequate?

[@Jasonoid]

Plan on a 5 amp draw with these lights so if you want to run for 5 hours each night you'll want at least 50AH battery to not run your lead acid below 50%DOD (25 Amp hours is 50% of the battery)

[@jdecker9834]

The link you have for the lights is for a flexible roll of lights, not the bars you installed. Could you please update the link or provide the model #? Great vid..thx!

[@Jasonoid]

The bars I made myself using aluminum angle from HomeDepot and then stuck the flexible lights to them via the included sticky back tape. I purchased the flexible roll of lights.

[@JedRom]

First time with solor...how long will it last at night before battery gets to a point of being to low?

[@Jasonoid]

These lights draw about 3amps. I have a 7 amp hour battery. You don't want to take lead acid batteries past 50% capacity so I can run these lights for about an hour. I only use the lights for 20 to 30 minute intervals so this works perfect for me. Ways to make them shine longer would be to get a larger battery, or use less lights.

[@michaelmuirhead1734]

How long do lights last before going off ? Would 2 hours at a time work as my garage has no lighting but have a lot of gym and boxing equipment in and far from house so I was wondering If, You could give advice thanks

[@Jasonoid]

Check out my other comments, I answer the same question. All depends on the size of your battery.

[@woldsweather]

Can you give a link to the lighting strips? Whats are they called?

[@williambrooks7658]

pleas tell me where you got them

[@tracyoldham5977]

Great video, can you show a link to the switch?

[@Jasonoid]

www.amazon.com/Support-Terminal-Rocker-Toggle-Waterproof/dp/B00ZWWZ0GK/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=20+amp+DC+switch&qid=1586546989&sr=8-6

[@tracyoldham5977]

@@Jasonoid Thank you so much! I appreciate you taking the time to make the video and the reply!

[@AaronDigitalMuppet]

So when the switch is flipped on, is it no longer charging the battery? I have one of those shipping containers and was thinking of doing some kind of solar powered LED lighting inside.

[@Jasonoid]

As long as the solar panel has sun, the battery is charging. The solar charge controller is always putting charge into the battery, so if I have the lights on and the sun is out, it's only taking a little bit from the battery. It it's dark then the lights are only running on the battery storage and runs down the battery faster.

[@AaronDigitalMuppet]

Ah, so the switch only controls the light switch. For some reason I thought when the switch was flipped it was stopping the charge. This whole set up seems super affordable and perfect for what I want to do. I'm not sure what all that inline fuse is about however. Cool video though, thanks for the quick reply!

[@Jasonoid]

@@AaronDigitalMuppet When working with 12 volt power, it's smart to have a fuse so that if you short out the positive and negative lines it doesn't start a fire. Lots of amps can flow from these batteries.

[@gradenkarl1166]

How much did all your equipment cost together

[@leweezo33]

The controller keeps the panel from overcharging the batt? I am thinking of doing this in my well house with a 75 watt bulb to keep it above freezing in the winter.. Do you think this setup would work for that? I would use a smart plug to make sure the light does not use power during the day (temps are above 32 here in the day)

[@Jasonoid]

Yeah, it keeps it from over charging. You'd have to do the math because a constant 75watts is a lot, maybe 150 watts of solar panels and a large battery bank (100-150 Amp hours) will work for you. My system is very small for very little load.

[@leweezo33]

@@Jasonoid Thanks! Great shed BTW

[@azamali3131]

Great job But place charge controller and battery away from combustables!

[@FlexZero]

How did you wire the leds to eachother, did you solder them?

[@Jasonoid]

They are soldered together.

[@carchontides]

Hi Jason, great Video and I was hoping you can help me understand the connection of the lights to switch and battery as I am not familiar with electricity at all. I have batter and panel connected and charging. I ran all the lights wired them to the light switch and assumed I connect switch to load connectors on solar charger, but lights won’t turn on. Do I need to connect switch directly to batter to make this work amd have wires split from battery to both switch and controller? I hope that’s not too confusing but any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[@Jasonoid]

Hey thanks for reaching out. You want to hook up all the following connections: -Battery to the + - battery connections on the charge controller. -Solar panels to the + - of the solar connections on the charge controller. - LED lights up to the "load" + - connections on the charge controller. Put an in line switch on the positive wire of the led lights to turn on and off the lights when you want to use them.

[@carchontides]

Thank you Jason, I think I understand now 😀

[@carchontides]

Hi Jason did what you said and lights worked for 5 min and shut off. No error codes on charge, direct connected lights to battery with switch to make sure I didn’t short anything or blow the lights and they worked fine. Assuming it must be something with the load connectors not working anymore. Is it safe to just skip the load and direct connect to switch to battery and not deal with the aggravation of what’s wrong with the load connector? Thanks again in advance!

[@Jasonoid]

@@carchontides how many lights are you using? You can skip the load connection and go directly to the battery. You'll just want to keep an eye on the battery voltage like I do. Don't let the battery drop below 12.0v or it will cause damage to the capacity.

[@carchontides]

@@Jasonoid maybe this is the issue, but the lights did work after I direct connected battery to switch (although that was after it charged up again a few days later and I didn’t leave them on long to see if they would turn off again). Im prob drawing too much power…like I said no electrical experience here… I’m using 4 x 12v light bars on a 12v 7ah rechargeable battery.

[@shockme66]

Can't wait to give this a try; where did you buy the switch?

[@Jasonoid]

Got the switches from Amazon, they were a Heavy Duty 20A 125V SPST 2 Rocker toggle switch, it wouldn't let me paste the hyperlink in the comment

[@shockme66]

Thanks found it. I may just use a regular switch. I ordered all the materials and will be installing this week. Thanks for the great video.

[@shockme66]

Can I connect the lights to the load connector on the solar switch then to the light switch while setting the solar panel output to 24hrs? I see you bypassed this and just was wondering why; I would like the panel to show the load from the lights. Hopefully you can provide some insight. Thanks.

[@Jasonoid]

For my setup I just decided to have the solar charger control the battery charging and not the load control. I just think it's simpler this way, you could totally connect the lights to the load port on the solar charge controller without issue. It's all personal preference.

[@shockme66]

Got my setup working today. Thanks again!! Did you change any settings on the solar controller. Also I’m getting 1amp out of the panel facing north do you think it’s work facing it south?

[@PutMeInCoach23]

My light keep going on and off. Any idea what I may have done wrong? I did everything you did except the switch. Maybe I have it hooked up wrong.

[@Jasonoid]

When my battery gets low my lights start to flicker. What voltage is your battery? Also, do you have your lights connected to your charge controller load or the battery directly?

[@pzazzera]

also, I do not see any wires going to your load side of the PWM (at 3:38 on the video). How did you wire the lights/switch to the PWM?

[@Jasonoid]

I just wired directly to the battery terminals, if you want low voltage protection you can connect to the load terminals.

[@woldsweather]

I havea solar panel controller 12v battery and about to add wind turbine to my garden shed. I cant find 12 v lighting ANYWHERE on the internet in the UK (unless you buy a system with a solar panel which I dont need)

[@Jasonoid]

Don't search for 12 volt lighting, search for 12 volt leds lights, you might have better luck. Led strip lights are available everywhere. Amazon, eBay are both in the UK as well.

[@hadyrome5574]

Is this possible with a 6 Volt system? I hear that’s what some people do for RVs.

[@Jasonoid]

I have only seen 12 volt and 24 volt systems on RVs so I am not sure. Higher voltage in your system (24 volt vs 12 volt) means less current pulling from the batteries so you dont have to have as thick of wires, you can run more appliances in the RV with less load on the battery. I don't have much experience with 6 volt systems but if you found a solar charge controller that can run a 6 volt system, and a compatible solar panel, the same theory applied here should work on a 6 volt system.

[@oldbonesgarage977]

Hi im just wondering did you need to buy cable for the LED strips or do they already come with them

[@Jasonoid]

You'll need to buy the wire separately, the lights don't come with anything.

[@oldbonesgarage977]

@@Jasonoid is there a link within the description or could you link me one that will go straight into the box 👍

[@MrDrewxjin]

Do you have links for what items you used? Like where you got the LEDs and controller from.

[@Jasonoid]

Andrew Shealy all parts are listed in the video description.

[@kodiham7532]

Jasonoid No it doesn't, the LED strip lighting, links to the power supply.

[@Jasonoid]

Kodi Ham, the Amazon page has multiple options, choose the drop down list and choose the daylight LED strip instead of the power supply. Just verified on my phone. Works better on a laptop though.

[@kodiham7532]

Jasonoid Got it thanks!

[@bpekarek1986]

Did you cut the LED light and then solder them to the size you wanted? Wanting to try this project early next year.

[@Jasonoid]

Yeah, I just measured and cut the strips to how long I wanted them, then I soldered them together with jumper wires. Still working awesome two years later!

[@bpekarek1986]

@@Jasonoid another question, you put a switch, if the switch is off, does the battery get charged?

[@bpekarek1986]

I also noticed you did not use the light outlets on the solar charge panel. So you just connected the lights directly to the battery, and the battery directly to the solar charge panel. Curious why did you not use the light outlet on the panel.

[@Jasonoid]

@@bpekarek1986 good question, the switch is only on the led light positive line. So the solar charge controller is always connected to the battery and charging.

[@rasychea]

Would I be able to connect a 300w led light bar to this setup ?

[@Jasonoid]

You could hook up any light really, it just would drain the battery really fast. The larger the battery the longer it will last

[@PeytonGregory]

Does this setup generate enough power to leave the lights on 24 hours continuously?

[@Jasonoid]

This systems does not, but if you add more solar panels and a bigger battery bank it sure will!

[@Maverick247]

Is the solar panel behind a glass window? I have tried to put a solar panel in a south facing window that gets a lot of sun but it severely affected its output needed to put it outside to get it to work properly.

[@Jasonoid]

Since I use the lights only a couple times a week, this was fine for my needs. If you want to so something a little larger, check out this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHe5pX2OpruSsKM