Solar light for model Lighthouse

[knotley]

Hi:

I just made another model lighthouse like the photo. Any ideas where I could purchase a solar light for it? I have been thinking about ripping apart a garden light and and adding longer wires. But perhaps there is another method?

Thanks

Knotley

[Mr__Bill]

Well I was going to suggest ripping apart a garden light and and adding longer wires. However you seem to have thought of that. How about one of those soler spot light things, they have a remote panel and there should be enough power to run a rotating beacon light.

Here is an expensive one Solar Shed Lighting


Nice light house is it from plans? Thinking that one may look nice in the corner of my yard.

Bill

[knotley]

Hi:

Thanks for the link. Very expensive! I think the brightness would be too much. I will try the solar garden light idea. But I may use your idea for my shed.

The Lighthouse is a copy of my neighbours. He didn't have any plans that I was aware of. He was a retired P.O.W. who had lots of time to tinker. At one time the lighthouse had a female keeper - a Barbie doll dressed in a sailor outfit;-)! A great sense of humour.

When my neighbour passed away, I "inherited" the lighthouse (no next of kin). He was a great guy - spent 5 years in a German camp. I miss him and decided to make another lighthouse.

[atgcpaul]

Hi:

I just made another model lighthouse like the photo. Any ideas where I could purchase a solar light for it? I have been thinking about ripping apart a garden light and and adding longer wires. But perhaps there is another method?

Thanks

Knotley

That's a really nice project. Don't mean to cause trouble but are you going
to try to make the light rotate like a real lighthouse?

Paul

[lrogers]

That is very nice. I like the idea of a "light tender", that would be cool!
We just got a solar spot light for our flower bed foutain. It was 3 small LED's in a reflector, and powered by three rechargeable (the solar panel) AA batteries. It has and automatic on/off and puts out a surprising amount of light.

[knotley]

That's a really nice project. Don't mean to cause trouble but are you going
to try to make the light rotate like a real lighthouse?

Paul

A rotating light! WOW! I had not thought of that! That would really be fun! I don't have any idea how I would rig that up.

It is a nice project. I always think of my deceased neighbour when I look at it. It brings back a lot of good memories. I have thought about making a larger one to store garden tools in. A good way to store stuff, yet also a garden centre piece in a way that a shed couldn't be.

[LCHIEN]

the most authentic lighthouses would have a rotating light.
Lighthouses in a particular area were identifiable by the rate at which the light turned. E.g. 2 second, vs 5 seconds. Usuall the light was stationary and the reflector and lens unit rotated directing the beam horizontally and around. This utilized light more efficiently so it coule be seen farther with less input energy (recall that most lighthouses were very remote and had no power lines to them).

Another way inc which lighthouses were identified later in life was by a sequence of flashes.

what you can do depends on the space and power source you have available.
You might benefit from looking at google for "model lighthouse light"

[atgcpaul]

Another way inc which lighthouses were identified later in life was by a sequence of flashes.

Well, my vote is for the rotating light (or lense housing) but you could rig
up the flashing Christmas light bulb in there, too.

Paul

[LCHIEN]

If you've ever seen a real lighthouse, you know that there's a glow from the light in the top but as it rotates towards you there's a bright flash momentarily as the beam points in your direction. That's because they use fresnel lenses to colimate and aim the beam in a tight horizontal swath to maximize the distance at which the lighthouse can be seen.

the really cool way to make a realistic rotating light lighthouse wuold be to put a flashlight head in the center tower, centered and pointing straight up. Preferably a flashlight with a reflector and a spotlight narrow beam or adjustable beam lens to concentrate the beam. Then put a ~2" cylinder in the light house window, said cylinder with a 45 degree mirror (you would want to make it slightly adjustable in angle) to deflect the beam thru a hole in the side of the cylinder. The cylinder of course has to be hollow in the bottom to allow the light thru. So it has to have bearings around the bottom or be suspended from above, if there's room. It also has to be driven by a gear motor turning somewhere around 5-15 RPM (12 seconds to 4 second period) Finding room for the motor would be tricky, the light in the center of the tower would be OK since you don't have any stairs to worry about as in a real lighthouse. It would turn pretty slowly so super great bearings are not required.

Typically you'd want to adjust the mirror to flash the light in your eyes at typical viewing heights every revolution like a real lighthouse would direct the beam at you for maximum distance. Depending upon your neighbors/fences and your own taste, a timer and a voltage control on the light to possibly dim it might be a good idea for practical reasons.

Anyway, just my ideas.

[atgcpaul]

I did a Google search for "model lighthouse rotating light" and saw a few
potential leads...even a patent in the works for such a mechanism. This
link has a semi-DIY explanation of using a flashing bulb:

http://www.kronosrobotics.com/pj_lig...ghthouse.shtml

[knotley]

If you've ever seen a real lighthouse, you know that there's a glow from the light in the top but as it rotates towards you there's a bright flash momentarily as the beam points in your direction. That's because they use fresnel lenses to colimate and aim the beam in a tight horizontal swath to maximize the distance at which the lighthouse can be seen.

the really cool way to make a realistic rotating light lighthouse wuold be to put a flashlight head in the center tower, centered and pointing straight up. Preferably a flashlight with a reflector and a spotlight narrow beam or adjustable beam lens to concentrate the beam. Then put a ~2" cylinder in the light house window, said cylinder with a 45 degree mirror (you would want to make it slightly adjustable in angle) to deflect the beam thru a hole in the side of the cylinder. The cylinder of course has to be hollow in the bottom to allow the light thru. So it has to have bearings around the bottom or be suspended from above, if there's room. It also has to be driven by a gear motor turning somewhere around 5-15 RPM (12 seconds to 4 second period) Finding room for the motor would be tricky, the light in the center of the tower would be OK since you don't have any stairs to worry about as in a real lighthouse. It would turn pretty slowly so super great bearings are not required.

Typically you'd want to adjust the mirror to flash the light in your eyes at typical viewing heights every revolution like a real lighthouse would direct the beam at you for maximum distance. Depending upon your neighbors/fences and your own taste, a timer and a voltage control on the light to possibly dim it might be a good idea for practical reasons.

Anyway, just my ideas.

Thanks for your thoughts!! I hadn't thought about the rotating before, but I don't think my neighbours would like it. It would really be something to talk about if I could get it to work. But I would probably then need an AC power source, which would then mean a trench from my home, through the 17 tonnes of gravel/cement blocks of my retaining wall, up the hill to the lighthouse. Not worth the effort. I am going to do some googling searches.

My father said why don't I just use a coal powered lighthouse! He said that because he is probably the last living person who has delivered coal to lighthouses. He delivered coal as a young kid on the east coast of Canada, Newfoundland and St. Pierre(France), initially on a schooner, then on a powered vessel. He wanted me to set the light off/on sequence to match what he knew as a kid along the south NF coast.

[LCHIEN]

if you just use a omnidirectional bulb or LED, then the flash sequence can be set by a electronic timer.
If you use a rotating mirror, then the sequence can be set by one or more mirrors... for example a 6 second sequence that flashes at seconds 1 and 3 with 3 seconds following, could be done with 2 mirrors at 45 to the light in the center and 120 degrees from each other in a cylinder that rotates at 10 RPM.

[knotley]

Just back from Walmart. They have a plastic lighthouse with a revolving solar powered light. I am going to buy that, take out the light, add some wire length and put it on my lighthouse. Problem solved! There are a lot more types of solar lights than when I last looked a few years ago.

[atgcpaul]

Just back from Walmart. They have a plastic lighthouse with a revolving solar powered light. I am going to buy that, take out the light, add some wire length and put it on my lighthouse. Problem solved! There are a lot more types of solar lights than when I last looked a few years ago.

That is the BEST solution so far!