Thoughts on Solar Energy and Light: Centralizing with Optical Cable.

In the background of my mind, I've been trying to make the larger solar system more effective.

Where I've gotten so far

I need to get some high power LEDs, such as used in the new flashlights, and nobody seems to have them in Trinidad and Tobago - no surprise, really, but I have looked. I have the solar panels, in series, putting out about 10 amps peak at 12 Volts. The halogen fog lamps work well for lighting at the rear of the house, and more than once I have left them on all day as well - for testing.

I've experimented with adapters for many appliances, from the wireless router and ADSL modem to a voltage booster for the laptop (the laptop is rated at 19 Volts, 6.3 Amps - roughly 120 Watts when charging!).

With all the experimentation and practical work, a few things become apparent to me. First is that the distance from the battery takes it's toll when you're trying to conserve power from the batteries; the more wire you use the more power you waste. It's not a large amount, but every little bit counts.

The next thing that becomes apparent is that it would be nice to centralize all the lights so that there is one control panel for everything - sort of like a breaker box.

Next, there is the problem of taking LEDs that are at 3.6 Volts and using them in 12V and 24V (DC) implementations.

Lastly, I realize that so much of this is over most people's heads because they don't know the basics of electricity; they know electricity as simply the original 'Plug and play'.

The Idea

Like with getting most ideas, I was away from the computer. I was staring at the switch and wire in the kitchen for the lighting in the tank area, making a cup of coffee. Then fiber optics came into my head. Then the centralization of LEDs with a fiber optic system. This solves a lot of problems when it comes to lighting - in fact, some large buildings use optical fiber to move sunlight into a building. I remember seeing cars with centralized lighting systems such as I was thinking of.

Certainly someone else had already thought of this in a solar application. So I did a Google search for fiber optic cable and solar. Nothing really. I'm kind of surprised about that, since this idea should be something that someone else thought of.

The User Scenario

If you were to have solar energy powered lighting in your house, why climb to change light bulbs like you do now anyway? Why not have a central place where little LEDs are lined up in rows and columns, and transmit their light across a fiber optic cable to where you need it? Well, the trick then is to wire the switches where you need them, so you still need wire. Or do you? Then picture that, during the day, you use fiber optic cable to trap some sunlight and run it to where you want it, without any electrical system at all.

When you need to change a bulb, you go to the panel and replace the little LED. I believe some cars already do this, though I haven't seen it firsthand. Easy to maintain, no worries about weather damage to the electrical light itself (if you centralize in a smart way), and maybe even lower cost to create and maintain. Plus, as a bonus, moving the optical cable moves the light... and splicing between optical cables is supposed to be easy, so adding more light to an existing cable should be easy.

The Technical End

One of the problems that I foresee when I get some high output LEDs is that the voltage requirement for each LED won't be 12V. That means that instead of just lighting one, I may have to light 2-4 depending on the required voltage. That might be a 'waste'; maybe one LED's light will suffice in an application. So, what if each LED is harnessed to a separate fiber optic cable to route the light to another area? Let's say that security lighting around the house needs to be done - 4 LEDs on a 12 volt system could give lighting to 4 separate areas, although they are all in one circuit with no wire. Just optical cable. It's not really a new idea - check out 'Two Good Reasons You Should Buy Fiber-Optic Lighting'. I just haven't found anyone connecting this to solar energy yet.

I now need high power LEDs and optical cable (feel free to contact me to send me some! LOL). Which brings us to the next issue - cost.

Costs

So far I don't really know enough about the optical cable properties to know how much I need, and what capacity of light that it will harness. I do know that I need to read up on optical fiber lighting more - and

With the price of copper doubling in the past year (really), wire prices are pretty high. Optical cable, in theory, is being produced and use more so, in theory, prices should be going down.

Of course, I've always wondered how much light one could trap in a loop of optical fiber. Think about it. :-)

The picture at top is one of mine; you can see the original here.