Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!

This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.

It’s for talking about anything that doesn’t justify a full post. For example:

  • Something interesting that happened to you
  • Something humourous that happened to you
  • Something frustrating that happened to you
  • A quick question
  • A request for recommendations
  • Pictures of your pet
  • A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like a hippo
  • Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)

So how’s it going?

  • Dave@lemmy.nzOPM
    2·
    6 months ago

    So much for wanting a solution that wasn’t so expensive! It does sound like a fun project, though. For you, not for me, I’d be worried about electrocuting myself 😆

    • eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nzEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      Haha yeah I haven’t committed to anything yet. It’s just the cheaper options I’m not 100% sure are going to work correctly and if I that happens I’m going to have to spend even more to fix it anyway!

      But I’ve thought about making a portable solar charging station for a long time to learn a bit of how it all works. I’ve found there is actually a lot of information online for setting up solar and batteries in the RV/camping and vanlife communities, although it’s definitely overkill to just power some lights 😂

      I’m not as nervous around batteries as I am around messing with 240V. I know it’s all dangerous though, I’ll do a lot of reading first before I do anything I’m not sure about. Got to make life a little exciting somehow 😁

      • Dave@lemmy.nzOPM
        2·
        6 months ago

        I assumed it was 240v, since you have normal plugs for plugging in to, right? I guess with lights you can set it up specifically for the lights and get away with a lot lower voltage.

        • eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nzEnglish
          2·
          6 months ago

          The inverter will be for converting 12v to 240v. I think it’s just simply wiring it to the 12v lithium battery, then plug in lights to inverter. I can’t find a simple answer on if it’s possible to convert the lights to use DC and it seems way more difficult, even though I lose some efficiency from using an inverter. If I ever add more I’d go the route of looking for DC powered lighting.

          Inverter will be handy though as I could use the battery in a power outage to power other things as well.

          • Dave@lemmy.nzOPM
            2·
            6 months ago

            It will be interesting to hear what you decide to go with and how it works out. Good luck!