Lighting stables/yard with no electricity, advice please

Spot_the_Risk

Spot_the_Risk

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Devon
www.animalcrackersdevon.co.uk
We're getting ready for winter by doing a big DIY upgrade of our stables, and are updating our lighting too. We currently have a 12 volt system with a few caravan lights, and one LED sensor light which runs direct from its own solar panel.

We need to light three stables and one feed room, and have a couple of sensor lights for outside too. We're well used to using head torches all through the winter so these permanent lights don't need to be really bright, a sort of half light. Is fine, good enough for tieing up haynets and just seeing where you're going!

What's the latest good sensible low power way of doing this? We have leisure batteries and one big solar panel.
 
LED lighting is now the way to go for low electricity consumption. Check out lights used on boats rather than caravans.
A decent solar panel setup with smart charger to the batteries should be ok
 
I have the Bedazzled system and it's great! The lights are mounted from the roof beams, approx. 9 feet up. We have one light in each stable and one in the feed room. Walk up to the yard using the torch, plug in to the lights when we get there, then charge the torch overnight in the house. They easily give enough light to muck out by, and are really easy to install and use.
 
We have the Geo5 solar kit from the Solar Centre and it's brilliant. My husband installed it around 2 1/2 years ago and it took him around 3 hours to set it up. They also do smaller kits if you don't need as many lights. Would definitely recommend.
 
In the old days lol my dad rigged up car headlights off a car battery, I had loads around the place. Worked perfectly .
 
I ran strip lights off a car battery which worked really well for my tack room and stable. I had a spare battery at home so I didn't run out of charge (having had this happen when I as in the middle of plaiting - resorted to a torch tied round my neck!). I also painted the inside walls and ceiling of the stable white which made it seem much brighter.
 
In the start we had tilly lamps and gas lamps, then upgraded to a car battery and strip lights. The car battery lasted ages before it needed taking home and recharging. Then we had generators (plural!) which made us a prize target for thieves. We now have mains electric and its bliss.
 
I made do for a while with one of the LED, rechargeable inspection lamps (the baton shaped lamps used by car mechanics). They have a plastic swing hook on the end, so can be hung from the roof timbers. I used it on full power whilst I was mucking out and grooming etc., then pop it onto half power during the remainder of the evening. A full charge would last a good 12 hours or so. Cheap and cheerful but did the trick until we could afford to install power to the stable. The lamp also came in very useful when I used to lead my horse through the village in poor light, as the motorists could spot us through the mist and drizzle.
 
Good for you if you go the full solar panel route. I used leisure batteries for a time but got fed up of recharging. In the cold and rain lugging them some distance to the car was not fun. Now tend to use torches that I hang up and just switch on and off as needed. I replace batteries once ir twice during winter. That with head torch is fine.
 
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