[juliag]

Hi there,
After building a lovely new stable block in a new area of land we have decided it is too expensive to run electricity to these stables. Most of the time I should be able to get the ponies done before it gets too dark, its just occasionally they may need to be put away after dark . I dont need major lights all mucking out etc will be done in daylight. I was wondering if anyone has used these battery operated lights found cheaply in asda etc. would 4-5 of them in a stable dotted around the walls give me the light I may occasionally need. Or has anyone run proper lights off maybe a leisure battery or a car battery? Alternativly and I know they are more expensive has anyone used the solar lighting systems. (slightly worried about the chances of them getting stolen due to cost). What do you think?
Thankyou

[bloomer]

the little lights that stick on are fairly useless to be honest.

a simple battery lantern would do you the job easily I have one i use for camping (dont have stables etc) that uses 4 x D cells and casts a nice light over a reasonable area without being dazling. It has a hanging handle so could hang off a hook in the ceiling easily if required.

Think mine was 20quid from one of the outdoor type shops.

[RUSTYME]

got to go see to horses now , but will answer in more detail later....but I have a solar light , it cost £20 ish inc p+p. It uses 3 AA batteries and I use it in a work shed . It would be hard to do close work under it , but for normal sawing, measuring etc etc it is fine and even though the solar panel is under a big ash tree in shade all the time , it has lasted for all the times I have used it . You can of course just pop in some recharged AA's if they do run out . It definitely gives enough light to see what you are doing to sort a horse out , say undo headcollars or tack in general , and to put out hay and water , plus to see if the bedding needed sorting . I will sort out the place I got it when I get back from the land.

cheers

Russ

[sheardale]

I have solar lights and find them ok. cost nothing to run.

[ballingall]

Hi,

We use these when we are camping/staying at shows and need them. 

http://sports.ciao.co.uk/Tesco_Rechargeable_Lantern__7382392 Rechargable at the mains, and you can hang them up. What is handy is that they come ready charged!

I know it costs a lot to run electricity up, but just a thought- what if you have an emergency with a horse and need the vet out etc? Would an extra long extension cable be able to go from other outbuildings/the house if something like that happened?

My brother in law actually did our electricity up to the goat shed, but he was a trained time served sparky before he went to uni.


Beth

[juliag]

Hi Beth, we have another stable yard at the house complete with lights etc. This second one is 500 yds up the road so I think an extention cable might be a bit much.lol

[Norfolk Newby]

I have a large 4X4 which has two large batteries as standard. One started to lose charge so I got a new pair so the car wasn't going to let me down. However, I kept the old batteries, recharged them both (long job!) and then checked their voltage to see which one went flat fastest.

The good one now serves as a power supply in my shipping container (my land is away from any buildings and I use the container as a store). I got a couple of small fog lights when Halfords had a sale last January (£10 including switch and some wiring).

These now serve to light the 'dark' end of the container where I have a chemical loo. Given that the lights are on for 10 minutes at a time, the battery has lasted 3+ months before it needed recharging. The light is very good. By the way, the lights didn't just stop working as the battery lost charge but became slowly dimmer so there was plenty of warning that the battering needed attention.

As the container is steel, I wired the lights like in a car with the container as the earth return to the battery so I didn't need much wire. I put an in-line fuse in the power lead to avoid a fire if the wire get shorted out any time.

I also bought a battery container for £15 from my local camping shop. This protects the battery and makes it easier to lift and carry.

A leisure battery would be a good alternative but you have to balance the benefit of a large battery lasting a long time between recharges with the strain of shifting it to a mains supply to recharge it.


NN

[Daisy]

Head torches are really good for doing all sorts of pony related stuff after dark as they leave your hands free, and if you use recharable battries it doesn't work out too ££ on battries.  We've amix of normal and LED ones

[RUSTYME]

http://www.powerbee.co.uk/Solar-Shed-Lights/c-1-93/

I got the shed light with 10 led's it was £20.33 all in . There may be one that would suit you better though .

Hope the info in the link is of some use ...


cheers

Russ

[Daisys Mum]

When we built our stables I thought about getting a small generator, but we managed to find someone to run electric across to it.
 
I am still going to buy one for the winter in case of power cuts.

[TheGirlsMum]

Weve got no power either but hubby has installed 12volt strip lights in the stables they are powered by the battery that runs the fencing its all charged by a solar panel and touch wood all is well.

Im expecting to have to use head torches to poo pick the fields soon though!

[knightquest]

Just ordered a shed light and water feature from Powerbee. They seem really good. Will check out their performance.

Ian

[Sandy]

We had a gardener stay and said one of his clients had solar lights and I thought what a good idea as I have solar fairy lights in my garden and they are fantastic, not sure how they will be in winter but we want to put a store up the garden eventualy and I thought solar lights would be just the job....I shall  take a look, thanks for that link, they seem pretty cheap to me and a great solution..in fact, I may get some m ore fairy lights for Christmas outside decorations...free energy!!!!! Just a thought, we are  hopefuly altering our large garage into laundry and granny flat (for me ) and I woundered if you can get solar heating radiators as well as water???

[Sylvia]

Our fields are remote so no mains electricity but we have a second hand petrol generator for emergency use. Noisy, but we aim(one day!!) to enclose it in some sort of sound proof something or other (suggestions, please)
Otherwise torches do the job.

[RUSTYME]

suggestions for a soundproof shed .
Firstly , if possible get shot of the petrol genny and get a lister CS gen set. . They run off diesel and will run non stop for many years with almost no major work on them . Old sets can go for about £500 now , but you can buy brand new ones ( listeroids) from India for about £1000. They will give you about 2.5-3 kva of leccy , more or less enough to run your house on . Plus they will run on ordinary diesel , red diesel , heating oil used engine oil , vegetable oil , and used veggie oil . The used oils have to  be filtered , but the engine will run on all of them , or any mix of them .
They are much cheaper to run than petrol engines and run at a much slower speed . The average petrol engine would run at say about 1500 -3000 rpm , and the lister at about 650 rpm. They are also much quieter . A petrol engine genny , running 24/7 52 weeks a year , wouldn't make it through the first year , unless you had some huge power station type thing . But the lister's have been known to run for 25 -50 years non stop. Just keep topping the fuel up .
Anyway , that said ....sound proofing a shed.  Well firstly sort a new exuast out for the engine . The little square or round lumps they have on them are crap. On this score you end up a bit Heat Robinson , cobbling up a car exhaust or some such type of thing . You can also dump the end of the exhaust into water , you then get that burble that boats do.
 Sheds should be lined with something like fibre glass insulation ,sheet polystyrene ,or you can buy sound board , which is like soft MDF . Don't forget to do the roof . It acts the same as a drum skin , so insulate it well . Once again glass fibre or polystyrene will work if you don't mind using them . Sheep wool insulation would work well too.
The shed can be made of anything , dependent on funds , but make sure the genny isn't sitting on a raised wooden floor . Again it would act at best, like a drum skin , at worst like a stereo speaker.
A concrete base would be the best thing, the deeper the better.  Or you could use hard core rammed, and then covered with sand and then slabs as the floor.
 Loads of ways of doing it ... but the main one is get shot of the petrol genny asap ....way to dear to run . 

cheers

Russ