On a recent trip to Amish country I purchased a few 12 volt DC fluorescent lights. Two 100 watt and one 60 watt. These things will screw right in to a standard lamp. I used a lawn mower battery purchased at Wally Word for 25 bucks. It's incredible how much light they give off. Use a standard 120 volt outlet and connect it to the battery terminals that way you can use an existing table lamp with the 12 volt lamp. I tested the one I made and found that the battery would keep the 100 watt bulb running for about 8 hours before the voltage would drop below the 10.8 volt threshold. Any lower than that there's a chance you will damage the ballast in the lamp. They are light enough to move from room to room. Recharge the battery during the day with a solar panel. This set up is more power efficient than using an inverter to run existing filament lights and most 120 volt fluorescent lamps do not like the dirty sine waves that most of the inverters put out.
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
...Jesus Christ and the American G.I.
One died for your sins; the other for your freedom.
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Originally Posted by BluesStringer
Welcome to the world of improvised preparedness! A couple of years from now you'll have so many solar generators floatin' around that you'll have no garage left.
