Although stocked with nuts, bolts, propellers and various odds and ends that a flyer has either lost or broken on the adjacent flying field (or even forgotten to bring!), the Clubhouse store has been, until now, a pretty dark and dingy place in which to search for that tiny item you really do need right now! Well, thanks to Ian Barry, along with his supporting club mates, that has all changed. We now have a very effective solar powered lighting system – so much so, one almost requires sunglasses to search for an item!! Ian has prepared a short description of his system and it is reproduced below along with a few illuminating (sorry!) photos. Thank you Ian and over to you……..
“Thanks to Peter Marshall we have 240V lighting throughout the club caravan but this requires the generator to be deployed and running.
Most of the time, however, we just want a quick light in the darkness of “Pete’s Shop” so that we can browse the stock and make a quick get away without having to set up the 240Vac supply.
A quick light in Pete’s Shop
As a solution we have installed two 12V leisure batteries in Pete’s Shop that are used to power a 200W (incandescent equivalent) white led light. The light switch is located on the side of the cupboard by the window under the lamp. It is quite bright so don’t look at it when you switch it on and, of course, please remember to switch it off when you leave the room!
Charging the Batteries
We have also installed a 100 watt solar panel on the roof of the club hut, kindly installed by Glenn, which supplies a 12v feed through a regulator that keeps the two 12v batteries charged. For security reasons, the panel is not in the most ideal position to catch the sun but when the sun does shine on it, it can generate a good few useful amps. As the light is not used too much, the battery is soon topped up even in the winter months.
The Charge Controller
The charge controller is in the power cupboard at the back of Pete’s Shop and automatically checks each of the batteries and maintains their charge at optimum levels. This is self-contained and does not need to be checked unless there is a problem. Protective fuses are located in the cupboard.
Checking on the Batteries
Nobody wants to climb past all the spiders to get into the power cupboard at the back of the shop just to check on the charge status of the batteries. We have therefore installed a remote meter in the hallway, close to the club notice board, so that we can easily check the condition and charge rate of each the batteries.
Please do not fiddle with the buttons on this unit as you can easily (unintentionally!) change the settings of the charger which might cause a problem for the next visitor to Pete’s Shop!
Enjoy the lighting and eased browsing.
Ian”
