# Battery operated light(s) powerful enough to light the interior of a shed at night?



## shedlight (Jul 27, 2010)

I have a small 6x8 tool shed in my back yard that I need lit up at night so I can see what I'm doing while I'm in there. I don't want to pay very much money though (no more than $30 or 40) and was just thinking of using a battery operated light or two to illuminate the inside of it at night; problem is, all the battery operated lights I've found are too small or too dim to have much effect.

At first I put a plant hanger on the wall and then hung a battery powered lantern from it but that provided only a small amount of light to one half of the inside of the shed. Next I tried a few LED push-lights that I picked up at a hardware store for a few bucks apiece which provided even less light. I looked up shed lights online and found some solar powered ones but all the inexpensive models (under $50.00) have pretty bad reviews on Amazon, mostly complaining of how they're too dim.

So what are my other options, if any? Basically looking for anything that doesn't require electricity, is relatively inexpensive and would light up the inside of the shed at least most of the way. Any ideas?


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

LED's will use the least power
I have some MR16's that have like 25 LED's & put out quite a bit if light
Plus they use less then 2w

I've always had electric in a shed, or run electric to the shed


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## Proby (Jul 17, 2010)

Do you have Dewalt 18V cordless tools? If so, here's your answer:


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## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

6x8 = 48 sq. ft = ~4 sq. meters.
A minimum of 100 lux is needed for close work so you need at least 400 lumens of light.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lux

That is a lot of LEDs. 

How many hours/day do you need this light? If it's not far to the shed I'd run an extension cord from a car battery. If it takes 20 W worth of LEDs you could get many hours from a car battery and still have it start the car the next morning.


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## shedlight (Jul 27, 2010)

Proby said:


> Do you have Dewalt 18V cordless tools? If so, here's your answer:


Unfortunately, no 



Yoyizit said:


> 6x8 = 48 sq. ft = ~4 sq. meters.
> A minimum of 100 lux is needed for close work so you need at least 400 lumens of light.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lux
> 
> ...


I only need the light on when I'm going to be in there which is usually a few times a week for short periods of time (less than 20 minutes). The shed is currently being used as housing for rabbits; they're outside in a fenced in area during the day and then they go back into the shed at night. But if I forget to feed them or need to be in there for any other reason when it's not light out I can't see anything without a flashlight.

I have an outdoor outlet and with some work I suppose I could get an extension cord or two to reach out to the shed to plug some sort of light source into. What would be a good option for a light to use in that regard? Something that could be plugged in for power and also be bright enough to light up a shed of that size?


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## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

Run enough 120 v bulbs to give you adequate lighting and total the watts. Probably 50 W would do it. 
The LED wattage needed would be 1/4 or 1/5 of this value.

For a 60 A-h car battery discharging for 20 minutes you can probably pull a dozen amps [1/3 hr x 12 A = 4 A-h] and still have the car easily start each day.

You could almost do this with 12 v incand. bulbs and with this low voltage you might be mostly exempt from NEC requirements.

With 20 minutes on and 24 hours off you might also look into solar panels with a little battery. This is an avg. of 0.3/24 (50 W) = 0.6 W. With 5 hrs/day of sunlight a 3 sq. ft. panel might do it.


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## 4just1don (Jun 13, 2008)

what is wrong with a camping lantern, battery or gas. You could use a kerosene lamp like pa on 'Little House' does,,but much more chance of premature dinner roasting,,avoid the accident,,rechargeable camping lantern the way to go. pretty darn bright.


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## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/64063?pi=1067364&qs=3012739-Google_Base&subrnd=0


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## Kaswyn (Aug 11, 2011)

*Coleman is the way to go*

*8D Twin LED Lantern - High Performance (580 lumen)
*
I haven't used this one yet, but I ordered two and I will pick it up later. 1 person reviewed it with being as bright as propane lanterns. Some propane lanterns burn in the 800 lumen range. This one can't even be found in my local stores. I had to order it online.

http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemancom/detail.asp?product_id=2000001808&categoryid=10451&brand=



*8D Classic Family Size Lantern (395 lumen)
*
I've personally used this one. It lights up the campsite. It's almost as bright as propane-operated ones.

http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemancom/detail.asp?product_id=2000000864&categoryid=10451&brand=


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## 95025 (Nov 14, 2010)

Proby said:


> Do you have Dewalt 18V cordless tools? If so, here's your answer:


Holy cow - that was EXACTLY what I was going to write/show/say.

I have that exact light, which came in a tool set. Yes, the set was a whole lot more than $30 - $40, but it's amazing how much light that emits.



That said... To the OP: Any battery-powered light is going to pale in comparison to what you'd get with regular electricity. You may have to just lower your expectations.


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## Master of Cold (Aug 7, 2011)

I have a lighting setup for hurricane aftermath. Its a string of 12v incandescent bulbs (from autozone) a deep cycle marine battery and a solar charger. I can run 10 lights for 6 hrs off of the battery. The charger doesn't fully charge the battery during the day, but does add some charge.


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## antlerdancer (Oct 6, 2009)

This is over a year old. The shed is now a barn if the rabbits had any thing to do with it:laughing:


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## del schisler (Aug 22, 2010)

shedlight said:


> I have a small 6x8 tool shed in my back yard that I need lit up at night so I can see what I'm doing while I'm in there. I don't want to pay very much money though (no more than $30 or 40) and was just thinking of using a battery operated light or two to illuminate the inside of it at night; problem is, all the battery operated lights I've found are too small or too dim to have much effect.
> 
> At first I put a plant hanger on the wall and then hung a battery powered lantern from it but that provided only a small amount of light to one half of the inside of the shed. Next I tried a few LED push-lights that I picked up at a hardware store for a few bucks apiece which provided even less light. I looked up shed lights online and found some solar powered ones but all the inexpensive models (under $50.00) have pretty bad reviews on Amazon, mostly complaining of how they're too dim.
> 
> So what are my other options, if any? Basically looking for anything that doesn't require electricity, is relatively inexpensive and would light up the inside of the shed at least most of the way. Any ideas?


If you have a extra car battery. They make light's that screw into reg. lites sockets that are 12volt. You can get these at a camp. store. I don't know the wattage they make. But i do know they make 12 vot. one's. Of course mark these so that they don't get screwed into 120 volt system. Check this out that would be a cheep way for lite's ?


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