Bug In Solar Lights

[ODA 226]

I've had a lot of positive responses about my Solar Lights in the "Lessons From Irene" thread and Raptor asked me to show how I made them so here you go!:

Here are all of the basic components that you need to make your solar lights:
1. Spray Glass Frosting
2. Spray Clear Top Coat
3. Shoe Goo
4. Solar Light with On/Off Switch (Very Important!!!!!)
5. Imitation Flowers/ Grasses/ Rocks/ Marbles to your liking.
6. Masking Tape
7. Scissors
8. Twist Ties or Rubber Bands
9. Glass jar with clear top



Use the scissors to trim the (fake) stems and place your floral arrangement into the clear sealed jar. Keep the arrangement low in order to obtain more light from your solar lights.





In this case, I used fake flowers. Sometimes I use marbles or decorative rocks or gravel, examples of which will be shown later in this post.

[ODA 226]

The next thing you must do is to frost the upper top and sides if you decide to do so. There are pluses and minuses to frosting the sides of your jar, so take a look at some of my finished products at the end of this thread.....

Take the cap off off your spray can and place it on the glass top of your jar. Use your frosting spray to spray the top and sides or any portion of your jar, how ever you decide. let dry and apply a second coat.



After your second frosting application dries, apply a coat of clear flat interior/exterior coating spray. Let dry and apply a second coat. If you DON'T do this and keep your jars outside in your garden, the rain will eventually erode the frosting from your jars!



When your second coat is dry, remove the cap and you'll find a nice clear area to mount your solar light!

[ODA 226]

CAREFULLY apply Shoe Goo to the EDGES of your solar light being careful to NOT GET ANY ON THE SOLAR PANEL OR THE PHOTO-REACTIVE CELL! If you aren't careful, your light may not charge or turn on!



Set the solar light on the INSIDE of the top of your jar and in the MIDDLE of the clear circle you made with the spray frosting and let dry IN THIS POSITION!:



When the top is dry, turn the solar light on OFF, and replace top. The finished product looks like this:

[Woods Walker]

The fake flowers tell me you either have a sensitive side or looking to make the better half happy. Cool little project.

[phil_in_cs]

Genius, sir. Excellent work.

[ODA 226]

Here is what it looks like in use:



I didn't use the plastic diffuser with this particular light. I wanted more color for this light as I wanted to use it as more of a decorative light than someting serious. If you want a light that produces more light, I suggest you frost the entire jar or the top third of the jar and use the plastic diffuser that comes with the unit. Make sure that the diffuser isn't exposed to view by using a dremel tool to cut off the part that goes into the stake and tape off and frost at least one-third from the top. Here are some examples of what I've done before:



Here is an example of using the plastic diffuser and extended frosting next to the non-frosted floral arrangement:



As you can see, the frosted with plastic diffuser unit puts out considerably more light. All of these units will put out a good amount of light from 4-6 hours.

After you put your lights together, put them in your windows with the solar lights in the OFF position and whenever you lose power, you'll have light! Here's what they look like in my window:



The great thing about these lights are the fact that they are ALWAYS THERE AND READY for use. Also, they don't look like preps and I think they look pretty nice in my windows! LOL!

While they don't put out a lot of light, the put out ENOUGH light to raise morale or to have a minimum amount of light available in your house during any emergency! My windows are filled with these decorative, yet practical lights. I hope you found this post useful! 226

[ODA 226]

The fake flowers tell me you either have a sensitive side or looking to make the better half happy. Cool little project.

Hey...even barbarians love chocolate chip cookies...and flowers!

[ODA 226]

Genius, sir. Excellent work.

Thanks! I didn't invent these things, but I think I took them to a higher level. I have incorporated then fully into my Bug In preps and I think fill some gaps I had nicely.

[Ableto]

I did something similar as gifts for the ladies at work. I told them as long as they leave them in a window on the sunny side of the house, it will glow at night.

Just as a thought i will put a solar power path light in my BOB for a reading/safety light.

[ODA 226]

Ableto,
They will glow at night, but unless you buy lights with an On/Off switch and keep the switch in the "Off" position, you may not have emergency light when you need it.

[raptor]

Very creative use of solar lights. Excellent write up thank you for sharing. It is useful and nice looking enough to keep handy and ready to go.

Great thing to have on hand.

[offcamber]

Awesome stuff right there, thanks for posting.

This is a project I think I could easily convince my wife on, and I have the jars and the lights already!

[Ableto]

Ableto,
They will glow at night, but unless you buy lights with an On/Off switch and keep the switch in the "Off" position, you may not have emergency light when you need it.

I would use it for reading and nothing more, if i needed something more specific i will use my minimag led lite, or my headband led lite. I would use the solar powered light as a reading lamp or basic light for the tent. Best way to not use up the aaa/aa's i have. Plus its not hard to put in a on/off switch. I got many in the workshop.

[J.C.]

This is great, thanks so much for posting this!

[Woods Walker]

I am going to move this thread to other gear but leave a shadow here. Once again nice work ODA.

[ninja-elbow]

This is excellent ODA. I can use this for my HOA seminars I have been billed to hold on disaster prepping. We need more "homey/crafty" things like this. It is perfect, thanks.

[Mags]

Yep, nice work ODA. Be proud of your flowers, it’s not like they are daisies! They are practical, tactical, DIY and decorative. In house preps, out in the open and HH6 is good to go with it……full of WIN.

Again cool idea, execution & post

[Prepared American]

Thanks for the post 226, I will be replicating them very soon. When i say "I", I of course mean my wife will be doing these as she is far more crafty then I.

We should get a whole thread on these types of projects.

[ninja-elbow]

Quick question:
Any specific brand or specs on a solar light with on/off switches. Most of the ones I am finding are "dusk-dawn" auto switches.

Also, how much do you need to break down the lights as I am assuming you are using the staked patio/walkway lights avaialble at Homedepot and such? Or am I totally off?

[ODA 226]

Quick question:
Any specific brand or specs on a solar light with on/off switches. Most of the ones I am finding are "dusk-dawn" auto switches.

Also, how much do you need to break down the lights as I am assuming you are using the staked patio/walkway lights avaialble at Homedepot and such? Or am I totally off?

When you go to purchase your solar lights, unscrew the plastic diffuser and you can immediately see if there is an on-off switch. It'll be next to the bulb usually.

I am using the staked patio lights for this project.

[Paladin1]

Excellent idea.

Nice write up, thanks.

[ODA 226]

Thanks for the kind comments everyone!

I decided to take the floral theme a step further. I used two 6 inch by 25 inch glass tubes and one 3 inch by 25 inch tube to make additional solar lights for my living room windows. I might use the two large tubes outside on either side of my front door. Here's what they look like completed:



Here's what they look like lit up!:



In my windows:



I think these turned out quite well and the bigger lights are HUGE! They are not only very decorative, but also very practical. I really have fun making these lights and with a little bit of creativity, you too can make these beautiful bug-in accessories. Have fun and please post what you've produced! 226

[ODA 226]

I don't know what the hell has gotten into me this weekend, but I think my sensitive and vulnerable side is rearing it's ugly head.....

I saw some globe solar lights at Walmart on sale for $4.00 and it hit me! Additional decorative light at the bottom of the floral array would bring out more color at night!

I went to Michael's and bought two more 25 inch by 6 inch tubes and this is what I came up with!:



Here they are lit:



Here is one in almost total darkness:




Again, you are only limited by you're imagination! I hope that some of you will make and share your own designs! Have fun! 226

[BigDaddyTX]

How do the globe solar lights charge on the bottom? Also, can I assume that they don't do on/off mode, just constant?

ETA: Nice work, I have a few of these lights that don't do crap for the outside of my house I'm going to have to try and repurpose. I don't see them coming out as nice though.