This morning we awoke to a world decked by a soft, white blanket.
A fresh inch or two of snow had gently covered the city while we slept. As I tore open the shutter and threw up the sash, I couldn’t help but chuckle as I looked outside.
The snowfall, while always welcome, has some unforeseen consequences…
When I looked through the glass window onto our balcony, I saw the sight below, and thought to myself:
Hmm! No lights for us this evening!
Can you guess what this is?
It might help a bit if we zoom-out a little bit…or maybe not:
click to view larger image
What you’re looking at are the solar-powered fairy lights or solar-powered christmas lights that we have mounted on our balcony’s railing.
The way it works is pretty simple. During the day, sunlight shines onto the head of the device. Inside, two rechargable batteries are charged by the solar panel mounted on the head.
That little solar panel is just big enough to gather enough energy to power the lights from dusk until after we’ve gone to bed.
When the sun goes down and it gets dark, a light sensor in the device tells the batteries to stop charging and start putting-out.
So in the evenings, our balcony enjoys the cheerful twinkle of 25 little “Christmas” lights, all powered by the sun:
For about 15 bucks we were able to put the free and renewable energy of the sun to good use. We also avoided the hassle of having to hook the lights up to the electrical mains, and bother with turning them on and off each night.
The batteries inside the device appear to be about AA in size, but are obviously recharegable. For well over a year, they have peformed wonderfully, in all types of weather.
Seeing the pile of snow on the solar collector this morning made me think about what affects the brightness of our lights at night.
- Length of day: season
- Angle of sun: higher in summer, more direct light on the solar panel)
- Weather: cloud-cover, snow *cough*
It is interesting to come home in the evening and observe the brightness of the lights. If you’ve had a hard day at work and didn’t bother to notice the conditions outside, you can guess what kind of day it was by the brightness of the lights.
On a cloudy day, they will generally be dimmer, although the shorter days in winter can give a similar effect. But since you are generally aware of the season, you start to notice the relative brightnesses from day to day. It sounds silly, but it is kind of fun to observe.
It seems a bit counterproductive that in summer, the nights are shorter but the lights burn a whole lot brighter. But in summer, we are more likely to be out on the balcony, enjoying the warmth of being outside. In the winter, the lights burn more dimly, but we spend much less time outdoors, and are likely to have the shades closed anyway.
At least there’s something for the neighbors to look at!