Comments for Renewable Energy Resources

Comment on Moonrays 91225 Verona Style Solar Powered Plastic Path Light, Black, 10 Pack by Mojave Mike

Mojave Mike — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:24:31 +0000

Review by Mojave Mike for Moonrays 91225 Verona Style Solar Powered Plastic Path Light, Black, 10 Pack Rating: update: After about a month, some of the lights fail within an hour of dark. The solar panels are inset by a fraction of an inch, allowing debris and sand to collect and block the solar cell. This causes incomplete charging of the batteries, which eventually contributes to over-draining of the batteries, cutting their life short.

Most of the solar powered lights I've seen / used have the solar panel set flush or slightly above the plane of the rest of the top so debris cannot collect there and block the panel.

They are fairly bright and easy to place, all parts are made of plastic, though.

========= original review:

I bought a set of these to finish off the yard. They work fairly well. I've had them up for a few weeks, they still run all night on their daily sun. As long as you remember that they need sunlight, and make sure they get most of the mid-day sun, they seem to last all night. Right now, mine get about 6 to 8 hours of good direct sunlight each day, and run over 10 hours.

These are LED lamps, which run on batteries, charged by the sun. The better exposure to direct sun they have, the longer they last. Keep the cells clean.

Do not expect them to be as bright as halogens, etc. These are easily visible from over 100yds away, though not truly bright. On dark nights they can be helpful, on full moons they are a nice accent.

Be ready to replace batteries about every year or so. Having easy to replace batteries is a big plus. AA NiCD are not hard to find. I recommend charging whatever replacements you get in a "smart charger" (to be sure the cells are all good) before installing.

Comment on Moonrays 91225 Verona Style Solar Powered Plastic Path Light, Black, 10 Pack by Dennis Wilson

Dennis Wilson — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:50:27 +0000

Review by Dennis Wilson for Moonrays 91225 Verona Style Solar Powered Plastic Path Light, Black, 10 Pack Rating: If you are looking for small path lights just for the purpose of lighting a walkway or path. You can stop looking because these little babies will do the trick. They are made of molded plastic, and they do give enough light to prevent injury and this soft light lasts all night on a single charge. I personally would have liked the anchors that into the ground to be a little longer, but never the less they do the trick and they are inexpensive.

Comment on Moonrays 91225 Verona Style Solar Powered Plastic Path Light, Black, 10 Pack by William W. Dyess

William W. Dyess — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:59:01 +0000

Review by William W. Dyess for Moonrays 91225 Verona Style Solar Powered Plastic Path Light, Black, 10 Pack Rating: These are plastic, light weight solutions to patio and path lights. I have bought 3 sets of them so that I ended up with some extras. I have them in all sorts of places - some of which get no direct sun. They have all worked great. I don't expect them to last for years and I know that I will have to replace the batteries [easy to do]. But for the price, these are great! They come well packed and are very easy to assemble. Within minutes from opening the box you can get them placed around the yard so that you can start enjoying them.

Comment on Moonrays 91225 Verona Style Solar Powered Plastic Path Light, Black, 10 Pack by Bobr

Bobr — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:39:44 +0000

Review by Bobr for Moonrays 91225 Verona Style Solar Powered Plastic Path Light, Black, 10 Pack Rating: I was searching for some good solar path lights but the selection in the local stores was pretty picked-over in September. These lights were being sold by Amazon at $30 for 10 lights--I wondered how good they could be since this was cheaper than the price of a rechargeable battery. I ordered them on speculation. They arrived promptly. I pre-charged the batteries and carefully inserted them in the ground along my garden path. That night I determined that 9 of the 10 worked pretty well; the tenth was dead (tried different known-good battery). They don't throw off much light but they do exactly what I wanted--highlight the border of my garden path. With the shorter days and lower sun angle, the lights that don't get much sun are barely illuminating but this doesn't surprise me. Overall, a decent value for what I wanted.

Comment on Moonrays 91225 Verona Style Solar Powered Plastic Path Light, Black, 10 Pack by K. Dougher

K. Dougher — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:02:39 +0000

Review by K. Dougher for Moonrays 91225 Verona Style Solar Powered Plastic Path Light, Black, 10 Pack Rating: These lights are fantasic for the price, made of pretty sturdy products and serve their purpose very well. They leave a very pretty pattern on the ground when lit too. Very easy to assembly and install.

Comment on Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes Reviews by W. James D. Easton

W. James D. Easton — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:02:50 +0000

Review by W. James D. Easton for Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes Rating: This is the textbook of fundamentals of solar energy engineering.

Comment on Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes Reviews by Carlos A. Gomez

Carlos A. Gomez — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:48:46 +0000

Review by Carlos A. Gomez for Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes Rating: This is the best book to have an initial view about solar energy and its aplicattion.

Comment on Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes Reviews by Michael Tobin

Michael Tobin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:28:37 +0000

Review by Michael Tobin for Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes Rating: This is written for engineers to develop skills and application of solar thermal processes. It also addresses photovoltaic design and wind energy systems. This is quite technical and not suited for someone with a casual interest wishing to enter into the green area.

Comment on Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes Reviews by Dr. Goode

Dr. Goode — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:13:12 +0000

Review by Dr. Goode for Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes Rating: Sure, its technical. But anyone with a college level understanding of physics and science should be fine. Thanks to this book, I was able to deal with the engineers that 'energized' my barns. Maybe bit pricey, but this was an excellent investment for me and turned out to be a useful resource for the contractor I hired. Wiley books are rarely inexpensive, but always top value. I just bought some of their stock - which is one way to take some of the sting out of the price.

Comment on Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes Reviews by Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:47:21 +0000

Review by for Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes Rating: The second edition of "Solar Engineering..." is a much expanded and updated version of the original, which was already a decent textbook. It covers almost everything there is to know about engineering of solar energy systems, and the presentation is clear and well organized. The division into "basics" and "applications" sections is a very sensible way to get oriented before plunging into the depth of a specific technology, especially since solar thermal applications tend to cover a wide variety of technologies. The gradual and systematic approach makes this book a very good textbook for beginners. The wide scope makes it also a pretty good reference source for practitioners who are looking for a specific bit of information. The new chapter on photovoltaic cells is a nice touch. While this is not a "thermal process," it is still important for any practitioner of solar thermal to know what's happening in the other corner of the field. A presentation of PV at the level that can be understood by non-physicists is a very welcome addition.My only complaint is that recent significant developments are not well represented (I guess much of this developed after the book was written, so this complaint is not really aimed at the authors). Topics such as non-imaging concentrators, high-temperature thermal receivers for Brayton cycle, and solar chemistry are either briefly mentioned or absent altogether. The more traditional applications such DHW are of course presented in detail, but their significance to the energy market remains negligible. I would prefer to see more on applications that have the potential to make a major impact. Hopefully this will be included in the next edition...