Repurposing a "solar lantern"...

[twocvbloke]

Note how the "solar lantern" is in quotes, it was sold as a "lantern", but it's not really...

Anyway, was in my local Poundstretcher store (purveyors of cheap chinese tat, though some is kind of good sometimes) yesterday browsing their battery operated lighting  when I saw what I thought were a load of lamp guards, which is technically what it is, but on closer inspection, they're actually a cheap solar light stuffed into a lamp guard and called a "lantern", probably because it has a handle on it... 

I noticed that where the top of the lamp part was, it was about the right size for sitting on a UK bayonet light socket, so, the gears of thought screeched into life and £4.99 later, I bought one, got it home and took it to bits (probably should have documented that I guess!), only modification needed was to remove a metal ring that the solar lamp sat in and smoothed off the snapped-off spot welds, and, I have a nice lamp guard...

The point? None really, just seems like a bit of fun to share a repurposed light guard thing that was turned into a solar light and then back into a light guard, beats ruining phones and lanterns, that's for sure...

[Alex G. Bell]

Note how the "solar lantern" is in quotes, it was sold as a "lantern", but it's not really...

Anyway, was in my local Poundstretcher store (purveyors of cheap chinese tat, though some is kind of good sometimes) yesterday browsing their battery operated lighting  when I saw what I thought were a load of lamp guards, which is technically what it is, but on closer inspection, they're actually a cheap solar light stuffed into a lamp guard and called a "lantern", probably because it has a handle on it... 

I noticed that where the top of the lamp part was, it was about the right size for sitting on a UK bayonet light socket, so, the gears of thought screeched into life and £4.99 later, I bought one, got it home and took it to bits (probably should have documented that I guess!), only modification needed was to remove a metal ring that the solar lamp sat in and smoothed off the snapped-off spot welds, and, I have a nice lamp guard...

The point? None really, just seems like a bit of fun to share a repurposed light guard thing that was turned into a solar light and then back into a light guard, beats ruining phones and lanterns, that's for sure...

It is kind of nice!  I'd buy one if I found them here.  But I have to confess that I'm disappointed.  When I read the title I expected to find a discussion about how you converted it to burn kerosene... 

[twocvbloke]

Nah, it'd take a lot more to convert it into a fuelled lamp, might be possible to make a gas mantle lamp out of it, but repurposing it as something for a lightbulb does me nicely...

I just stuck it here as it's sold as a "solar lantern" as though it was intended to be carried about like an actual lantern...

[19and41]

Looks more robust than most solar lighting.  Good mod! 

[AL_as_needed]

If you went the "dead flame" lamp route, all you'd have to do would be to cut out a hole that would fit down on the chimney of the glass hurricane (is that the right term? or is it globe like in a lantern) and it could just sit over everything. 

You should try one of those old "edison style" LED bulbs in it, they cast a nice warm light and look a lot like older bulbs with all the positives of being LED.

[twocvbloke]

Looks more robust than most solar lighting.  Good mod! 

It is quite surprisingly sturdy compared to the LED light that was inserted into it, which is part of the reason I bought it, just a nice solid protective cage to put round a light...

You should try one of those old "edison style" LED bulbs in it, they cast a nice warm light and look a lot like older bulbs with all the positives of being LED.

The only two warm-white ones I have are both out in the shed (one has a broken filament support, the other squeals a lot which is annoying), that and they're E27 screw-caps, whereas the light sockets that this shade/cage/guard thing fits are for Bayonet (or B22) caps which are the standard light fittings here in the UK, though there are plenty of bayonet bulbs on sale, they're still at an extortionate price compared to buying direct from china, the only trouble with the latter is the varying quality and the fact that thy all pretty much come with E27 caps...

Besides, dunno where I'm even going to put the thing as yet, I just stuck it up in my ceiling light to see how it looked when lit up...

[AL_as_needed]

Thanks sort of surprising. I figured the US would be the one lagging behind in terms of LED bulbs and the like (as we usually are clinging to our ancient tech).  Could smuggle you some good ol' 'merican LED bulbs  , then just rewire half your house to take the correct voltage.

[twocvbloke]

Oh we have plenty of LED bulbs for sale these days, most of the CFLs are on the reduced-to-clear shelves now so it's LED all the way, but most of the LED offerings are like the one I used in the pictures, just a generic white thing shaped like a GLS bulb, all of varying quality, the one thing we do lag behind with is colour temperature options, they only sell one colour of LED bulb here, "warm white" (about 2700k), which is a sickly yellow colour which I don't particularly like, or if there's actually a colour option, there's "cool white" (6500k) which is very blue in colour, which I'm not too keen on either, I prefer something around the 4000-4200k colour temperature, which for LED lighting is oddly difficult to get... 

As for the correct voltage, we are using the correct voltage, higher voltage means less amps means less copper needed in the walls...