I personally didnt like the way it was setup for use (at least MY use).
They would work great for a garage or shed or some area where you need a simple light to run off Solar Power or battery power. I wanted a cleaner look.

I went to Home Depot and picked up a standard 120volt wall outlet for something like $0.40 each, plus a wall box and basic white cover. Everything was under $2.  I had some cheap old speaker wire laying around (im a pack rat for electronics), so I decided to use that to hookup the bulbs.

The 12volt bulbs are a standard lightbulb thread.  I simply screwed them into my floor light, that has a area light and a directional light.

Then you need to wire up the 120volt wall outlet to the 12 volt controller.
Simply Wire your POSITIVE (+) to the HOT/ Black Wire side of the plug (small slot side) . Note: I used a BLUE wire for my Positive in the pics.

Wire the NEGATIVE (-) to where the Neutral / White wire would go (large slot side).

Then you can install it into the wall box and put on the cover.
Simply wire the other end of your power cord to the controller, and turn on the lights, and Enjoy!

Now for a safety note:
DO NOT FOR ANY REASON PLUG THE LAMP INTO AN ACTUAL 120VOLT WALL OUTLET!  DOING SO WILL CAUSE THE 12VOLT BULBS TO LIKELY EXPLODE AND MAY CAUSE A FIRE!
Just use common sense. Mark the plug on the lamp or something so you dont forget.

Now for a review of the bulbs.
I honestly didnt really like them at 1st. They werent bright enough for me at my desk when Im working at night. However, during writing this entry, they have gotten brighter in the 1st 2 min and are now tolerable for me. I took some pics to show what they look  like at 3am in my completely dark house.

Just like anything with going green or using alternate energy, it will take a little change getting used to, but no big deal when Ill be saving $$ each month. Who cares if I have to wait 2 min for full brightness. I still have my other standard 120volt fluorescent lights in my living room if I need it brighter.

I went from TWO 23 fluorescent watt bulbs (aprox 60 regular watt brightness) to these 5 watt bulbs. I really only used 1 bulb at night, but with the 12volt 5 watt bulbs, Ill need both.
At night i was using AKA PAYING FOR 23 fluorescent watts on a standard bulb.  Now I have 2 bulbs at 10 watts total that I pay $0.00 /month for and they give me about 50watts of brightness compared to a standard incandescent bulb.

They normally sell these for $249, but I see them advertised in the store all the time for $199 but if you get their E-Mail ads or follow their Twitter account, then they have AWESOME deals. They had the kit for $159 in their E-Mail ad, so I printed out the coupon and went shopping.

I got the kit and got it home. Its all packaged in one nice box, not too heavy.

Here is a list of whats included.

• Three 15 Watt Solar Panels
• Metal Frame
• Charge Controller w/ Digital Display  + DC Jacks
• 2 Florescent 12 Volt lights + Wiring harness
• Battery Clips
• Power Adapter Wire

After assembling the kit and putting it outside, it started charging up my 12Volt, 20AH battery right away. Its not the best battery, but it does the job for now, till I can get my other batteries setup. So far after about 2 weeks, it runs all my 12 volt electronics at my desk with no problem.

• Police / Fire Scanner
• VHF Ham Radio
• CB
• HF Ham Radio

It stays between 10.8 – 12.6 volts. The scanner is left on 24/7.

Here are a few Pro’s and Con’s about the kit.

PRO’s

• Everything is included except long wire and a better or inverter
• The newer kits have a LCD voltage meter, older kits didnt have one.
• 5 volt USB port, works great for charging my cell phones, since I fix/repair/sell them, it saves power on wall wart plugs.
• Cigarette lighter jack
• Low voltage light
• Panels work good in low light
• Panels work good with light snow on them

CON’s

• For a “Green Product” there sure was a lot of Styrofoam in the box, but it was to protect the fragile panels.
• The metal frame sucks for anything besides temporary use. It doesnt bolt together, it simply slides together and isnt very stable. Its not roof mountable as-is.
• The USB port is up-side-down, but no big deal
• The power terminals are a little too close for safety

So far, Ive had good results with the basic as-is kit. Im planning on doing a few mods to improve its performance. I plan to add another kit in a month.  Im also going to install a switch to be able to change between battery voltage (default)  and panel voltage.

So far, Ive had good results with the basic as-is kit.Im planning on doing a few mods to improve its performance. I plan to add another kit in a month.  Im also going to install a switch to be able to change between battery voltage (default)  and panel voltage.

I also want to construct a large frame to hold 3 or 4 kits and be able to rotate the panels by motor on a old large satellite dish pole to point towards the sun better. I noticed that when the sun moved around 3pm-7pm (Michigan Winter) it moves about 60* from East to West and moving the panels directly to the sun improves the voltage from 1.2 – 2.5 volts better. Having it move will take advantage of every hour of light. Currently I dont get much light until 10am due to the placement of the panels.

Here is a good forum that I joined, focusing the solar panel kit.
http://solarpanelkitatharborfreight.ning.com/

The Airave is like a mini cell phone tower for your house. It hooks up to your high speed internet, and allows you to get a strong signal in and around your home.

So, I called up Sprint and talked to tech Support / Coverage problems. The man there said I was in a poor area and he “highly recommended” the Airave for my address.

He transferred me to customer service.
The woman there asked some questions, including, “would your coverage problem affect your decision to stay with Sprint?” I told her no, but I cant use my phone at home. She then looked up some info, and wanted to charge me $100 for the unit, plus $5/mo for service. I told her I have heard about some people getting units for free, and she said she had no control over that. So i told her I would hold off on buying the unit for now.

I then called back to Sprint a few min later. This time, I went to the Account Cancellation Dept.
I told them about the problem, he looked up my address and said he could get me a unit for FREE!

I was so happy…..
…Until he said “OH”….

I am on an older special Employee / Dealer plan for $20/mo 3000min, that is no longer available.

Due to me being on this super low plan, he wasn’t able to push the Airave unit thru the system for free.  He said if I was on a regular plan, then it would be no problem.

The cancellation / retention dept seems to be the people that you need to  talk to, to get one of these units for free. Just call them up, act like you want to cancel service, cause you dont get any coverage, and see if you can get one.

So I guess I have to buy one used on Ebay of fork out $100 at the store to get better coverage. Even paying the $100 isn’t too bad, cause of my plan im on.

Sprint Airave

• Police Dispatch (Left Audio)
• Fire Dispatch (Right Audio)

• Fire Dispatch

KC8GRQ

Mobile Vehicle Tracker

GPS: Radio Shack Digitraveler

Radio: Radio Shack HTX-242 @35 watts.

APRS Encoder: TinyTrack2

Antenna: 1/4 Wave  NMO Mount, trunk mounted.

Notes: 2000 Chevy Cavalier – Green