Alternative Energy Sources

You can make some easy, solar-powered security systems for very little cost. You can also have a lot of fun at somebody else’s expense. By using strategic combinations of motion-activated sprinkler heads and security lights, you can keep just about anything or anybody away from your house. The great news is that both of these products come solar-powered, so they work even in a power outage. These security devices are far from foolproof, but they deter 99 percent of potential offenders. The trick is placement. Plan for maximum surprise and dramatic result. 

The idea is simple: Aim a stream of water into a region being sensed by a motion detector — upon detection, the water triggers on. The entire thing is powered by a solar panel, so you can set it up anywhere you have a hose. 

Here are some intriguing applications:

• Security: If I were a burglar stalking a house and all of a sudden I was hosed, I’d leave.  
• Pest deterrence: Neighbor’s dog like your yard late at night? Deer eating your landscape? Daughter’s boyfriend pushing it? Not if they have to take an unplanned shower. 
•  Practical jokes: You can get some laughs out of this, but you better make sure that the intended victim has a sense of humor and is dressed appropriately. Set up your video camera first.

The device is called a security light, but you can find other applications. A PV module connects via a length of wire to a battery, a spotlight, and a motion detector. The module needs to be mounted in direct sunlight, the more the better, but you can mount the light itself anywhere. Wire lengths of 15 feet are common, but you can go a lot longer if you need to.

The typical price is around $80. On the other hand, if you pay an electrician to install an electric junction box, you’re looking at over $400, easy. And that location may not really be the best location after all. With solar, you can position anywhere, easily and quickly. And you can hang one of these inside your house just as well as out. The trick is to get the PV panel in the sun, that’s all that matters.

Here are some applications:

• Aim it out over your front porch, and nobody ever has to approach your house in the dark. Or mount it over your garage door, facing the driveway, to provide light whenever somebody drives up. 
•  Aim it at a door, and whoever comes through suddenly finds himself or herself in a spotlight. 
•  Use it as a motion-activated light inside your garage, or hang the light over the work area in a remote storage shed.  Put up a barn light to welcome the cows when they finally come home.
• Dark basements are perfect. When you go down, the light comes on. It goes off after you leave — no more grabbing around for switches and  Get some gazebo lighting or position one over a picnic table. Whenever you sit down, you have light.
•  In a remote cabin, you can provide all your lighting needs, indoors and out. Just remember, motion sensors have a preset on time (you can adjust this with some units to over ten minutes) so mount the units where they’ll consistently pick up motion in the room. If not, you may be caught in the dark, waving your hands around in an attempt to shed some light. Actually, that sounds kind of fun, you may even be able to invent a game out of it.