I’ve written before about the bargains that you can find at dollar stores. Bill, VA3HWA, writing on the Glowbugs Google group, mentions solar power and battery deals that he’s found at the dollar stores and IKEA:
For a low cost source of “photocells and rechargeables” I frequent the “dollar” type stores.
Solar powered toys and gadgets, pathway marking lamps, etc., all have other uses (some disassembly required).
Most these days involve lower currents and smaller size batteries but a few of the older lights (pick ’em up at yard sales) use two “AA” size batteries usually rated 600 mAH or so and connected in series. I’ve got a few of these to convert the outdoor portion of my weather station to solar at some point in time.
IKEA had solar lamps for a while (Sunnan) with an easily removable solar cell and battery pack module containing four “AA” size batteries. Picked up seven of these at under five bucks each on sale a while back. Lots of possibilities there and the batteries alone would probably cost more than the entire unit. I’m not sure if the Sunnan lamp is still available but IKEA may have other solar product that could be useful.
For example, they have a pack of four 2,000 mAH “AA” cells that sometimes can be found on sale. Local / regional prices may vary but here regular price here is a bit under six dollars (Cdn) or so. Great backup for the THK 2 AT Kenwood rig.
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