Operation Lite Brite

Every fall, the clocks go back. Every year I manage to be simultaneously surprised and annoyed by how dark it suddenly is. One of the downsides to living on the west coast of BC is that it's generally damp, dark and gloomy all winter anyway....so I guess do what you will with the clock, most of us are just entering hibernation anyway. So, see you again the next time the sun shines! 

Sophie doing her annual 'new winter raincoat' dance this week. Is not planning to hibernate.

Just kidding, I have horses. And I like being outdoors and busy. The obvious solution to my dilemma was that I needed some better lighting around the place. 

There was a missed opportunity the run power from the house out to the barn and ring last year, when we already had it all dug up for water lines. We opted not to, thinking the annoyance of potentially sharing a hydro bill with a tenant wasn't going to be worth it. I briefly explored the option of having a separate service and meter, but they only do that for secondary residences, not horse barns (despite the fact I arguably spend more time in the barn than my home :)

Obviously now with us deciding to move on site and live in the house, we could rethink the situation and run power everywhere, but I'm reluctant to spend time and money digging everything up again.

So, for now I wanted my barn and arena power to be off grid. We explored the usual options as far as solar and batteries and more permanent off grid solutions all and I just wasn't feeling it...I had a set cost for this in mind that was not high, because I do still have those longer term plans of having power out there.

So, here's what I've ended up with:

I bought mine last year, so this is the newer version of what I have. Website Link

Amazon lights (x2 packages of 2). They were $60 when I bought them, and I didn't need the color changing...so I'm pretty sure this can be done cheaper.

75' of Christmas lights (x2)

I ended up spending about $500 of my canadian dollars with some extra solar lights for fence posts thrown in. I wouldn't say my expectations were high, but also I had hopes of this being semi functional for a few years until I figure out what it actually is that I want.

It's hard using my cell phone to give you accurate lighting pictures, but I hope you can get the idea, the christmas lights are very low power consuming, and wrapped around the ceilings of interior areas are adequate to muck out and feed with. Also, it's festive :)

So far, I'm happy. The power box has been in use for a little over a year now and gets regular use in the winter. In the summer it lives in my horse trailer and has come in handy for changing phones and laptops and running lights and air compressors for camping or other off grid horsey adventures. It's super small and light (I think the website says it weighs 6 pounds) so it's no big deal to move it around or pack it away when I'm not using it. Downside is it only lasts 3-10 hours depending how many lights I'm using at any time. On the plus side it has a big digital readout giving you an estimate of how much time you have left with current power consumption, and it only takes about an hour to charge when I plug it in at the house, a little longer if I use my truck to charge it when we're camping. I arguably could have gone for something bigger since arena lighting is not a small ask, but I don't find it overly inconvenient and like the flexibility of it being small and portable. It would be rare for me to be out there running all the lights for 3 hours straight - with my normal use it lasts about a week between charges.

solar lights on the posts and in the sand marking the perimeter of the ring.

Those little led floodlights are the thing, though. I currently have 3 set up in trees around my ring, and one up by the barn where I groom and tack up. The single one at the barn is almost too bright for that purpose, but very handy. The ones in the ring area are honestly barely enough by normal standards (I should put the fourth one there instead or just have gone for the higher wattage option, but at the time I was worried about battery consumption and also annoying the neighbours). So, I wouldn't be using them and setting up a jump course, but for walk/trot/canter on a dark night on a horse that doesn't mind the odd shadow, they're more than adequate lighting. Again, my photos are letting you down, so I'll describe it as better (but trending close) to one of those old school indoors that used to use rows of regular lightbulbs.

They came with an app, which was actually super handy - I have all the ring ones set in a group so I can turn them off and on or adjust brightness in unison.

I somehow missed the memo these can also change color or be set to music, lol. I noticed there is a rave/party setting but I'm not convinced that's what Sophie needs while I ride this winter.

I'm pretty sure there are endless ways this could have been done better, but I'm liking the flexibility and cost effectiveness of what I've ended up with. When I was searching for ways to make this work I didn't see a ton out there for equine specific options and reviews, so I thought I'd post this just in case it helps someone else out there.