In over my head here...Solar light

[offgrid KM]

Here's a bit of background. I need a couple of nightlights in order to feel secure at night. In the past I used a couple of strands of Christmas lights for that. For over a year, I've been using solar lights, which save me money and give me lights I can use in case of a power outage.

I have several spotlights and also some average cheap yard lights that I set outside every day to charge and then bring them in at night. If it's cloudy or rainy, I don't put any of them out, but that's ok because the spotlights have on/off switches, so I can keep them turned off until night. They don't run out of juice nearly as fast as the yard lights.

The heart of my issue right now is that I want to invest in some really bright solar lights but have no clue what to get or where to buy them. I'm very confused by all of the complicated stuff I've read. I want these really bright lights to use in place of my regular electric ceiling lights. It would be fine to set the lights on a table or the floor, so long as they are bright enough to light up the room.

Near as I can figure, these are the best deal that I've found so far:

www buygreen.com/solarhybridflantern.aspx
I think 200 lumens sounds pretty bright.

What do you all think? Could you help out a newbie?

Thanks!

[Sunking]

I think 200 lumens sounds pretty bright.

200 Lumens bright? Well a 15 watt CFL emits about 800 to 950 Lumens, and that is not enough to read by unless you are really close to the light source.

[offgrid KM]

Thanks for your reply, I do appreciate it.

I was hoping for some guidance as to what kind of light I could purchase to serve the purpose stated.

Though I'm by far not an imbecile, I have read a lot on the subject of solar energy, and still have no clue what I'm doing. I guess it's just a subject that I'll have to rely on others to help me with. I'll not be trying to set up a solar power system on my own LOL

Could you please point me in the right direction for a solar light that will light up a room, if you know of any? I want one that I can set outside to charge up and then bring in and use. The ones I have aren't anywhere near bright enough to suit me.

Side note: I actually can read and do crafts by using even just one of the spotlights. It just doesn't light up enough of the room to make me happy. I went so far as to attach 5 of the spotlights to various kitchen cupboards with rubber bands to see if they would light up the kitchen enough, and they didn't.

For now, until I (hopefully) get more replies, I'll shelve the idea of buying the light I gave the link to.

[inetdog]

Do the 5 spotlights not give enough light for the kitchen because they are concentrated rather than spread out? Or is there just not enough total light coming from them?

If it is the former, then a simple frosted glass type diffuser or else a lens type beam spreader would make the psychological effect much better, and cost very little.

When you say that one spotlight is good enough for crafts and close work, how close is the light to your work area and how much area does the beam cover?