How to build a SOLAR BOTTLE BULB

Light up dark areas in your home during daytime using this green and sustainable concept. Recycle used clear plastic soda bottles, add water+bleach, then install. After installation this solar light bulb can provide approximately 55 watts of light from the sun! 

The comments below have noted that this is like a solar tube or deck prism. 

The communities who benefit from this idea live in areas where the houses hardly have windows and live in darkness even during daytime. Their solution up until this innovation was to turn on the light bulb and use electricity.



Source: www.isanglitrongliwanag.org

Materials:
*PET soda bottle
*Galvanized Iron (GI) sheet
*Rubber sealant
*Bleach
*Filtered Water

Step 1 Cut approximately 9 x 10 inches of GI sheet (corrugated or flat)

(Filipino: Gumupit ng yero na may sukat na 9 x 10 inches.)


*Here is a how-to video

Comments

[weskeryami]

hola enserio esta cosa prende? jajaja por q ya lo intente para un proyecto pero no nada q brilla y segui al paso todas las instrucciones .... necesito ayuda ....... porfas...... es urgente !!!!

[kaalas]

can u please say me the reason how it glows?????

[rogiervdheide]

Kalaas, have a look at the comment at the top. The bottle doesn't glow it catches the light of the sun and passes that on into the home. Lighting designers would call this a "solar tube" or something like that...

[kaalas]

and i have an another doubt. Will produce light at the night time also? because im presenting dis experiment in my college so that we can help d poor!!!!

[ShubhiAgrawal]

I have tried to make a model of this solar bottle bulb for my science exhiibition but I don't know why it is not working... I sealed the bottle properly, used liquid bleach and water but it looks like a simple soda bottle filled with water...need help desperately....plz help..

[rogiervdheide]

it your bottle catching any sunlight? It should

[sheepborg]

Well, in actuality they are cheating just a little bit.
While the top and bottom of the bottle sticking out it collects and puts out light at a greater angle than just a hole it does not increase the power of the light. So in normally lighted situations it is just that, a soda bottle with water in it.
Since it is the only source of light for the videos it looks really bright (and the cheating i mention was added exposure and contrast on the video)
that being said, you arent doing anything wrong.

As with most of these feel good initiatives and whatnot, they make them look really grand, but they are often less than grand, or at least rather simple.
Not saying it is a bad idea, it is good, but it is being rather over-marketed.

[zszczsny]

OK, I've read all the comments and explanations and I still do not understand one thing:

Why the hell can't they use full (unopened) bottle of sparkling mineral water?

This would have the following advantages:

- sparkling mineral water coming from beverage manufacturer is aseptic. High CO2 content kills any algae or bacteria.

- internal pressure of CO2 in the bottle prevents shrinking/swelling form changing atmospheric pressure allowing for good roof seal.

- though actually CO2 can migrate through the wall of plastic bottle, the diffusion factor is pretty low, so it will keep internal pressure for at least two years. Original closure by the manufacturer is also pretty tight and leak-proof.

- no need of bleach or other additives - the price of sparkling water PET bottle at the shop is also very low.

[kaalas]

i want to know d reason why it glows???? can you explain me?????

[rogiervdheide]

It glows because it catches the light of the sun!

[hcanonigo]

I agree with beehard44. We don't like to waste stuff. So, we'd rather drink the drinkable water then just put in not-so-clean water(ex:tap water) and bleach which does the same thing.

[sokamiwohali]

sir, you and zszczsny seem to be missing the point of the project...these pople to who this man is doing this project for are already poor enough as it is...instead of buying the bottle sealed up from some supermarket (in this case probably just a small town outside food market) and all that fancy stuff, he is re-using an initially useless object which would have been cluttering up the streets as litter, OR sitting in a landfill somewhere just chilling out, and turning it into a VALUABLE resource...Light for those who cannot afford electric lighting...or even afford to buy simple candles during the day. A word to you fellows and everyone else in our instructables community...Most all of us have grown up in an environment where we could afford simple luxuries/commodities...apparently this town is one of those in which only the rich can enjoy them. Stop and think about what you write before you write it about why the person is doing a very special and commendable thing for their people. As far as "wasting" water...well, one could easily replace the lost water by digging a hole in the ground throwing a pot in the middle with green folliage around it, secure a plastic sheet with rocks taughtly over the hole and placing a reasonably sized rock in the middle as to not loosen the plastic. is a day or so, you would have already replaced the water that you used up...maby not efficiently, but you still replaced it. I am not in any way trying to be mean nor have an attitude in this message, so if thats the hint you got, thats not what i was trying to do...i am merely implying an emphasis on the matter.

LIWANAG...you sir have inspired me to instead of using electricity to power lights in a treehouse that i am going to build for my children in the near future, i am going to use your idea of the "Soda Bulb" to provide light for them. thank you so much for this valuable method of not only recycling, but also providing light in a way that halps the environment.

[breunor]

Noting the location where this is being done, the cost of an unopened bottle might be a bit too pricey, compared to a discarded bottle that was scavenged from a landfill at no monetary cost. Bleach might also be free to the locals if provided by an NGO aid group, so it's a matter of free materials versus a commercially purchased item that does the same thing.

I agree that using the original would be more stable, but if it was punctured, then you'd have the potentially sticky residue of the drink to deal with too, versus plain water.

[zszczsny]

Sure - we are talking about poverty what has no limits. But taking into account the movie provided by liwanag - he collected the bottles just "in situ" rather than on the landfill, so I presume somebody from the locals had already drunk the content... I presume saving it from drinking and using it "as it is" for lighting can be actually better saving than struggling with leaks and algae...

[beehard44]

Here in the philippines people are very conservative when it comes to food. There's barely any wastage. Which is why we use empty bottles instead of unopened bottles. Why use unopened bottles when you can drink it first and replace it with water with bleach?
Besides, there's no sparkling water here.

[tere bin]

Can any 1 tell me that instead of bleach....if there is any other locally chemical avaible which can make light enter into the space and create a Fascinating space....or there is anyother solution that can make react water to create GLowing and lumincing effect

[kaalas]

ya fill it with 10ml of chlorine in a fully filled water bottle!!!!!!!!!!! but i want to know how it glows and why??????

[isaacwilk]

What does the bleach do?

I'm assuming rubber sealant is affordable and avalible in poor communities?

It's a good idea for lighting, but I'm not so sure about the green/recycled side of things...

[ASCAS]

The bleach is used as an anti-bacterial agent.

[lululululu]

Did you think about putting some optical brightener (that we can find in some laundry detergents) in the bottle? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_brightener
it would for shure increase the luminescence of the bottle...

[velcro2]

It sounds great at first but all of you are forgetting barometric pressure. Plastic bottles make very good barometers and they can shrink and expand according to the barometric air pressure at the time. If you make your plastic bottle light during a time of low atmospheric pressure (i.e., lower than 84 cm) and fill the bottle then when you have high atmospheric pressure the plastic bottle will burst. If you keep the water at a lower level to accommodate this you will still end up with a sealant problem with the roof panel. The bottle will expand and contract and reduce the integrity of the weather seal around the bottle (if there was one to begin with) and it will leak when it rains. The mid-tropics get a disproportionate share of the sun's UV light which also has a detrimental effect of the plastic bottles causing embrittlement and cracking. It's back to the "drawing board" on this idea and perhaps a glass liter bottle (like the old coke bottles) might be more durable and longer lasting. The glass coke a cola bottles were thick and fluted and the shape would allow it to be secured easily in a roof panel.

[jarikcbol]

this problem can be inhibited by submerging the bottle completely when filling, and capping it while submerged. Zero airspace in the container removes the major portion of barometric effects, as water is essentially non compressible.

[vtbeachldy]

I don't see the barometric pressure as a problem. If the bottle shifts enough to fall out of the hole, run for cover before the hurricane hits.

[DabeAltis]

I believe you're thinking backward, a high barometric pressure would tend to make the bottle collapse rather than expand or "burst". Either way, if you were careful to trap as little air as possible in the bottle the barometric pressure would have little effect on the dimensional stability as the water will not compress as air does. These bottles are basically polycarbonate, AKA Lexan, and are incredibly strong. I have had over 120 PSI of pressure in them with no detectable deformation! I seriously doubt you will get one to burst with a drop in atmospheric pressure, even if you placed it in a vacuum chamber.

[keng]

I think they are ok with this. The research I did when doing a home soda station showed that they will take a little over 200 lbs/square inch.

[criggie]

I understand your point, but then these 1.5 and 2 litre PET bottles would be exploding on supermarket shelves. And I've never seen that.

More likely it would split and burst if the temperature drops to below 0 degrees C.

Personally I think one piece of "laserlight" plastic corrugated instead of a sheet of iron, works much better.

[drbill]

I've seen them explode right in the store. It seems the combination of carbonated water and the heat in Hawai'i sent the pressures up and BOOM !
big mess

However, I don't see water and chlorine doing the same even with the heat.

Very good idea BTW.

[shortw]

I had those 2 liter bottles outside in sun with soda inside and they become hot to the touch and no explosion.
I also forgot them in the car at -15 C and they froze and there was no damage.
I use a frozen soda bottle of water as a icepack and drink every day for my lunch-box without any problems.

[Padre Paul]

I was wondering does the solar bottle bulb light in the night? I have read all comments with a view of finding an answer to this question in vain.

[Tazo]

you've read all comments but you did not read the first line of the instructable itself, you will find the answer there.

[taliran]

NICEE.....go a head!

[ShubhiAgrawal]

How does this solar bottle work?

[Remag1234]

Great idea, here's comes the Big BUT.........why not just cut a hole and silicone a piece of Lexan/Glass in place and have the light and not worry about bottles degrading with the possibility of bleach spilling on things below...
Just my 2 cents and what I think is a better way to go GREEN.

[asuvas]

The other advantage of the bottle is that it descends into the room and reflects light in all directions, no matter where the sun happens to be striking the top of the bottle. A glazed hole the diameter of a soda bottle would give a fraction of the light, and would not distribute it evenly.

[vtbeachldy]

The first I saw of this idea was in the Phillipines in a very, very poor neighborhood. I think recycling a soda bottle is a whole lot greener than paying for Lexan or glass which are probably not available. The great thing about the technique is the metal piece the bottle is inserted into becomes a shingle. Very easy to tuck under where two pieces of wrinkle tin overlap, and the caulking is then minimal. Difficult to seal around a flat piece of Lexan or glass, don't you think?

[vtbeachldy]

It occurred to me that if you had Lexan or glass, you'd just build a window the size of the glass. When all you've got is a soda bottle, tin snips, and water, the solar water bottle is an elegant and simple solution.

[xenor]

Alternatively, if cost or availability of Lexan is an issue, you could simply cut open a few bottles into sheets and conform them to the corrugations. A little heat would help to soften the plastic to make this easier.

Downside of this is you lose the lens effect of the bottle.

[cliberato]

You big BUT doesn's exists. do you think about the money???

[General Lee 450]

I personally would not use bleach. I would use Hydrogen Peroxide as it will do anything that bleach will and it's not harmful to the environment if it happens to leak or get destroyed somehow.
Good Ible !

[gzuckier]

I don't think hydrogen peroxide would work. The purpose of the bleach, i'm pretty sure, is just to keep stuff from growing in the water. hydrogen peroxide will leave the water pretty quickly and junk will grow in the bottle, whereas the chlorine will keep the water clean. That much chlorine in that much water isn't very bad, you could probably drink it with no problem. In fact people put small amounts of chlorine bleach in containers of water that they put away for emergencies, just so it will be drinkable a year later when they get to it.