Wall-e
Wall-e MegaDork
5/24/17 8:01 p.m.

I have a few summer projects I want to get done but can't find what I'm looking for:

First, I want to add some led Christmas lights to my grillzebo to match my porch but don't want to bury a line out there. is there a way to rig up a small solar panel and battery to a string of these lights? Ideally some cheap Harbor Freight security light could be broken up and used but I'm never sure of what size panel, batt. ect I need. I'd like to get 3-4 hours a night out of them. https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/111469/CMS-50WA-6GMU.html

Next, nice wooden folding chairs. They were all over when I was a kid now I cant find them. I'm short on space but want a nice set I can use to have dinner outside. Simple, sturdy with no armrests would be ideal/

Third, I want a permanent cable TV outlet. right now I connect 30 feet off wire to the outlet in the living room. If I put a T into the line outside the house and ran a dedicated line to where I want the box on my porch would it screw up the signal in the rest of the house?

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
5/26/17 3:56 p.m.

Bump for Wally.

KyAllroad
KyAllroad PowerDork
5/26/17 6:35 p.m.

I just typed "wooden folding chair" in Amazon and got a million hits.

The "T" fitting should be fine, cable splits are common.

Can't help you with the LED lights. Mine are hard wired and haven't been turned off in 3-4 years.

Hal
Hal UltraDork
5/26/17 7:17 p.m.

For the cable I would get a splitter rather than just a "T" fitting, but very easy to do.

Wooden folding chairs can be found on the web, antique stores, etc. My Sister-in Law got a dozen from a funeral home going out of business for $1.00 each.

The led lights you linked are 120 volt. Solar power for that might be complicated. Look for some that are 12 volt which would make teh solar much easier.

mad_machine
mad_machine MegaDork
5/26/17 9:37 p.m.

if you are going to go to all the effort of running cable to your Gazebo, Why not run a hard line for power too?

If you want to go the battery route, check on amazon for 12v automotive Christmas lights. Just a matter of a battery and a solar charger at that point

jere
jere HalfDork
5/26/17 10:21 p.m.

The harbor freight has solar powered rope lights I believe.

Do you want to run power according to city codes or just get her done? City codes mean special wire, buried x inches under ground with a breaker box and various permit$

Get her done could mean burying some pvc with an extension cord in it going to an external power oulet by the house. If it's a plug in cord then you don't need to swallow the cost of the $permit$ ...

Check Craigslist for chairs or put up a wanted ad. I drive past mountains of wood furniture every trash day.

Also look into simple diy wood chair plans via Google image search. A power saw, drill, tape measure will go a long way to making cheap stuff

Wall-e
Wall-e MegaDork
6/10/17 1:58 p.m.

Some progress:

Burying a wire to the grill isn't practical because of the rock in the ground but Amazon had some cheap solar powered lights that match the trailer trash party lights I made. So far so good. For my birthday I also got a couple tiki head torches to give us a bit more class.

minivan_racer
minivan_racer UltraDork
6/10/17 2:44 p.m.

Is it "cable" or another service like satellite or fiber based service?

secretariata
secretariata Dork
6/10/17 4:35 p.m.

Ikea has a bunch of different wooden folding chairs.

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