The one lesson that I saw several times was to bring repair supplies and tools. I found a wonderfully helpful guy named Welder Dave at the Black Rock Welding and Repair camp, and saw several people come in with broken/pulled apart EL wire and controllers, looking for a fix. In most cases a wire stripper and electrical tape would have fixed them (Why wouldn't you have these if you have electrical stuff with you?) but in a couple of cases, a soldering iron was needed. A small battery, small inverter, an iron and a little solder is not too much to add to your "Bag of tricks", so why not remember the electronics "first aid kit" with your regular first aid kit? (You DID bring a first aid kit, right?)

Radical Self Reliance, even in the face of unexpected breakages and problems.

-MacGyver
(Graham)
Department of Spontaneous Combustion

The solar powered string of green LED lights was perfection on our four-wheeled bike. Loved them.

I learned a bit more about the night lighting at BM and things that would make me more visible other than my blinkies and glow stick bracelets. The darkwad factor seemed really high and I realized just how dark one can get out there.

Kat

Wow, so much fun this year! So many creative lighting projects!

bike:
6 red hokey spokes on front wheel worked all week perfectly, changed batteries once
6 red 5-led bike tail lights (blinking mostly) worked great as head lights on handlebars, lots of light to see with, plus added 6 u.v. 3-led lights and together, they made a wonderful combined purple from a distance... got many, many compliments (ever see those tail lights for VW's or motorcycles where from a distance they look purple, then when you get close, you see they are all red with a small purple lens in the middle? my set up was a similar effect)

tent:
6 green & 6 red AA light strings worked great for interior lighting, nice to change moods, but may change green for blue next year, never changed batteries
3 clear 5-led "C" lanterns worked great all week, never changed batteries, used spring clamps to move them around, like outside while working on bike or cooking

next year for bike:
red el-wire to outline my bike's seat, as it's a double for a passenger (lot's of fun giving rides!)
el-wire art piece with sequencing to fill space in frame between top tube & down tube
small poofer

next year for tent:
solar xmas lights outside tent
strong u.v. lights inside tent

I was surprised that despite the green theme, there was no apparent reduction in the number of disposable glowy things. I don't understand why folks don't instead buy battery operated reusables - I picked up a string of battery-operated LED lights for only a few bucks. EL wire is a little pricier, but when compared to lightsticks I'm sure pays for itself after a few burns. You could even pick it up in the grocery story in Reno this year. If you're organized enough to order early, there are so many fun battery-operated glow trinkets out there now, and rechargable batteries are better than ever.

I suggest that next year we all pledge to do our best to avoid disposable glow things.

w

you guys rock! thanks for taking the time to share. :)

good note about the repair kit.
surprised to hear the solar powered lights worked well. I had heard the light produced was dimmer and thought all the dust storms would have hindered solar power.
good to know about POV vs. Hokey Spokes.
Sand, that's for including info about battery life. very helpful.


Kat: "I learned a bit more about the night lighting at BM and things that would make me more visible other than my blinkies and glow stick bracelets."
things such as what? you mean like incorporating LED strings or EL into clothing?

Next year i'm bringing a very powerful insanely bright light to flash & blind all the darkwads out there. :P

I used El Tape under the green fur that covered my bicycle, but it wasn't really as bright as I would have liked. It was also very expensive, the frame and forks of my stretched chopper bicycle took 20 meters of EL Tape to cover them, and the cost was just over $300.00 . I have decided to experiment with LEDs soon and hope to come up with a much brighter set up for next year.

Later,

Allan Greenblazer

I was happy with the results of bringing 400 feet of EL-wire to the playa for the Cleu Labyrinth.

tribes.tribe.net/burningbr...0000268b06

I made some very good decisions along the way, mostly about keeping the whole thing very simple. There were four 50-foot sections with independent inverters. The wire is strung up using bamboo poles that (by dumb luck) had holes drilled in them just the right size for the wire (the initial plan was to use twist ties).

The 12v electric power was provided by two 6v lantern batteries in series. A pair of batteries lasted one night, and we were lit up for 5 or 6 nights. This was not "green", since the batteries were not rechargeable, but it was fairly cheap to do. I'd like to go solar, but could not hack the cost given the cost of the EL-wire this year.

And I brought a battery-powered soldering iron, plus wire stripper, just in case I had to do repair work. I did not need it, but a camp mate did, so it will stay on my list of required items to bring.