Welcome to the Tiki Central 2.0 Beta. Read the announcement
Tiki Central logo
Celebrating classic and modern Polynesian Pop

Tiki Central / Home Tiki Bars

Tiki Torches in the Home Bar

Pages: 1 8 replies

I bought some nice Solar Tiki Torch Walkway Lights, but my HOA would not approve them, so bartered some of them for services and gave some away. I kept a set for myself and want to get them changed over to battery powered to place in the VampTiki Lounge. Gotta get the conversion directions and post them here.

How are you using torches in your lounge? Any pictures?

T

Not my home bar, but I love the way this was done at a friends lounge.. They/she took the small bamboo torches and electrafied them with the bulbs that look like flickering flames. They really look fantastic! Not a great photo but you get the idea.. The torches are at the bottom of the photo standing off the floor..

HOA's are EVIL and they suck the fun out of life! I bet they won't let you have any pink plastic flamingos either! :x

LOL...no pink flamingos outside, but I'm putting those babies in my kitchen (The Flamingo Cafe)!!! AND....torches in my lounge. Be damned HOA!

M

i received some of these as well from vamp and she asked me how i ran them when i used them at an industry party for captain morgans that i helped to decorate.
first thing you need to do is cover the solar panel and sensor. depending on how dark your bar is you may not need to cover the panel but just the sensor (small circle in the corner above the panel), i used gaff tape but any opaque tape will do. the batteries that come with the units are pretty decent but you'll need a way to get them charged. pickup an AA battery charger. if you can get a multiple unit it will make charging go much quicker. the one i got will do 8 batteries at a time and take about an hour to charge which means i can have all the batteries for a dozen lights done in about an 3- 3 1/2 hours.
you can get other batteries but they need to be 1.2v as opposed to 1.5v which is what most AA batteries are.
now here's the rub...you will have to manually turn these lights on and off which involves taking the tops off where the batteries are located. there's a small on off switch and since we overode the sensor and solar panel we hafta do it manually.
if you don't use them for long periods of time you can probably get 3-4 nights out of a charge or you can just cover the sensor and leave the solar panel exposed and take the lights out doors after each use and let them run every evening inside without the need of using the battery charger or the on off switch.
i'm working on wiring them to run off a plug with external on/off switch and i'll let you know how that goes.
hope this helps.
-muskrat-

I kept a set of them...whenever I figure out where I want them, I will need a rocket scientist (such as yourself Musky) to help me. I am thinking about them at the front door in a planter.

I made four electric torches for my home bar. I used the small oil can torches that I picked up for a dollar apiece. I was able to remove the can and drill a 3/8" hole in the center of the bottom. After the can is removed I applied a couple of coats of amber shellac for a nice warm finish. I purchased standard candelabra base sockets with the 3/8" threaded bracket attached and a a piece of 3/8" threaded nipple and nuts for each. I wired the sockets with eight feet of standard electrical cord. I drilled out the bamboo segments with a 24" long 3/8" drill bit and threaded the cord through and reinstalled the can and then attached a snap lock plug. Added some flicker bulbs for effect and put them in the bar. The pictures don't really show how good they look but they really add to the ambiance of the whole bar.

Great job UT...they really look good on your wall. Gives me more ideas, definitely think my entry way planters need these.

M

nice work on those.

Pages: 1 8 replies