solar outdoor lighting

Solar lighting can be used to illuminate most of the outdoor landscape elements, with significant advantages: they are a truly environmentally-friendly option with no running costs, low initial investment and an easy installation. See: Outdoor lighting basics.

The principles

Solar lights absorb energy from sunlight and convert it into electricity that is stored in batteries; at dusk the solar lights turn on automatically, due to a small photocell device.

Solar outdoor lighting is excellent to mark and outline locations in dark areas, namely whenever the access to power source is difficult (no wiring is required in solar outdoor lighting).

Applications

There are many types of solar light fixtures, with different roles: general solar garden lights, solar spot lights, solar wall lights, floodlights, pathway lights, deck and patio lights, underwater lights... See: Solar landscape design.

Some of them are very cheap but are also of a poor quality. So, take it also into account.

The number of LEDs and the brightness of the lights

Most outdoor solar lights use LED's, not lamps (LEDs - Light-Emitting-Diode - are micro-electrical devices with some extra optics added to the chip).

When shopping solar lights, pay attention to the number of LEDs per fixture (each LED emits the brightness of approximately a 2 watts bulb). If you want stronger lights, you should look for light fixtures with a high number of LEDs.

Many decorative lighting solutions use a typical light output between 1 to 3 watts, but many solutions may demand 10 watt, 20 watt or more… In this case you should look for the corresponding LED power (see the product description).

Installing solar outdoor lighting

Solar lighting doesn’t require any cables or external power sources. The fixture should simply be positioned in order to get as much sunlight as possible (every minute of sunlight is important in cold and cloudy climates).

Lighting

Typical solar light solutions involve low light outputs and demand dark landscapes. If you locate a solar light in an already partially illuminated area, then the effect of solar lighting is probably rather negligible.

Limitations

Outdoor solar lighting systems work satisfactorily in most climates. In some cases fully charged solar lights can remain on for up to 12-15 hours. Just do not purchase low quality products.

However, solar outdoor lighting may not work well-enough on persistent cloudy days and climates, namely if you want more than just safe night-time navigation or spot lighting. The final performance of the system is always dependent of the amount of sunlight received during the day…

Due to these reasons, in non-sunny climates, you may want to consider low-voltage outdoor lighting solutions.

Operation

As a rule, solar lights turn on and off automatically. Fixtures have a built-in photocell device, that switches on and off the light at dusk and early morning.

Battery recharging

Some good solar lights can operate perfectly all night, even after several days of bad weather with little sunshine.

But the climate, the season and the weather conditions also counts. Persistent non-sunnier weather will mean less charged batteries, which can reduce the lighting power of the system.

Solar Light Batteries

Most outdoor solar light batteries are AA type inexpensive batteries, that can be bought from many retailers. These batteries may last 1-3 years, but there are high quality batteries (much more expensive) with a lifespan up to 10 years or more.

Outdoor solar bulbs

Most solar lights use LED's (not bulbs) as the light source. And LED’s have a life expectancy of up to 20 years. Obviously, if the solar lights use bulbs, these can be replaced as any other bulb.