Solar Lights

[RamFan]

The last time I bought solar lights (landscaping and pathways) was about 15-20 years ago. At the time, just about every option was cheap junk that didn’t have a long lifespan.

Looking to add some solar lights (pathway and up lighting) to our new house and am a bit overwhelmed with the brands out there now. Anyone have recommendations for long lasting and good performing lights?

 

[atikovi]

If you mean battery powered lights that recharge during the day? Neighbor has some, and after 9pm, a candle would put out more light. If at all possible, wired 12V landscape lights are much better.

 

[Greasymechtech]

Walmart has a good bunch of stake lights. They are still cheap junk will need a service once a year.

You should learn to take them apart and replace batteries as needed, use contact cleaner..... I have several that are a few years old without touching. Others in the store are broken so work the switches and test them at the store.

Solarpanels still aren't protected on ANY that I've seen in stores. They will oxidize and peel after a few years. I'd wager that Target/Ace/LowesDepot have similar. I also use a bunch of 3-head solar motion sensor only lights on the garage/shed/post/fence....

I am in Florida and all are still lite at sunrise. The ones that aren't are due for a battery and a couple years old.

For example(walmart links work but sometimes state robot, human or other):

100W LED Solar Post Light Outdoor w/ 98 inch Pole Waterproof Lamp Auto Dusk Dawn | eBay

Power: 100W. Solar energy. 4-6 hours(Bright Mode)/36 hours (Dim Light Mode). Solar Lawn Light Without Light Pole Battery: Aluminum Phosphate Iron, 32650, 3.2V-15000 mAh. Lighting Area: 80~100 ㎡ / 860~1076 ft².

www.ebay.com

Robot or human?

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Portfolio-2-Pack-100-Lumen-Watt-Black-Solar-LED-Outdoor-Path-Light-with-Motion-Sensor-3300-K/5013839459

Robot or human?

Hampton Bay Solar 50 Lumens Black Integrated LED Spotlight with Remote Panel (3-Pack); Weather/Water/Rust Resistant 91950 - The Home Depot

Brighten up your outdoor living space with the solar powered LED spot-light 3-pack from Hampton Bay. This versatile spot-light kit includes 3 spot lights, a remote solar panel, stakes, and post mounts

www.homedepot.com

Robot or human?

Hampton Bay 55 Lumens Solar Black LED Spotlight C9000-12 - The Home Depot

Use for enhancing your home, adding charm and elegance and increasing your safety in evening settings. This Solar LED Spotlight will create the perfect lighting accent wherever it is placed. Highlight

www.homedepot.com

Robot or human?

Hampton Bay Solar Black LED 75-150 Lumen High-Low 3-Head Metal Spotlight NXT-2142-3 - The Home Depot

Use for enhancing your home, adding charm and elegance and increasing your safety in evening settings. This Solar LED Spotlight will create the perfect lighting accent wherever it is placed. Highlight

www.homedepot.com

Robot or human?

Hampton Bay 150-300 Lumens Black LED High-Low Metal Outdoor Solar Spotlight NXT-1915 - The Home Depot

Use for enhancing your home, adding charm and elegance and increasing your safety in evening settings. This Solar LED Spotlight will create the perfect lighting accent wherever it is placed. Highlight

www.homedepot.com

Robot or human?

And, one of my longer lasting favorites(5 years now) on the fence post:

Solar Moon Light LED Security/Street/Garden/Park Light 1800 Lumens 40 watt Panel | eBay

The pictures show the light mounted at 7ft on a 10ft pole and see the light covering a 30ft radius very easily, then see in next pictures light mounted at 10ft and easily covering a 40-50ft radius, notice the light on the house in the background illuminating up the wall with the light at the...

www.ebay.com

 

[Malo83]

Have these mounted on a brick wall next to my garage, and as advertised put out a low glow but really light up when motion is detected, have five ten feet apart. they work great when I have to bring the garbage bin from behind the house to the curb. any and all movement lights them up.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Utilitech-2-Pack-800-Lumen-7-5-Watt-Black-LED-Motion-Sensor-Wall-Pack-Light/5001749123

 

[Snagglefoot]

I found, as those little panels got more efficient most just made them smaller. You can put in higher capacity batteries but the small panels can’t charge them enough to last until daylight the next morning. Notice the others are advocating a large centralized panel.

 

[Snagglefoot]

There are some tests out there that recommend lights that stay on from dusk till dawn but the fine print says 8 hours of functioning after an 8 hour charge.

 

[supton]

I buy the cheap ones, as I find that the good ones will break, if you hit them with a snow shovel-I just leave them be, year round. Replace as needed. After 10 pm or so, no one is coming or going, nor are we at 4am, so no loss from not lasting all night.

The cheap ones, I think the pv cells oxidize too.

 

[thastinger]

The last time I bought solar lights (landscaping and pathways) was about 15-20 years ago. At the time, just about every option was cheap junk that didn’t have a long lifespan.

Looking to add some solar lights (pathway and up lighting) to our new house and am a bit overwhelmed with the brands out there now. Anyone have recommendations for long lasting and good performing lights?

They all still have AA rechargeable batteries, which will likely be the failure point

 

[RamFan]

Appreciate the responses and opinions. After doing some research and reviewing options from reputable brands and/or from products with detailed reviews, I deduced to go with the following. The pathway lights are admittedly a gamble, but I liked the design the best.

Security Lights - Very pleased with these. A bit larger than I wanted, but well built. I have them on the dim/bright setting, meaning they illuminate at dusk automatically on a low setting but when motion is detected, they Increase the brightness temporarily.

Pathway Lights - A no-name brand so taking a gamble. They’re decently built and were packaged very well, including panel protective wrap which none of the other lights included. I decided to use the taller stakes.

Spot Lights - The cheapest made of the bunch, I cracked one of them on install. A little super glue fixed it right up though. Emits a nice warm glow and the range of motion for both the light and panel is significant. So far so good. The pic below shows them in both uplight (exterior) and spot (interior) “modes”, I prefer the uplight look so changed all four to that.

Edison String Lights - Highly recommend these. Our back yard is narrow but long, so finding something that could run the distance from our patio to the fence line was a challenge. These work great and have the added bonus of a remote control. Unfortunately didn’t take any close up shots, but they’re are sturdily built for sure.

 

[alarmguy]

I just saw a two pack in Costco warehouse but not online. Impressive Aluminum I think construction with a detached small solar panel and wire so you cold hide the solar part of it.
Kind of like this that someone else posted but to me the Costco was much more impressive finish and true bullet style.

Hampton Bay 150-300 Lumens Black LED High-Low Metal Outdoor Solar Spotlight NXT-1915 - The Home Depot

Use for enhancing your home, adding charm and elegance and increasing your safety in evening settings. This Solar LED Spotlight will create the perfect lighting accent wherever it is placed. Highlight

www.homedepot.com

 

[y_p_w]

I saw some really cheap stake lights at Dollar (.25) Tree and figured what the heck. They weren't fancy looking and probably weren't terribly well sealed against the elements. I was skeptical because there was a warning that they had Ni-Cad batteries. They all had a pull tab that blocked the positive contact, so none of the batteries were really charging while there although most of them worked immediately with enough charge, except one that took a few minutes of charging with light before it started lighting up when I covered up the solar panel (and whatever light sensor it has).

I took one apart to check the battery, and it is labeled as a 300 mAh Ni-Cad AAA. I even tried charging it in a Panasonic charger, which seems to reject Ni-Cads where it starts flashing as an error condition.

There are also slots on the bottom, so I'm not sure what happens when they get wet. But they were cheap.

 

[y_p_w]

I saw some really cheap stake lights at Dollar (.25) Tree and figured what the heck. They weren't fancy looking and probably weren't terribly well sealed against the elements. I was skeptical because there was a warning that they had Ni-Cad batteries. They all had a pull tab that blocked the positive contact, so none of the batteries were really charging while there although most of them worked immediately with enough charge, except one that took a few minutes of charging with light before it started lighting up when I covered up the solar panel (and whatever light sensor it has).

I took one apart to check the battery, and it is labeled as a 300 mAh Ni-Cad AAA. I even tried charging it in a Panasonic charger, which seems to reject Ni-Cads where it starts flashing as an error condition.

There are also slots on the bottom, so I'm not sure what happens when they get wet. But they were cheap.

It's been raining heavily the past few days and they still seem to be working. My only issue is that they really don't seem to be charged (from sunlight) where they last more than an hour or two before they start going dim. I did fish out my old Maha charger that can charge Ni-Cads and charged one of those batteries and reinserted it. That's the only one that seems to be bright after a couple of evening hours. The others are either dim or completely dark. I think it's probably better if they get fully charged first and then it's probably easier of the battery. Not sure if just getting the battery fully charged helps in the short run) or maybe best in the long run.

Not sure if they work much better when exposed to bright sunlight.

 

[y_p_w]

So I pulled the batteries out of the rest of my lights and charged them. One stopped charging rather quickly and the rest took a bit longer (maybe an hour at the high charge setting). Hoping it works better when the batteries start fully charged and can stay in an overall higher charge state.

But they are Ni-Cads, which I understand are better at being in a lower charge state than NiMH.

 

[Warstud]

It's been raining heavily the past few days and they still seem to be working. My only issue is that they really don't seem to be charged (from sunlight) where they last more than an hour or two before they start going dim. I did fish out my old Maha charger that can charge Ni-Cads and charged one of those batteries and reinserted it. That's the only one that seems to be bright after a couple of evening hours. The others are either dim or completely dark. I think it's probably better if they get fully charged first and then it's probably easier of the battery. Not sure if just getting the battery fully charged helps in the short run) or maybe best in the long run.

Not sure if they work much better when exposed to bright sunlight.

Some have an On / Off switch and require 2 days of sunlight to fully charge . If your using the original batteries you may want to buy some that have a higher mah like 850 . Where I placed mine they dont get light for the entire day so I remove the panel and set them in area that gets the most light .

 

[y_p_w]

Some have an On / Off switch and require 2 days of sunlight to fully charge . If your using the original batteries you may want to buy some that have a higher mah like 850 . Where I placed mine they dont get light for the entire day so I remove the panel and set them in area that gets the most light .

These are what I have. They only had 5 left and I cleaned them out. They’re easy enough to disassemble and fully charge so I made sure each battery was fully charged. I’m not sure if I really want to go through the expense of replacing the batteries, which might cost as much as the light. I do have an unopened 4 pack of 750 mAh NiMH AAA batteries from Ikea, obviously made by FDK-Fujitsu. Those might be overkill for stake lights. It’s my understanding that these solar charging circuits are more or less unregulated, where the max charge current shouldn’t be enough to damage the battery. But then they charge at an excruciatingly low rate.

https://www.dollartree.com/garden-collection-simple-solar-stake-lights-3375x175x9875in/302599

 

[Warstud]

These are what I have. They only had 5 left and I cleaned them out. They’re easy enough to disassemble and fully charge so I made sure each battery was fully charged. I’m not sure if I really want to go through the expense of replacing the batteries, which might cost as much as the light. I do have an unopened 4 pack of 750 mAh NiMH AAA batteries from Ikea, obviously made by FDK-Fujitsu. Those might be overkill for stake lights. It’s my understanding that these solar charging circuits are more or less unregulated, where the max charge current shouldn’t be enough to damage the battery. But then they charge at an excruciatingly low rate.

https://www.dollartree.com/garden-collection-simple-solar-stake-lights-3375x175x9875in/302599

I would go and install one of the Ikea batteries and see if they perform to your liking . But charge them up first . Where also getting more sunlight as were approaching spring so they should charge up more than a few months ago .

 

[Warstud]

I do have an unopened 4 pack of 750 mAh NiMH AAA batteries from Ikea, obviously made by FDK-Fujitsu.

It seems like the Original AA's last longer than the AAA 850 mah amazon batts . So maybe AA's are the way to go when choosing Solar Lights

 

[meep]

I skipped the disposable solar lights and took the time to run cable over a few months and use Led fixtures with replaceable bulbs off of Amazon. Running the cable is a pain but when done a little each week became fun. The results after a few months were amazing and don’t compare to the little solar jobs.

to ease the installation appetite/panic, LESS IS MORE... we aren’t trying to illuminate for a moon landing.