Outdoor Solar Lighting

Mick - we've got some of various vintages (3 years at most). Out of 12 in the garden, one completely died and the oldest have just needed new rechargeable batterys in them. 8 of them were a Tesco 'special' at some silly cheap price and they've lasted well.

James

Hi Mick,

I think it's a question of getting what you pay for. I got a couple of cheap ones a while back and they're really pretty dim. Decorative if you have quite a few of them dotted around, but not really able to shed much light on anything.

Phil

Mick,
We have three very cheap ones, I think they cost less than £12.00.
They are on their 5th year now.

HTH

Chris N

We have several. None have died. The pricier ones stay on through the night until the dawn light and have different settings for Winter and Summer (one 'bulb' only gets powered in winter, two in Summer). The cheaper ones last a few hours only, even with a full day's sun. All good fun and it makes the garden a nice place to sit at dusk on a warm evening.

Chaps

Thanks for the reply. We popped into a few shops and the sturdiest ones seemed to be those powered by the mains. I might be tempted to go down that route.

Regards

Mick

Mick, I think you'll find that the solar lights generally offered to the public will have low lumen values. They are ok for marking paths, gate posts, etc, but will only give a glow.

If Mrs. Mick wants to illuminate flower beds and trees (with artistic shadows being cast), mains lighting is the way to go.

That may well be the case with mains ones but we have a couple of solar jobbies in tubs at the front of the house, about 10 cm round, plonked on top, create a nice uplighting effect on the 'tropical' type plants in the tubs no bother. Trouble is, anything high power needs a lot of energy and that ain't gonna come from a 5cm squared piece of budget solar panel...

Mick look into LED and think a bit different. There are loads of water proof LED strips and effects for the garden that will last you out and cheap to run.

Please don't get them hideous stick you put in the ground, they literally scream "OAP lives here, door to door scam artists welcome" haha.

We have had quite a few of these things in our time. The main cause of death appears to be enthusiastic foxes!

We have one which is so bright it's almost too strong (we only wanted a pleasant glow in the garden). The rest provide a pleasing glow.

If unattacked by local wildlife, they seem to last many years (our oldest are about 10 years old and cost something ridiculous like £15 for 4).

Gary

What is a LED strip.

Regards

Mick