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Outdoor Solar Lights

September 22, 2012

Outdoor solar lights are bright ideas for exterior illumination. Find out how these energy-saving lights work and the many types that can make your nights shine.

Outdoor solar lights were some of the first alternative-energy products to gain a mass-market foothold. Today, sunlight-powered fixtures are flooding the landscape and garden lighting market.

How solar lights work

Solar lights have three main components:

  • Solar panels: Gather sunlight and convert it to electrical power.
  • Batteries: Store electrical power generated by the panel. Expect 6-10 hours of illumination from a fully-charged solar light battery.
  • LED bulbs: LED (light emitting diodes) are super-efficient, shine very brightly, and are long-lasting.

The upside of outdoor solar lights

  • You don’t have to worry about plugging in your lights or running wires to your outdoor solar fixtures.
  • You don’t have to change bulbs on solar lights, thanks to super-long-lasting LEDs.
  • Your utility company doesn’t get a dime from you when you get your nighttime shine from stored sun-power.

The downside

Outdoor solar lights don’t really have a lot of downsides. However, if you live in a cloudy climate, or if you’ve just experienced a long haul of rainy and overcast weather, the brightness and longevity of the lighting may be affected.

Also, solar lights cost more at the outset because they’re complex and have expensive components.

Types of outdoor solar lighting

String lights come in various lengths, such as 25 and 50 feet, and usually have 2-6 bulbs per foot, depending on the manufacturer. There are many styles, colors, and sizes of bulbs to choose. They’ve become popular as Christmas lights, but you can use them to light up your outdoor living spaces all year round.

You should know: Solar string lights don’t need regular household electrical current, but they’re attached by wire to a small solar panel — make sure the panel has access to as much sunlight as possible.

Cost:$20-$40 for a 25-foot strand.

Border and driveway lights illuminate walkways and the edges of driveways for safety and convenience.

  • Stake lights are self-contained — the solar panel is built into the fixture. They’re easy to install: You simply push the stake into the ground. You’ll find a big variety of styles, from modern to traditional; some even change colors as they glow. Cost: Color-changing stake lights: $40 for a light that’s 20 inches tall and 6 inches wide.
  • Stepping stone lights glow from within and are rugged enough for regular foot traffic. Cost: $25-50 each.
  • Paver lights can be installed in your driveway paving material. They’re made of glass or acrylic, and they’re tough enough that you can drive right over them. Cost: $32 for a 6-by-6-inch light.
Glowing globes are spherical sun-powered lamps that make chic architectural additions to your landscape lighting scheme. Stake them in your yard, float them in your pool or make them border beacons — no matter, you’ll enjoy the glowing-orb goodness.

You should know: Color-changing globe lights have three modes: off, “color mode” (which cycles through the spectrum), and “white mode” for simply glowing light.

Cost:Glowing globes, $29-$49; half-globe path lights, $7.99 each

Safety and security lights are ready to shine when the sun goes down.

  • Motion-detector lights switch on when the sensor detects movement; the range and direction of the sensor is adjustable. Because they don’t shine all the time, the battery for a solar-powered motion-detector should have a charge that lasts all night.
  • Solar-lit house numbers come in many shapes and styles. A sunlit address isn’t just aesthetically smart — if you ever need emergency services to find you after dark, your street number will be plainly visible.

You should know: A spate of sunless days could leave your motion-detecting security light off-line — a chance you take any time you go solar.

Cost: Security lights, $79.99 to $120; house numbers, $15 and up, depending on design.

Outdoor lamps light up your evening outdoor activities with style, and you won’t have to drape an extension cord over your deck and lawn.

  • Table lamps bring a bit of indoor functionality to your outside living spaces. Put them anywhere for a dash of living room panache.
  • Lamp posts are permanent installations for pathways, garden benches, and the bottom of deck stairways.

You should know: Some solar table lamps do include an electrical plug-in option as well as a solar panel.

Cost: Solar table lamps are $20 and up, depending on size and materials; $600-$1,000 for 9-foot high multi-fixture lamp post.

Solar Christmas Lights: Should You Make the Switch?

December 4, 2011

Solar Christmas lights don’t cost anything to operate, but the high purchase price might not add up to savings.

In the last few years, energy-efficient LED Christmas lights have largely replaced more wattage-thirsty incandescent strings, resulting in significant savings — LED lights use 70% less energy than their incandescent predecessors, and they last up to 10 times longer as well.

Now there’s a new kid in the string-light neighborhood: LED solar Christmas lights are appearing at retailers around the country, promising grid-free festive lighting for holiday-happy consumers.

Powering up solar Christmas lights

A string of solar Christmas lights uses a small solar panel for power; there are no extension cords that must be plugged into outlets. The panel — about the size of a hockey puck — powers rechargeable batteries that illuminate a 25- to 100-bulb string of LED lights.

Panels come with small stakes so you can put them in the ground, where they can take advantage of the sun. A fully-charged string of lights should glow for 6 to 8 hours after the sun goes down.

Solar lights vs. LED plug-in costs

Most consumers expect new technologies to cost more, but if saving energy and money is your main reason for considering solar-powered LED holiday lights, solar lights may not offer enough cost-saving to offset the higher initial purchase price.

Compare purchase prices:

  • The average cost for a 100-light string of miniature solar-powered LED lights is about $0.30 per bulb, or about $30 per string.
  • The average cost for a 100-light string of miniature plug-in LED lights is $0.08 per bulb, or about $8 per string.

Compare costs to operate:

  • Operating a string of plug-in LED Christmas lights for 300 hours — more than enough hours for an entire holiday season — costs about $0.30, using an average energy cost of $0.11 per kilowatt hour.
  • Solar-powered Christmas lights, of course, don’t cost anything to operate. That means you’re saving 30 cents per year in energy costs.

Do the math, and you’ll see that it’ll take about 45 years for the energy savings from solar-power to equal the difference in purchase price between a plug-in string and a solar-powered string.

Advantages of solar lights

  • no extension cords
  • no need for exterior electrical outlets
  • withstand cold temperatures and precipitation
  • zero cost to operate
  • light output comparable to plug-in lighting
  • a green option

Disadvantages

  • higher initial cost to purchase
  • may not operate under cloudy skies
  • unproven longevity (too new on the market for results)
What are you doing for Christmas lights this year?