Choosing Outdoor Solar Patio Lights
Before buying outdoor solar patio lights, it’s worth thinking about why you’re installing them. Is it for functional / safety use or is it mainly as a decorative light, to give your patio more atmosphere?
If you’re looking usable outdoor lighting you’ll need brighter lights and to install them in the places around your patio and garden where you actually need light – near doors or places you’ll be eating or entertaining friends, for example.
If your solar lighting is more for mood and atmosphere you can get pretty creative with positioning. Try putting them in trees shining down into the patio / garden or along the edges of your patio / deck. It’s a good idea to experiment with where to put your solar lights – live with them for a couple of evenings before settling on a location.
Bear in mind that the only rule with placing outdoor solar lights is that it must be in a place where that gets at least a few hours of direct sunlight a day – otherwise they won’t be able to recharge enough for night use. Sounds obvious, but it’s easy to forget that.
If you really want to have evening light in a place that doesn’t get much sunlight during the day, consider buying an outdoor solar light kit that has a separate solar panel on a cable. That will allow you to place the panel in direct light while the solar lights themselves can be in a more shaded area.
Solar Motion Sensor Lights
Although solar motion sensor lights are more expensive than normal solar lights, they have a number of advantages. The main one is security.
The great thing about solar motion lights is they automatically switch on as soon as motion is detected – anyone trying to make their way into your garden or yard area uninvited will cause the lights to switch on.
Fortunately, motion sensitivity can be adjusted so that the lights don’t come on with every passing car or cat. The top brands of solar motion sensor lights can detect movement from 25 feet away and can use a regular electrical supply in the event of a run of cloudy days where a full solar charge isn’t available.
Solar String LED Lights To Brighten Up Your Garden
Solar Star LED Lights
They come with their own small solar panel that can be driven into the ground a little way from where you want to hang the outdoor lights. Then, after a day of solar charging, when the light fades they automatically turn themselves on.
Each solar star light string measures 23ft / 7m in length and you can even buy a double pack if you feel like going a little crazy. Each engery saving LED light will provide up to six hours of solar powered light per night. In winter, when a full solar charge might not be possible, regular rechargeable batteries can be used as a power supply for up to fifteen night without needing a recharge.
Solar Street Light Kit – Turns Shoes Into Lamps
Solar Light Street Kit
Available in two size – for three or six lights – and fully weatherproof.
Solar Light That’s Also a Radio
Presenting the Etón Microlink Self-Powered AM /FM / NOAA Weather Radio with Flashlight, Solar Power and Cell Phone Charger. Kind of a mouthful but an interesting solar gadget all the same.
With this little device you can not only charge your mobile phone and listen to the radio, you can also choose between solar charging or charging by using the hand crank – great for those days when there’s no enough sunlight for a full solar charge.
Get Romantic with Solar Lanterns
If the phrase solar lantern has a Far East feel about it then no wonder – lanterns originate from Asia. Although many solar lanterns retain an Asian design theme, they’re also available in many other styles of design – including modern contemporary.
A wide variety of shapes – like round, elongated or teardrop – are available and the choice of colors is pretty much endless.
Just find a good spot for your solar lantern, somewhere that gets a fair amount of sunlight in the day will be ideal, and wait for the romantic glowing light to appear after sunset. You’d be surprised how much more fun it is entertaining friends with the soft light of solar lanterns above you.
Portable Indoor Solar Lights That Go Anywhere
As solar lights & lighting become more commonplace, so product designers are getting more innovative in the way they design solar lights.
Take Lucet Lamps designed by Rui Palma. These small solar lamps are actually three LED lights grouped together with a couple of rubber suckers attached to the base. You can position them wherever you like on a window and they’ll recharge their two AA batteries during the day and give out free solar powered light in the evening.
Just one catch – at the moment these solar lights are a concept design only.
Indoor Solar Lighting with Flexible Solar Tube Lights
Here’s a quick tip if you need a little bit of extra light indoors – flexible solar tube lights. These handy little solar gadgets come with a clip and a gooseneck with a light on the end.
Just attach the clip to a solid surface – the edge of a table, window ledge or the side of a display frame and you’ve got yourself a little extra indoor solar light for very little hassle.
They’re ideal for lighting display cabinets at exhibitions or other venues where you may not have total control over the indoor lighting. Not enough daylight to solar charge? Just recharge the batteries in the normal way.