Solar Lighting Guide

Solar lights is more affordable than ever and is a free way to provide subtle ambient illumination outdoors.

Solar lighting needs less installation than traditional mains lighting. If you want to install lights in an area that doesn’t have a local 240 volt supply, solar offers an affordable, solution.

The quality and performance of solar lighting has improved a lot during the past few years.

Light levels have been improved through the use of LED bulbs, whilst they also effectively reduce power consumption requirements. Direct sunlight used to be a necessity for solar lights to charge enough to work properly. Harvesting the suns energy has improved greatly. In the coming months and years solar technology will continue to advance.

Solar garden lighting is available in several alternative designs and styles. Wall lighting: Lantern Style. Hanging or post type lights. Strings of fairy lights in different lengths, 200, 300 and 400 LED lights. Deck lighting which is mounted flush with the timber surface. Solar security lighting with PIR motion sensors. These lights will either have a wired panel that you can position nearby, or an integrated panel built into the top of the light unit itself. Each design has its own pros and cons and suits different applications.

By design, integrated solar lights have smaller panels, meaning that they will usually need more hours of sunlight to work effectively.

With external solar panels, you can position them for ideal light and because they are usually larger, they require less light to work effectively. Factory fitted rechargeable batteries should be replaced with high performance, quality batteries as their will allow your lights to function better. Factory batteries are chosen for their cost, not their performance over time, so they are worth replacing.

Solar Lighting Performance

Where you position your solar light units is also very important. Direct sunlight is the best energy source for your solar lights, so try to position them so they receive maximum sun. Solar lights charge much slower in the shade, so position your lights in bright areas for best results.

Shadows & shade will reduce the ability of your lights to charge effectively, so position them carefully. Renewable energy technology is big business and because of the huge investment in the technology currently we can expect to see advances in performance being made in the next few years. The annual sales of renewable energy solar products rises each year and is set to continue to do so.

Solar power is popular because it helps to reduce your energy costs as well as reducing your impact on the planets resources.