How Solar Landscape Light Fixtures Work
Posted on January 4, 2010
Filed Under Solar exterior lighting | Leave a Comment
If you have a yard and have ever thought about lighting it at night, installing solar landscape lighting fixtures can be a great solution. Although they are still rather costly, but their advantages far out weight the initial cost factor.
The way solar exterior lights work is by generating power when their batteries are exposed to sunlight and then they release that stored energy at night. There are a variety of application for these fixtures other just your yeard, eg., floating solar lights for your swimming pool or pond, path lighting, solar deck and patio lights, solar post caps, and solar shed lights to name but a few.
The LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) automatically turn on at dusk and then turn off at dawn thanks to a photo cell and a small electronic circuit. LEDs are ideal for solar applications, their consumption is minimal compared to incandescent light bulbs and they’re reliable. LEDs have a life span of up to 100,000 hours. Don’t expect solar landscape lighting fixtures to give you massive illumination. Their primary aim is to add a gentle and subtle touch to your landscape.
Look for a solar landscape lighting fixture that has a manual on-off switch that turns the light on when the sun sets and off when it gets light again. When you install your outdoor solar light fixture and turn the switch to on, you never have to touch the on/off switch again. The on/off switch will allow you to charge the battery and then turn the switch to off to store the electrical charge. If you turn the light off, the battery will continue to charge during the day so that it will be ready for use when you turn it back on.
Here are the basic components of solar landscape lighting fixtures:
- Solar cell (typically on top): This absorbs the energy from the sun and converts it to electrical power. The size, quality and transparency of the cover all play a part in the effectiveness of the solar panel.
- Battery: The solar panels are wired directly to a re-chargeable battery that stores the electricity to be used by the light. Ni-MH batteries are often used because they are better than standard Ni-CAD batteries and NIMH batteries are more environmentally-friendly. The rechargeable batteries will need replacement approximately every 2 years.
- Lights: Most solar lights use LED lights, which are smaller, brighter and last longer than incandescent bulbs. Most LED lights will emit a more blue hue in the light, compared to the yellow hue of an incandescent bulb. Most LEDs will run up to 100,000 hours before dying out, while an incandescent bulb usually lasts for about 3,000 hours. Some security solar lights will add halogen bulbs along with the LEDs to increase the light intensity.
- Wiring: If an outdoor solar light has good internal wiring, it will last longer and shine brighter than a light with poor wiring.
- Photo-resistor: This is for detecting darkness.
For maximum solar charge, the solar fixture should face due south and it’s photo cell positioned at an angle that’s perpendicular to the sun. Keep in mind that if the photo cell is exposed to continuous harsh sunlight it may simply cook. However, a good quality solar cell will have a UV protected lens and therefore should last some time. Some solar landscape lighting fixtures have a photocell behind the UV protected lens facing the ground. Therefore direct sunlight would be no problem. Apart from a battery change every 3 years or so, there should be no real issues, based upon the higher quality solar light fixtures.
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