Outdoor Solar Lights

I don’t have time to do a lot of research on this so I need your help. I’m hoping to find an outdoor solar-powered light that either turns off automatically when it’s light, or is motion-activated but stays on for a minute or two after kicking in. And of course it should be as bright as possible.

We just bought one (that we’ve rendered unreturnable) that is motion-activated and bright, but only stays on for a couple of seconds.

Also, how can you tell from the packaging/info how bright a light is going to be? I was looking over the selection at Menards and I didn’t see anything obvious like watts.

The light we bought said that it takes a 15 watt halogen bulb but I think that’s misleading – it’s a brighter light than I’d expect from a 15 watter.

Price isn’t much of an issue although I don’t plan on doing anything that costs hundreds or thousands or requires a college degree to hook up.

A 15 watt halogen bulb is really bright, much brighter then a 15 watt incandescent. Wattage isn’t how much light it gives off but rather how much energy it consumes. Lumens is how much light it gives off.

After recently purchasing and installing a set of outdoor solar lights, I found that the brightness of the lights was very weak, even after plenty of sunlight to charge the batteries. It appeared that some of the batteries were border-line dead.

I have replaced 2 of the NiCd batteries (600 mAh) with rechargeable NiMH batteries (2500 mAh) and the difference is astounding! They are not only brighter than the others, but after an overcast day that left 8 of the lights out of charge early in the evening, the other 2 stayed bright all night.

My understanding is NiMH batteries are more powerful, can hold a charge longer (explaining the higher cost) and also do not contain cadmium (a highly toxic metal), but is the internal solar charger capable of recharging the NiMH batteries I put in them? It has only been a few days since I put them in, so I think it may be too early to tell if they are being recharged, and I am concerned about potential damage to the light.

Appreciate some feedback.

Different battery technologies require different charging techniques. As the source linked below notes, "NiMH batteries should be rapid charged rather than slow charged. The amount of trickle charge applied to maintain full charge is especially critical. Because NiMH does not absorb overcharge well, the trickle charge must be set lower than that of the NiCd. The recommended trickle charge for the NiMH battery is a low 0.05C. This is why the original NiCd charger cannot be used to charge NiMH batteries. The lower trickle charge rate is acceptable for the NiCd. It is difficult, if not impossible, to slow-charge a NiMH battery."

Realize that not only is the coefficient of capacity used to determine the charging rate different for NiMH batteries different than for NiCd batteries, but the capacities are typically very different (as you note — 600 mAh vs. 2500 mAh). Thus, the actual charging current requirements can be vastly different. Your hack might work for a few weeks, but it’s unlikely to be reliable over the long term unless the solar lights were built with a smart charging circuit that automatically recognizes the unique characteristics of the NiMH batteries.

While it’s always possible incompatible NiMH cells could damage a NiCd charging circuit in the solar lights, it’s more likely the inadequate charging of the NiMH cells by the NiCd charging circuit would damage the NiMH cells. As cells discharge, they do not all run out of charge at the same time. Rather, the first cell to run out of charge is reverse biased (i.e., positive voltage at its negative terminal and negative voltage at its positive terminal) by the remaining voltage of the cells that have not yet run out of charge. That reverse-biased condition can easily damage the cell.

Hi, I am going on the second solar light by the back door entry since the first one did not last long. I replaced one and have it installed by a professional this time. It is dusk to Dawn system. I was working well for a while, now the light bulb went out. I replaced it, the light is ON constantly even during bright day light. What is going ON? I am tired of having have to replace the fixture over and over and over…….what is the problem ?

Just install a reg. motion sensor light, and point the lights, and the sensor as close to covering the back door as possible (make a tight "Trap Zone" by the door), this minumizes falsely triggered "Lights 0N", by blowing wind and branches, set the lights for 1 min, if anyone hangs out for any longer, they will remain on at night. "Solar powered lights have an "L.E.D" bulb that should last forever.

i would like it to be comparable to a big halogen bulb. i want it to light up about 1/2 and acre of my backyard. thanks.

try home depot or lowes….

I presently have the wired Malibu lights. I’ve had much trouble with the wiring and transformer. This happens regularly. So, I’m thinking of switching to solar Malibu lights. I noticed my neighbor’s solar Malibu lights don’t seem nearly as bright as my wired lights. Are there any solar Malibu lights that are nearly as bright as the wired kind? What brand?

none of the solar lights emit the same lumes as wired lights. most of the new ones use leds, which work better but they still have limits. usually they work ok at the beginning of the night and fade as their batteries weaken.

for my money i still like the wired lights. yea they can be troublesome at times but properly installed the return outweighs the trouble.

Last night i was sat out in my garden having a ciggy. It was a clear night and almost full moon, it got me wondering can the Moon same as the sun when very bright power up any solar garden lights? I didnt have to use my security light where it was so bright with the moon. Any ideas? (i know the sun is behind the moon, so just wondering if its possible.)

cannot. The full moon gives us less than 2 milliwatt per square metre. 2 milliwatt is far too low and 1 square metre is pretty big. if you are just using the moonlight, probably you will need a very huge solar panel to do so.

Are there any "solar" garden lights available that are bright enough to light a walkway? The one’s that I have seen seem really dull and not much good. If anyone has a brand name & price, it would be appreciated. I’d hate wire the whole back yard to get decent light.

Define "work". All of the solar lights on the market now "work". Yet none of them work well. None of them put out enough light to be useful, none of them will work in times of many cloudy days in a row , and all of them are excessively expensive. Do not waist your money on buying solar lights because the technology is not yet perfected. Spend your money on a good quality low voltage system. They will produce the proper amount of lighting and they are energy efficient and they will last the life time of your house.

Can anyone tell me if solar powered lights are worth buying, are the super bright ones bright enough to light up my patio area or would i be wasting my money. i know they are good for the environment but i need something thats going to do the job at the same time. any advice please.

they are ok for marker lights [similar to cats eyes] but dont expect to do any reading by them!