Solar yard lights. How long do they last?

[gypsyman]

I am trying to decide between a hardwire set or solar. I am assuming the solar are nicad or nikel metal hydride. Are there any lithium ion sets?. My question is, at rate of 365 charges and discharges per year, how long till you have to toss them because they wont charge anymore.

 

[WT]

Marked ... I hate my el cheapo set. We have the cheap ones lining the back yard and they need tossed, but she freecycled the very good ones lining the driveway that run $25 a piece a few months back !! ARGHHHHH .... wimmins .. always tossing the wrong stuff ...

 

[gypsyman]

I am looking at these from SAMS. It says they run on 2 nicads. I dont know if they can be replaced.

 

[richardycc]

most, if not all of them use AA size rechargeable batteries, they are replaceable, but I find solar lights aren't that bright, the solar circuit don't last that long, so if you can do low voltage hardwire, I'd go with that. I plan on replace all my solar ones with low voltage ones soon, just not looking forward to all the digging.

 

[Midlander]

Maybe if you live where the sun shines all the time solar lights would be OK. Here in Michigan, we just don't get enough daylight in the winter, so I wonder if they work much at all.

I have low voltage lights, which work well.

 

[sze5003]

Working great!


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Damn eBay I keep losing. I need to get this phone. I hope I won't get charged for a sim card.

 

[Vic Vega]

They last until some kid kicks them over or you run them down with the weedwhacker...

 

[Krazy4Real]

Damn eBay I keep losing. I need to get this phone. I hope I won't get charged for a sim card.

wat?

 

[Vdubchaos]

From my experience, NOT LONG

They are temporary.

I've done the reasearch about 3 years ago. Ended up with something similar to this

http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-F...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

I have 4 floods and 3 ground ones. It's all in one kit and has everything you need.

I was NOT spending $500+ for stupid outdoor lights.

Get plenty of extra bulbs, they last about 6 months- year when on 3-4 hours every day....

 

[edro]

You can't go wrong with wired.

Solars are usually junk. Good luck finding a "good" set.
The panels are extremely cheap and do not generate enough current to charge any decent sized battery.

 

[Vdubchaos]

You can't go wrong with wired.

Solars are usually junk. Good luck finding a "good" set.
The panels are extremely cheap and do not generate enough current to charge any decent sized battery.

And are never bright enough/light properly.....which is the #1 goal of Landscape lighting.

 

[SandEagle]

i've got some going over 3 years. change out the battery every once in awhile. paid $100 for 20 of thrm.

 

[spacejamz]

bought these low voltage LED ones from Amazon last summer and have been very happy with them...(I paid $90 though and they are now down to $65)....power supply adapter is kinda big though....

http://www.amazon.com/Brinkmann-828-.../dp/B002VRPDVQ

 

[bignateyk]

I have a bunch of the cheapo $3 ones from lowes. My experience has been if they last for more than a week, they last for years. Mine have been going strong for 5 years now. There have been several that have died within the first couple days though.

 

[BoomerD]

I have a set of solar lights that I got at Costco. They're 4 years old. I used them as lights for my shed. (remote solar panel) They're OK...not very bright, but just bright enough to be able to find something inside the shed at night if I need to do so. The batteries last about 2 years tops. Fortunately, a replacement pair of AA solar rechargeable batteries is about $4 at Home Depot/Lowes.
For landscaping lights, I went with low voltage LED lights. They're bright enough to properly light the areas I want lit, yet still use very little wattage.

 

[EagleKeeper]

On the 4th year for the solars that have have outlining the backyard area and front sidewalks. Wife and daughter get them on sale at Lowes & WalMart (2 different styles)

Colorado mountains

 

[Mixolydian]

In my experience the solar lights are no good. You will be hard pressed to find any that are not made in China. I installed about 20 of them last year and most of them were totally dead in less than a year. The solar panels or the charging circuitry went bad.

I switched to low-voltage LED and am very happy with them.

 

[Jeffg010]

Add anther to the list of solar lights not being bright enough. My parents had a set they were not good.

 

[BoomerD]

In my experience the solar lights are no good. You will be hard pressed to find any that are not made in China. I installed about 20 of them last year and most of them were totally dead in less than a year. The solar panels or the charging circuitry went bad.

I switched to low-voltage LED and am very happy with them.

You'll be hard-pressed to find low-voltage lights not made in China as well...hell, it's hard to find ANY-FUCKING-THING not made in China nowadays.

 

[olds]

Given a choice, I'd go with wired. My solar aren't very bright and the battery life (AA) is low.

 

[Nintendesert]

I'd do wired, I really dislike the solar ones i have and much prefer my wired lighting instead. I'll eventually get rid of all the solar stuff.

 

[fatpat268]

In my experience, the sun destroys the actual solar panel (here in texas anyway) long before the batteries go bad.

Also, all the landscape lights I see lately come with ridiculous plastic stakes instead of metal stakes.

 

[lxskllr]

I'd look into rolling my own solars. It would be more for a fun project than saving money, but I think you could build a nice setup that was isolated from the grid.

 

[Train]

I have some in Michigan, and ya, some clouy days in the winter will deplete the batteries.

Once or twice a year, pull the batteries out, slow charge them with a Lacross charger.

 

[Jeff7]

The thread's more than 5 years old now. I guess we could just ask the OP how his purchase turned out.