On 11/01/2018 19:08, alan_m wrote:
On 11/01/2018 15:53, Martin Brown wrote:


Solar powered lights tend to be useless in midwinter and often kill
their batteries stone dead if you leave them outside in the long dark
nights.

+1
Short daylight hours to recharge and cold weather result in very weak
lighting and short battery life. I had a fairly expensive LED light with
a large solar cell which during the summer months would provide a good
light dusk to dawn but during the winter never more than around 4 hours
at an acceptable brightness.Â* After around a year the light output fell
off considerably as the batteries started to fail, especially in the
cold weather.

The other thing to note is that you need something with a really good
weather seal if it is to survive in wind and rain without corroding.
Anything with a rating lower than IP55 will quickly fail outdoors.

I also have a solar charged LED light with a PIR which is still working
after 3 years. However, the PIR timing is only around 30 to 60 seconds,
triggered perhaps a couple of time per night and although fitted
outdoors it is in a sheltered location.

I have one PIR with LED on for 30s after last trigger event that uses
3xC cells (and put one on our VH too). That lasts a couple of years on
one set of batteries with regular daily use. It makes it a lot easier to
find the keyhole in the pitch dark.

Incidentally a lot of the garden LED lights are designed for much lower
sunnier latitudes than the UK and so come on way too early in a UK
summer during our very long twilight and are already fading when it gets
properly dark. They are at best a buy and die novelty product.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown