My wife wants landscape lights for the front yard. She's convinced that
solar powered lights will work fine, but I'm not sure. They do seem to be
less expensive than their hard-wired transformer & timer operated
counterparts. One of my concerns is that there are many areas of our yard
that do not receive direct sunlight. Another concern is that they don't
seem very bright.

Has anyone had any experience with these solar-powered lights? I'd be most
grateful for any comments or opinions on the pros and cons of solar vs.
standard landscape lights.

Thanks in advance.

Has anyone had any experience with these solar-powered lights?

Next door neighbor bought and installed them. Looked good in daylight. First
night, one winked out. Later in week, they were all dim. After fussing with
them for a month or so, they are now replaced with hard wired lamps on an
automatic sensor and timer set up. Technology wasn't quite up to the job in
this case. HTH

Joe

Banister Stairwell wrote:

My wife wants landscape lights for the front yard. She's convinced that
solar powered lights will work fine, but I'm not sure. They do seem to be
less expensive than their hard-wired transformer & timer operated
counterparts. One of my concerns is that there are many areas of our yard
that do not receive direct sunlight. Another concern is that they don't
seem very bright.

Has anyone had any experience with these solar-powered lights? I'd be most
grateful for any comments or opinions on the pros and cons of solar vs.
standard landscape lights.

Thanks in advance.
we went to the local harbor freight retail store to get something and i
picked up a solar lawn light.. the wife said: put it back its junk...
she saw some in either kmart or walmart and she knows all the clerks
there and was told the same thing about the ones that they sell also...
so i would take her word for it... but in your case let the wife have
her way and she will also be saying that they are junk.... anything i
ever got with a solar cell on it or a rechargable battery turned out to
be junk.. they never lasted very long...

"Joe Bobst" wrote in message
...
Has anyone had any experience with these solar-powered lights?

Next door neighbor bought and installed them. Looked good in daylight.
First
night, one winked out. Later in week, they were all dim. After fussing
with
them for a month or so, they are now replaced with hard wired lamps on an
automatic sensor and timer set up. Technology wasn't quite up to the job
in
this case. HTH

Joe


Put some along a slate-rock walkway over a year ago - have had no problems
with them. This walkway is under a sycamore tree, so in the summer they're
pretty much shaded. Even in these short days of winter we're still getting
light from them. Only thing I've done is to make sure the solar panels
doesn't get very dirty, and once in a while we'll have to replace the
battery. But so far haven't had to do anything. I just imagine that very
late into the night they do dim out, but we're asleep by that time, so it's
not a concern - at least for us.

We even took one to our summer property - we don't have a septic tank
installed yet so we have a porta-potty inside a tarped enclosure. Set the
light outside during the day and inside the enclosure after the sun went
down. Made a good night-light.

If you're looking for something that will keep bright lights from sundown
until sunrise, you want the hard-wired kind. But for us, these are just
fine.

My neighbor got rid of his, not bright enough.
Banister Stairwell wrote:

My wife wants landscape lights for the front yard. She's convinced that
solar powered lights will work fine, but I'm not sure. They do seem to be
less expensive than their hard-wired transformer & timer operated
counterparts. One of my concerns is that there are many areas of our yard
that do not receive direct sunlight. Another concern is that they don't
seem very bright.

Has anyone had any experience with these solar-powered lights? I'd be most
grateful for any comments or opinions on the pros and cons of solar vs.
standard landscape lights.

Thanks in advance.

Banister Stairwell wrote:
My wife wants landscape lights for the front yard. She's convinced that
solar powered lights will work fine, but I'm not sure. They do seem to be
less expensive than their hard-wired transformer & timer operated
counterparts. One of my concerns is that there are many areas of our yard
that do not receive direct sunlight. Another concern is that they don't
seem very bright.

Has anyone had any experience with these solar-powered lights? I'd be most
grateful for any comments or opinions on the pros and cons of solar vs.
standard landscape lights.

Thanks in advance.



Our neighbor has some solar lights along a walk. They put out enouch
light to find them in the dark - useless, imo.

1) They need full sun all day to even last 2 hrs at night. Any amount of
shade greatly reduces on time
2) Kiss winter operation goodbye. Store them inside. Shorter days, longer
shadows, and frozen batteries don't work too well
3) If you expect to illuminate more than a foot of ground forget it. They
serve to mark the path. Thats it. Think of an LED keychain light.
4) Batteries are a maintance item.

Having said that, I have quite afew. They can add some visual contrast to
the landscape at night in areas you can't run power. The ones that change
color are interesting to watch.

"Banister Stairwell" wrote in message
...
My wife wants landscape lights for the front yard. She's convinced that
solar powered lights will work fine, but I'm not sure. They do seem to be
less expensive than their hard-wired transformer & timer operated
counterparts. One of my concerns is that there are many areas of our yard
that do not receive direct sunlight. Another concern is that they don't
seem very bright.

Has anyone had any experience with these solar-powered lights? I'd be
most
grateful for any comments or opinions on the pros and cons of solar vs.
standard landscape lights.

Thanks in advance.

I bought 4 last fall at a bargain - $15?
For marking paths or driveway borders thay are excellent.
They don't light but a very small area, so they won't do the same job as a wired
light system. I expect they will get better very quickly.
One item that might be of interest is the solar-powered motion sensor lights.
They put out a lot of light for a limited time. You can mount the panel away
from the light. About $80.
Rex in Fort Worth

In article ,
"Banister Stairwell" wrote:

My wife wants landscape lights for the front yard. She's convinced that
solar powered lights will work fine, but I'm not sure. They do seem to be
less expensive than their hard-wired transformer & timer operated
counterparts. One of my concerns is that there are many areas of our yard
that do not receive direct sunlight. Another concern is that they don't
seem very bright.

Has anyone had any experience with these solar-powered lights? I'd be most
grateful for any comments or opinions on the pros and cons of solar vs.
standard landscape lights.

Thanks in advance.



My neighbor has solar landscape lights. Pretty nifty and less fuss than
hard-wired to install. But your answer depends on how much illumination
your wife wants. If she wants her lights to pump out a lot of
illumination (like to the point where people driving by would notice),
the hard-wired ones are by far the better choice because the solar
jobbies are really only good for a little bit of atmosphere light, or
*just* enough for someone to keep from tripping over something along a
narrow pathway in the very dark. Which is why most people just use them
for sidewalk marker lights or next to deck stairs. They're also
notorious for not throwing out the same amount of light from day to day.
How bright they burn depends on how much sunlight the collector cells
receive during the day. Winter months are pretty dismal because the
sun's lower in the sky, and there tends to me more overcast days
especially in the northern states.

Having a wife myself, once they make up their minds about having
something, opinions of others rarely convince them to drop the idea. So
here's a suggestion: Why not buy just one solar light (instead of maybe
wasting a bunch of money on a whole bunch), stick it wherever your wife
plans to put them, and let her see for herself over a few weeks whether
they live up to her expectations.

AJS

"jmagerl" wrote in message
...
1) They need full sun all day to even last 2 hrs at night. Any amount of
shade greatly reduces on time
2) Kiss winter operation goodbye. Store them inside. Shorter days, longer
shadows, and frozen batteries don't work too well
3) If you expect to illuminate more than a foot of ground forget it. They
serve to mark the path. Thats it. Think of an LED keychain light.
4) Batteries are a maintance item.

Having said that, I have quite afew. They can add some visual contrast to
the landscape at night in areas you can't run power. The ones that change
color are interesting to watch.


There must be a big difference between brands and models. I have six
Nicholas Cole solar lights and they last all night even in winter. If they
are covered with more than four inches of snow the batteries will not charge
so you will need to brush them off after a snowfall. I do know mine work
at -24 degF so they are more reliable than the power company.
I have the yellow double LED models and they work fine for marking a path
but I would not rely on them for lighting steps.
Mine are a year old and I have not had to change the batteries yet so I
cannot comment on battery life.

Bill

Banister Stairwell wrote:

My wife wants landscape lights for the front yard. She's convinced that
solar powered lights will work fine, but I'm not sure. They do seem to be
less expensive than their hard-wired transformer & timer operated
counterparts. One of my concerns is that there are many areas of our yard
that do not receive direct sunlight. Another concern is that they don't
seem very bright.

Has anyone had any experience with these solar-powered lights? I'd be most
grateful for any comments or opinions on the pros and cons of solar vs.
standard landscape lights.

Thanks in advance.


We have both solar & hard-wired. The solar are dimmer which is nice for
defining the edge of the low retaining wall between the yard and patio.
They do need a lot of sun to last more than five or six hours. If you
need them all night long, year round, or in a shaded area, go hard wired.