Solar garden lights are the perfect way to illuminate your garden in the evenings using the free power the sun provides all day. These solar power light systems have been improved in recent years and today provide a brighter light that can last an endless evening. These systems can be used to light up a pathway, landscaping or a garden, and are available in a wide variety of styles to match any decor you may have.
What Makes Up A Lighting System
A basic solar outdoor lighting system consists of several components. The charging system that provides the power to the lights in the evening is made up of a solar panel to convert the sunlight to power and a battery to store that power for later use. In the simplest of these solar power garden lights, both of these components are part of the actual light housing. This allows you to simply place the light where you need it and have the sun charge it up during the day.
Challenges of a Self-Contained Unit
Even though this type of solar power outdoor lighting is simple, it is not the perfect solution for all of your needs. The challenge with using this style of light in a garden is that where you need the light may not have a great exposure to sunlight. In gardens, there tend to be a lot more shade than along a pathway and this shade will block the sun from charging the solar power lights. In this case, where you need the lights to be in one area and the charging system in another, you can use a system that separates the two.
Single Power Sourced Lighting System
This type of solar outdoor lighting system has the solar collector and the battery enclosed in a single unit which is the only component that needs to be placed in direct sunlight. The charging module connects to the lights and will provide power to your lights through a small cable. This allows you to locate the solar power garden lights where you need them and still be able to adequately charge the system.
Bulb Considerations
Another thing you need to take into consideration is what style of bulb to use indoor solar power lights. Older systems used a standard bulb that did not offer a lot of choice in the type of illumination it provided. Additionally, these older systems tend to cast a certain blue tinted light that many consumers disliked. Newer solar power lights have a wider choice of bulb styles that allow you to provide a range of lighting choices from a small amount of illumination up to a spotlight. This way you can design the perfect solar power lighting system illumination scheme to suit your every lighting need.
LEDs Provide Light All Night Long
Because of improvements in the bulb technology, these newer solar power lights are brighter and whiter than older systems. Some of them even use LED bulbs that can last for years and draw very little power, which enable them to light a pathway or garden for an endless evening on a single charge. Some of the systems also include sensors that will turn the lights on at dusk and off again in the morning. This is a nice feature and allows the system to provide the light you need in the evenings without the added expense of adding a switch to the system.
