Per the subject: Can anyone recommend some good solar-powered-landscape lights? Specific models and where-to-buy?
We currently have some Westinghouse ones, from BJ’s from several years ago, but (1) the posts on a couple of them broke, and apparently the manufacturer doesn’t sell or provide replacemednt parts and (2) the lights are pretty wimpy (they have 2 LEDs each, and 1xAA Ni-CD 600mAh batteries).
Right now, we only have path lights, but I’d like to get some spot lights also, if they’re bright enough.
Dollar Tree has some solar pathway lights for a buck each. Single 3mm LED, 200 mAh AAA nicad in them. Candy cane striped post. They actually seem to work rather well for a buck. I had them standing up in a box on the floor only charging from overhead lights and a little window light. Turned off the overheads at midnight and they were still shining at 6:00 am. I may put Nichia 119’s in them…
Hopefully, someone will have some recommendations.
Meantime, I have a couple of other questions:
- As I mentioned, the lights I have came with 1xAA Ni-CD batteries. If I used 1xAA NiMH, e.g., Eneloops instead of the Ni-CDs, would they work and charge ok? In other words, would the solar charging circuitry that charges the original Ni-CD work ok if an NiMH battery was used in the light?
I tried an Eneloop and that does light the light (not unexpected), but I’m unsure if the the solar charging part would work if I replaced the original battery with an Eneloop.
(I’d hate to have to buy some lower-capacity Ni-CDs just for these lights!)
- The posts/stakes that go into the ground on a couple of the lights broke off when we had a storm with high wind this year. There’s a plastic piece that is attached to the bottom of the glass of the light via a screw into the glass piece, and then stake press-fits into that plastic piece, but that broke off. Any ideas how I might be able to replace the stake, i.e., make a piece that I could use to replace the stake (and the plastic piece)?
The stakes on those Dollar Tree lights fit my normal high-dollar ones… BTW, the stakes on the Dollar Tree lights are stored in the posts… easy to miss if you don’t know what to look for.
My experience is that the Ni-CD that comes with these lights are crap. I replaced them with Ni-MH, pre-charged type and they charged alright giving me 5 hours of light after a sunny day. But my light are set by the window and only get direct sunlight in the afternoon, not optimal. I have ordered some solar from Banggood with 14500 cells, will report back when/if they arrive.
Typical of all cheap Chinese items, they may differ between items in the same package. I would not think of changing over all the batteries to Eneloops, but not much risk in changing one and seeing how it works out. Big Lots and Harbor Freight sell lights and NiCds for them.
Best option might be to try a variety of them, and/or use them as parts donors for making a better version.
and costco has some ok ones too, they stock too types. i forgot the name of them, but its the cheaper priced one that is brighter. i tried both sets.
but the plastic ones i linked are brightest of them all, i tried a few solar path lights and these are the brightest. and i love the way it shines down on the pathway….the reflector has a hammered glass look and it gives your pathway sparkles. very pretty.
I have two of the lights that had the broken posts in the house, and one has the original 350 mAh Ni-CD battery in it, which I fully charged in a charger, and the other has an Eneloop in it, also fully-charged, and both are sitting on the kitchen counter-top now. It’s night here now, so they’re both lit, but they should get some sunlight in the morning, so I’ll see how the Eneloop does vs. the Ni-CD… assuming my wife doesn’t kick them off of the counter-top when she wakes up in the A.M. :)!!
I’ve had a few of these cheapies; a couple with 2xAA, 1 with AA, and 2xAAA. All use a single LED, and all had what I consider junk NiCads. I replaced ALL the batteries with higher capacity NiMh after the first year. There is no problem with doing this as the charge level is very very low. During the summer when they get good light they all do OK. The NiMh I use are kind of ‘2nd tier’ stuff like 2300mA energizers that are several years old. I haven’t tried using a better battery as I think the charger is the main problem.
During the winter I yank the AAA ones as they aren’t worth the effort to maintain. The AA ones end up getting a regular charge off the charger when they get dim, which depends a lot on the ambient light. None can make a week during a Seattle winter. I think the biggest problem is not being able to actually charge the batteries up. I’m sure the charge is so low that you cannot over charge them.
I think a BIG issue is the strength of the solar charger. If that’s like the rest of the components it’s got to be pretty wimpy. It certainly is small anyway. The top is covered with plastic that is getting UV fogged which doesn’t help I would think.
If you are emptying the bucket faster than you can fill it no battery will work. This would be a problem with increasing the output.
Those higher end multi-LED with the Lion battery seem interesting but it still is only 600mA so it’s a small capacity. They claim lasting up to 10 hours. I would guess that is under optimal charging. I’m using WAY more NiMh capacity and they don’t last during the winter. Capacity is capacity. LiOn is not a miracle, just a device to store electricity. I don’t see where that would really help at all unless their claim of an improved charger is more than marketing BS. Until proven otherwise I consider claims like that absolutely suspect. Mostly they don’t pan out.
I don’t have the tools to measure charge input or output on these which would be interesting.
I’ve been messing with two of the lights that had broken posts. I charged the Ni-CD from one of them, and put that in one, and a fully-charged Eneloop in the other (the original Ni-CD was dead), and set them both overnight while on. Measure voltage next morning and the Eneloop was about 1.311V and the Ni-CD was 1.24V.
I have them charging outside now, and will measure the Ni-CD and Eneloop voltage before it gets dark.
You are aware that unloaded voltage measurement on NiXX is a poor indicator of remaining capacity?
You can take an absolutely dead NiXX, put it on a low output dumb charge for maybe 10” and it can read 1.2v.
You really need to do a remaining capacity discharge test to 1.0v after you run them identical amounts of time. That still won’t tell you a lot since they should be drawing almost the same amount. The eneloop should have 3-4x the capacity of the NiCad……but, is the charger able to charge it up in regular use?
If all the solar charger is capable of during normal daylight charge is say 600mA then the Eneloop capacity cannot be utilized unless, like me, you are willing to pull it and charge it occasionally.
