Solar Powered Landscape Spotlights

[earthsaver77]

A solar powered landscape spotlight or set of lights is needed for security and visual appeal.
It is hard to find ones that match their claims, and the market is flooded with junk.
In your experience, what is a good choice for under $50 that will keep a relatively consistent brightness for at least four hours?
I expect significant dimming over a whole night, but one that still casts enough light to see movement until sunrise would be great.

 

[idleprocess]

It is hard to find ones that match their claims, and the market is flooded with junk.

Indeed. Between the rapidly-degrading solar cells, Z-grade batteries, and bottom-scraping cruftsmanship of the electronics you're going to be lucky to find units that last one hour after a year. Seems that - much like anything internet connected that's also stationary - running a wire results in superior performance.

 

[ilikeguns40]

I agree with idleprocess. Running a wire will result in many, many years - if not lifetime lighting needs if done correctly. Way better performance and less aggravation over the years

 

[bykfixer]

I'm in year 2 with a pair of these dudes from Home Depot. The battery stopped charging after a few months so I just replace them as need be.
They throw light about 20 feet for about 6 hours with new batteries.

 

[ilikeguns40]

What size batteries those rock lights take? I guess just recharging and replacing batteries is a good idea, as long as you don’t have 100 of them

 

[Dave_H]

I've been playing with solar garden lighting since LEDs started being used. Yes there is junk out there, and some I would not technically call junk but not all that great; but some decent quality if you look around. Home Depot has some good stuff. Buying online risks getting some of the worse stuff. I won't recommend particular vendors or models. Unfortunately you often need to do your best guess, try it out to see how well it works.

I would not expect more than a few years' life for most low-cost solar garden lights if left out all year. Common downfall is physical damage (including hitting with a shovel when clearing away snow). Other failures include moisture buildup and corrosion of switches and battery contacts. Sometimes the cell dies despite all else looking OK, due to poor management of charge/discharge.

Solar light expectations need to be realistic. You can't get all the brightness and runtime of a wired light, and solar needs good sunlight to work well.

Cells are not all bad, but usually not name-brands. I have good luck with Lithium Iron Phosphate which replaces three 1.25v cells in some designs; 14430, 14500 and 18500 being common. Have to be careful with temperatures below freezing though; and on the very high side.

I've developed a quick estimation method for realistic runtime based on the size/type of solar panel, battery capacity and some idea of the LED current. Vendor runtimes often assume ideal sunlight, which needs to be factored in.

Dave

 

[funkymonkey1111]

This is not a spotlight, but I will tell you these things work great. I don't know exactly how long the charges last, but with a good Colorado blast of sun the lights are still going strong at 2am. I've had them over a year and they run off one rechargeable AA. I've not had to replace any of the batteries in the lights.

https://www.costco.com/tommy-bahama-solar-led-pathway-lights,-6-pack.product.100840745.html