Solar Landscape Lights - The Benefits are Many

Solar landscape lighting has quickly become a very popular alternative for homeowners who want to add attractive lighting to their landscapes or gardens. They are an environmentally friendly option, and best part is since solar lighting does not depend on electricity they are an affordable option as well. You will find that solar lighting is easy to install, easy to maintain and very affordably priced.

Compared to traditional landscape lighting which is costly to install, often requiring an electrician, and then requires monthly payments to the electric company, you can see why solar lighting is such a popular option.

These lights can be installed in minutes, and come ready to use out of the box. No wiring or electrical knowledge necessary. They also use much less overall power than traditional lighting, which adds to their environmentally friendliness.

You will find that solar lighting is also very easy to maintain. They require no servicing or special attention really. They work using only the sun to charge a battery, and no you do not have to live in a sunny climate for these to work, almost any light will do.

One benefit of solar energy becoming more popular is that the price of the lights themselves is becoming more reasonable. In fact you will find solar lights are not any more expensive than traditional lights, and many times they are cheaper. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes to fit your own personal taste, and since they are solar powered you do not have to worry about any monthly expense.

If you are looking for an affordable, environmentally friendly way to light up your outdoor spaces I would highly recommend you look into solar landscape lighting. You will be saving yourself money and the environment at the same time so really everyone comes out a winner!

About the Author:

Selena is a Green Consultant who helps homeowners choose the most environmentally friendly options for their homes. Her latest website on solar yard lights helps you find the right solar yard lights for your home.

Benefits of Solar Driveway Lights

Have you been thinking about installing some solar driveway lights around your driveway? There are a lot of benefits that you will be able to get when you make the decision to use solar power for the lighting outside of your home. Not only will you be helping the Earth by not using electricity but you will be helping yourself by taking advantage of all of the great things that solar lights provide. If you are thinking of putting some lighting around your driveway then you will want to make sure that you know about some of the benefits that you will be able to get when you use solar lights instead of the traditional types of lighting that are available.

One befit that you will be able to get by installing solar driveway lighting is a cut in your electric bill. Solar lights use the energy that they gather from the sun during the day to operate at nighttime. This means that you do not have to worry about them using any electricity resources to run when it gets dark outside which in turn means that you will save money on your electric bill.

Another great benefit to having solar driveway lights is that they are easy to install. You will not have to worry about digging up the ground to run power cords, or trying to find extension cords that are long enough to reach the plugs for some of the lighting systems that you will find. Most types of solar lights that you will be able to find to use along the edges of your driveway come fixed to a stake that you simply push into the ground.

There is little to no assembly required for the use of solar lighting. There are only a few parts that make up a solar light that you will have to worry about assembling if they are not already assembled when you buy them. You will find a stake that is used for securing the light firmly in the ground, a globe to concentrate the power of the light, and a top to the globe that contains that solar panel and the solar battery that is used to give the light its power. You can assemble a solar light in a matter of a few seconds and have it ready to use.

There are a lot of great benefits that you will be able to take advantage of with solar driveway lights. You will want to make sure that you look at a few different ones to choose the ones that will work the best for you. You will be able to see better when you pull into your driveway at night thanks to the power of solar lighting.

Solar Garden Lights

To many home owners, their outdoor garden is the prime spot for relaxation. It is the perfect place to unwind after a hard day’s work, or a long day tending to the needs of their children. This means that people are constantly looking for way to improve the aesthetics of their gardens.

Solar garden lights are the perfect way to do this. They are excellent value and come in a wide variety of different styles; there is something to suit everyone’s tastes. They not only improve the garden, but they will help you to enjoy your garden at night by illuminating the area subtly. This creates the relaxing haven that you desire. Not only are these outdoor lights great value, they are also completely ozone friendly and will obviously not add to your electricity bill, as they are operated purely from the power of the sun.

People’s awareness of global warming, and the damage that is being caused to the ozone layer, has grown over the last few years. This has prompted an increase in the number of people looking for more environmentally friendly ways to lead their lives. The use of solar garden lights is a great start. The fact that they are completely free of wires makes them extremely versatile, and very safe to use too. They can literally be placed anywhere in the garden, meaning that you can add extra light in areas that require it the most.

These solar lights come with a rechargeable battery and an LED bulb, which provide the light. All of the solar garden lights are set to automatically come on once it turns dark. This feature can be switched off if you want the lights out when you go bed. Once fully charged throughout the day by the sun, most models can provide you with between 8 and 10 hours of light. This should be more than enough to keep your garden lit for the duration of any gathering at your home, such as a BBQ or a party. Thus enabling you to enjoy your garden late into the night, without the lights you would be forced to take the party inside.

Solar lighting really is the perfect way to put the finishing touches to your outdoor space. The level of light that they emit will give your garden a relaxed and pleasant mood. The options are endless; they can be used around your swimming pool, your pond, to illuminate pathways, literally anything.

Click Here for the best info on Solar Energy and how to Build Solar Panels

How To Get The Best From Solar Garden Lights

Installing solar garden lights is similar to many home improvement projects in that the likelihood of a successful end result is related to how well the objectives are defined in the first place. So consider what it is you're trying to achieve - courtesy lighting for yourself and visitors, security lighting to deter intruders, a place to entertain or simply bringing the garden to life at night?

There's a good chance of course that your answer will include some, all or more than these possibilities. The problem is then one of balancing these different requirements on your outdoor solar lighting. But by at least identifying the requirements in advance it becomes much easier to separate the lighting into distinct zones and types of light fitting.

Solar deck lights for example won't deter many intruders (though these highly versatile little devices will function very well in many situations such as path or drive markers). Equally you probably don't want bright floodlights on your entertaining areas, and while low level coloured lights look lovely as decorative features in the garden they won't help your guests see what they're eating or drinking.

Functional (or "task") lighting as distinct from decorative lighting tends to be relatively easy to get right for the simple reason that it is usually obvious whether or not it performs the intended task. Driveway lighting should allow you to easily navigate the drive, security lighting should switch on in response to movement - such things are simple to test.

Decorative solar garden lighting doesn't have to conform to specific requirements in the same way as functional lighting but there are still some guidelines worth noting. First and most obvious is that solar lights need to recharge each day which means either the lights themselves (or their solar panel if using an external charging system) need to be sited in a sunny daytime location.

Second, because solar powered lights have to last many hour on a single charge from a battery they cannot afford to burn as brightly as mains powered lights. Modern high efficiency LED bulbs that use vastly less power greatly help, but even these are still usually less bright. But this characteristic is not necessarily a weakness and it is possible to obtain effects with solar garden lights that mains powered versions cannot manage.

Third, a great benefit with outside solar lighting is that it is not only supremely simple to install, but also just as simple to modify; meaning that you can figure out ideal placements by trial and error rather than hoping to get it right first time. Simply pick units up and reposition them until you hit on an arrangement that you especially like.

Finally, never forget that it is your garden and therefore you can do as you please. If you want to string solar fairy lights along a dull fence or scatter sun jars at random then go right ahead. The fact is that pretty much any outside garden lighting looks a whole lot better than none at all, and it is near impossible to make a garden actually look worse by installing solar lighting.

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If you found this interesting then be sure to check out this additional article that looks at solar patio lights in more detail.

Outdoor Solar Lights Will Brighten up your Property

The popularity of using solar lighting to light your outside spaces just seems to increase all the time. Outdoor solar lights are being used more frequently in popular outside designs and can be seen more often in outdoor public spaces. Solar lights are an extremely practical and sensible way to take the sun's rays and convert them into usable energy - after all, it's where all our energy originates from.

A standard solar light unit has a built-in solar cell which will absorb the sun's energy and convert it into electrical power which is then stored in the unit's battery. The entire process is automated; right down to the event of switching the light on and off, this is achieved by a photocell device that is sensitive to light. At the end of each night, any unspent energy is rolled over to the next day.

Recent developments in solar light technology has led to huge increases in both battery life and efficiency. These efficiencies are credited in part to the increase in the popularity of the different types of lighting such as solar string lights.

An added benefit to this type of lighting scheme is that there are no complicated installation procedures to carry out. You can just literally just place the fittings where you think they would look best, and fix them in place when you are happy with your design. There are no expensive electrician's bills to pay, no complicated cabling to undertake, and no digging trenches to get a power source out to your deck.

Top 5 reasons to consider solar lights.

1. Free lighting for your outside spaces

2. Very cheap to install - no professionals needed!

3. Very low maintenance - switches on and off automatically

4. Wide choice of designs and fixtures

5. Home security is increased due to extra light at night

The best thing about solar lighting is that it is free to run. You won't ever receive an electricity bill for using your lights because all the power comes from a free source. Solar lights are also very low maintenance as well, once you have them installed where you want them to be, they will switch themselves on and off each night, all you need do is check the battery once a year.

In my opinion, the most rewarding reason for using outdoor solar lights is the positive impact they make to our environment. Unlike standard electricity, solar power gives off zero emissions and uses zero fossil fuels. Whether you are in the developing world or in one of the world's major economies, solar lighting has a strong part to play in providing part of our energy needs for the foreseeable future.

About the Author:

To learn a lot more about solar led driveway lights, the authors web pages are full of useful information and tips on what to look for.

Easy Solar Holiday Lights

With the holidays approaching, many people look for new and fun ways to decorate their homes. Maybe you are looking for some new ideas for Halloween decorations. Maybe you’re just tired of the old Christmas lights that you have been using for years. What better way to light up your holidays than with solar holiday lights?

Traditional holiday lights are a hassle. You always wind up running extension chords all over the place, burned out bulbs need to be replaced; you have to worry about short circuits due to rain, the huge electricity bills… Yea, it’s a pain. Solar holiday lights completely eliminate those hassles, but how do they look?

Solar lighting technology has come so far in just the last couple of years that manufacturers have release a huge assortment of solar lighting styles – including Halloween and Christmas lights. For Christmas you have options like:

• Solar Net Lights
  - These are basically a "net" of LED lights that you use to wrap a shrub. They light up at night and a sensor turns them of when the sun rises. They stay lit for about 8 hours and require 1 AAA battery that is sold separately.


• Solar Christmas string lights
  - This is a string of 50 solar powered LED lights that can be strung around lamp posts, trees, mail boxes, banisters, etc. They also have a sensor that turns them on at night and off during the day and run for about 8 hours.


• Solar Multicolor LED Christmas Lights
  - These are a lot like the Solar string lights above, but are multicolor. They also have daylight sensors and 50 LED bulbs.


• Solar Blue Snow Flake Lights
  - I personally have these and I love them. They are really bright and very pretty. There were a couple of bad reviews from people having a problem with the lights shorting out after a while, but I have had no problems with mine. They are only $8 for a string of 20, and the seller has great feedback, so for me, it was worth trying.

If you're looking for Halloween decorations, you can choose:

• Solar Halloween Lighted Carved Pumpkin Jack-o-lantern Decoration
  - This is a solar power smiling Jack-o-lantern decoration for a front lawn or similar. It is about 8" in diameter and has a daylight sensor that lights it up at night and turns it off during the day.


• Halloween Sound Activated Rocks GO BACK or BOO Yard Decorations
  - These are 9.5" by 6 by 4 rocks that light up at night with a greeting for visitors. Choose either "Go Back" or "Boo". They are, of course, solar powered and have a daylight sensor.


• Solar Powered Halloween Lighted Skull Decoration
  - This is exactly like the pumpkin decoration, but in a skull. It is also a little bigger than the Jack-o-Lantern (about 10").
  
  

Needless to say, they all come with the benefits that we come to expect from all solar lighting products, like: ease of installation, energy efficiency, versatility, etc. Not to mention, most traditional lights need to be either turned on and off manually, or attached to a timer. All of these solar holiday lights come with daylight sensors. It doesn't get more trouble free than that!

I hope this article was able to give you some ideas for the upcoming holidays.

Cheers!

Easy Solar Accent Lighting

Let’s talk about solar accent lights. Solar accent lighting is used to add accents to your home’s garden or landscaping (hence the name). Solar accent lights commonly have a lower level of brightness than solar path lights and are principally used to highlight entire areas and not necessarily a specific pathway or driveway.

Since solar accent lights are not as intense as other types of outside lights, they have can run much longer on less energy. It is not unusual to get a couple of nights of illumination out of a single charge. Try to find accent lights that come with multi-crystalline solar cells. They are capable of collecting energy even on gloomy days. I should also point out that the amber LED’s seem to have a longer run time than white. The amber LED’s also create a softer glow than harsher white LED’s.

Solar accent lights are also offered in blue, green, or red. This gives you the opportunity to choose whichever colors best complement your garden or patio. They also come in a variety of styles including lanterns, ceramic spheres, glass mosaics, color changing globes, table lamps, tiki torches, string lights (fireflies)… Just about any outdoor light fixture you can think of is available in a solar powered version.

There are a few things to consider when choosing solar accent lights:

Taller fixtures will spread the light over a larger area, which will allow more illumination to accent surrounding surfaces. Shorter fixtures will light smaller areas and cast more shadows onto surrounding walls and such. Solar accent lights can be used to highlight garden waterfalls and sculptures, as well as other special features in your landscaping. To get the greatest effect from solar accent lights, it is usually best to have several lights placed closely together, rather than spread out. Try different light colors in close proximity to each other to create different effects.

Out of all the types of solar lights on the market today, accent lights offer the greatest selection of styles and applications. They are all just as easy to install as solar path lights, so the most difficult part is the planning and choosing the ones that are going to work best for your application. Happy shopping!

Easy Solar Path Lights

Out of all the outdoor solar lighting solutions available, one of the easiest to install are solar path lights. These are lights that you use to light up you driveway or walk ways. Usually solar path lights are self contained units that you just take out of the packaging and stick in the ground. What could be easier?

There are a couple of things to consider first, before you rush off to your local home improvement store. First of all, you want to make sure that the locations you have chosen for your lights are accessible to sunlight. If not, you will need to get lights that have a separate solar panel that you can place in a sunlit area, or they will not charge enough to give off light at night.

The second consideration is the type of lights. Solar path lights are a little different from other types of solar lighting in that they are designed to point the light downward towards you path or driveway. If you accidentally get accent lights and hope that they will light up your walkway, you will be disappointed. They will not put out nearly enough light. There are some solar accent lights that you can use to cast a glow on your walkways, but “cast a glow” is about all they will do. Be sure you think about how you want the lighting to look, so that you know the exact type of light to get.

The third consideration is the quality of the light. Do your research. Make sure the manufacturer uses quality solar cells and LED bulbs. Check the “lumens” to make sure they put out the right amount of light. Here is a tip for you. Check the lumen rating for a solar light that you like. Then go to the “flashlight” isle. Most flashlights tell you the lumens and offer you the ability to test the light in the store. Check out the flashlights that have the same lumen value as the solar path lights that you like. That will give you an idea of whether or not it will put out enough light for your application. :)

Other than that, just stick them in the ground and watch them work. Easy!

Check out this site on solar garden lighting!

Intro to Solar Lighting

Why solar lighting? If you read the newspaper or watch the news You likely know the environment is in trouble. Too many years of taking our resources for granted has caused our planet to run out of sources of non-renewable energy. We have begun a global re-think in regards to how we use our energy and from which sources. The solar revolution has begun!

Sure, you think of solar energy as having to spend thousands of dollars to put solar panels on your roof, right? Well, you CAN do that, and in fact, if you can, I recommend that you do. Converting you home to solar power is getting less and less expensive. But this sight is about easy!

Did you know that just how you light your home and garden accounts for a huge percentage of your electricity? The easy way to fix this is with solar lighting. Solar lighting fixtures come in a vast array of styles and designs. They can be used to light up the interior of a home, garage, or shed (indoor solar lighting), or as security lights, around your landscaping, or to light your walkways (outdoor solar lighting).

There are both “pros and cons” that you may want to consider, but the “pros” far outweigh the “cons” for most people. The first point you may want to consider is the bulbs. Most solar lighting fixtures have LED bulbs. LEDs are extremely durable bulbs that offer a very long life span. Most LED bulbs will last for the life of the solar light fixture. They also do vey well in just about any climate and are fairly impact resistant as well. This means they are ideal for outdoor fixtures, but they are not nearly as bright as other types of bulbs. LED bulbs must be clustered together in order to obtain a brightness similar to a standard fluorescent bulb. Many companies are currently able to manufacture such fixtures as spot and flood lights using LED bulbs, so the only real “con” to solar lighting is going to be eliminated within the next few years. Solar lights also enjoy wide applicability, efficiency and are very easy to install.

In my next article, I will discuss how to get started with a simple solar lights project.

Welcome to Easy Solar Lighting

Welcome to Easy Solar Lighting. This website will teach you how easy it is to add solar lighting to you home. We will cover outdoor solar lighting for garden and home use and even indoor solar lighting, including solar skylights! Best of all, eveything can be done by your average do-it-yourselfer! Strap yourself in and grab a cup of coffee!