Monday, October 10, 2005

Advantages of Solar Powered Landscape Lighting

Solar powered landscape lighting systems don't require connection to a electric grid and long lengths of expensive wire that must be brought in from far, far away. Electric utility grid wiring costs disappear with solar landscape lighting. Solar lights do not go off or shut down when the electric grid goes down due to power shortages, cut backs or electrical failures. For outdoor lighting a natural power source is readily available everywhere on Earth. Sunlight energy literally rains down on our planet every day of the year. It is practically free energy! In fact, even in winter over 1200 Watts of Sun energy per square meter is available.

Solar lights are very easy to install and require no wiring. Because solar landscape lights run on the sun's energy, they cost nothing to operate. Another advantage of buying solar lights is that LED bulbs will never burn out during the lifetime of the product. Low voltage incandescent and fluorescent systems need bulb replacements often and add cost and inconvenience to the product.

Solar lighting is the safest and easiest kind of outdoor lighting to install. Each light has a small photocell device built-in to the the fixture that converts sunlight into electrical energy. This energy is stored in highly efficient rechargeable batteries, used to light the fixture at night. This component knows when the light level is low and switches the light on. Make sure there are no other strong light sources near by that can affect the photocell because if it is not dark enough the fixture may not automatically switch on.