How Solar Lights Work

Solar Light Components:

• The Case
• Solar Cell Panel
• Controller Board
• LED Light
• AA NiCad batteries
• Photo Resistor
• Diode

A single solar cell panel produces a maximum of 0.45 volts and a varying amount of current depending on the size of the panel and the amount of sun light the solar panel receives. In a typical solar yard light there is four solar cells attached together, and will produce around 1.8 volts and a maximum of about 100 milliamps in full sunlight.

The solar cells wired directly to the battery through a diode (which prevents the battery's current from flowing back through the solar cell at night). The battery is a completely standard AA NiCad battery. These batteries produce about 1.2 volts and can store a maximum of approximately 700 milliamp-hours. During the day, the battery charges, reaching maximum charge except on shorter winter days or days when there is heavy overcast. At night, the solar cells stop producing power. The photo resistor turns on the LED light.

The controller board accepts power from the solar cell and battery, as well as input from the photo resistor. It has a three-transistor circuit that turns on the LED when the photo resistor indicates darkness. The LED draws about 45 milliamps with the battery producing about 1.23 volts (0.055 watts). The NiCad battery, when fully charged, can operate the LED for about 8-12 hours.

Almost all-solar yard lights use LED's as their light source. An LED is a light emitting diode. It is not really a light bulb but an electrical component that emits light. These electrical components proven highly reliable, giving off almost no heat and have a life expectancy of up to 20 years.
Controller Board
Solar Cell PanelSolar lights will work in most areas; however solar lights will work well only as long as the solar cells receive the manufacturers recommended hours of sunlight. Solar lights located in places that receive less sunlight than the solar cells needs, will operate for fewer hours per night than expected. Shading of the solar cells by landscape features, such as vegetation, buildings, etc will also affect battery charging and performance. There is virtually no maintenance required except for occasional cleaning of the panel surface to keep it free of dust and dirt, and replacing the batteries when required.

Solar Landscape Light Guidelines

Solar landscape lights are very popular for lighting yards and gardens. They are virtually maintenance free, easy to install, and cost nothing to run. The only drawback for solar landscape lighting is that they must be placed in an area, which receives a lot of sunlight during the day. Depending on the amount of sunlight received during the day, solar garden lights can provide six to 12 hours of light in the evening.

Solar landscape lights are available in a variety of styles. You can buy hanging solar lights, solar spotlights, solar patio lights, and even decorative solar lights such as solar frogs, solar gnomes, and other such creatures.


Steps:1. Decide on the area of your yard that receives plenty of sunlight during the day. Taking note that the position of the sun changes from season to season. Areas that are shaded in the summer may receive sun in the winter etc.

Example: Solar lights can light a walkway to the front steps to your home or maybe you would prefer to focus your lights on a single bush or tree that is special in some way or to shine on a flag.

2. If you need solar lights for a shaded area, you can install a solar panel on your roof or other spot, which receives a lot of sunlight. This is a bit more expensive than regular solar path lights or solar spotlights and you will need to run a wire from the solar panel to the lights.

3. Decide on the style of fixture you want to use.

Styles:

· Solar spotlights - can accent intense light on a specific object.
· Low fixture lights - Contains the light close to the ground, perfect for landscape borders and driveways.
· Taller fixtures - Spreads the light over larger areas and used in gardens, patios, or walkways.
· Tier lights - Direct light downward on the ground and minimize glare, making them ideal for lighting walks and steps.
· Motion Sensor lights- Lights an area for a few minutes whenever it detects motion.
· Patio lights - Permanently installed light on a deck or patio.
· Hanging lights – wall mounted lights for entranceways.
· Decorative lights – comes in many styles from solar frogs to solar statues, they can add a personal touch to your garden décor.

4. Select the finishes for fixtures. Finishes are copper, stainless steel, verdigris, and plastic. Choose the fixtures that will blend into your landscape or garden.

5. Position the lights in a line, or a circle by placing them closer together instead of further apart to create a more effective lighting system.

6. Regular solar garden lights are easy to install. Simply push them into the ground or attach them to your patio or wall.

7. Adjust the photocell so that it is aiming towards the sun most of the day, and that's it! Instant lighting!

Overall Tips:

· Solar lights give off a faint glow that can light up a little area or large area.

· Solar landscape lights can be great way to light your yard cost efficiently.

· Solar landscape lights are a good alternative to electric lighting systems.

· Solar Landscape lighting can add beauty and charm to your home when done properly.

· There is virtually no maintenance required except for occasional cleaning of the panel surface to keep it free of dust and dirt.

· Solar landscape lights are available in a variety of styles.

Beautify your property with solar landscape lights

In his recent article Peter Kavar states; Solar Residential Outdoor Lighting is Becoming the Product of Choice for Millions of Consumers. His entire article can be found at: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kavar_Peter

Residential outdoor lighting is a billion dollar a year industry in the United States. It is getting so popular, there is now a corporation that franchises individual businesses dealing only in exterior landscape lighting design, supply, and installation! Line voltage systems used to be the only option for outdoor lighting but in recent years, low voltage lighting systems and solar powered lights have made exterior decorative lighting available to every home owner –not just the rich ones.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 67% of adult Americans are homeowners (2004 statistics). Renovation, remodeling and home improvement are massively popular activities that only reflect the priority that consumers give in making their property as comfortable and pleasing as possible. Gardening has always been a past time homeowners enjoy in beautifying their property, both for themselves and to raise the “curb appeal”, but up until a decade ago, beautifying the nightscape was not a mainstream idea.

The Solar landscape lighting option
Solar lights are not wired to anything and require no transformers. Installing them is as easy as sticking them in the ground, or mounting them wherever you need them. The draw back is that the photovoltaic charging panels (usually mounted on the top of the light fixture) that capture the sun’s energy need direct sunlight during the day to charge the batteries that provide power to illuminate the light at night. And in higher latitudes where the period of darkness is longer in winter months, there is a good chance that the lights will not get enough sun during the day to be able to illuminate for the entire period of darkness.

Even so, solar powered landscaping lights are becoming extremely popular although this was not always the case. Up until two or three years ago, solar lights were not as bright as many consumers wanted, didn’t illuminate for long periods and too often, did not operate longer than a year or two before becoming defective. Today however, solar lights are bright enough for almost any outdoor application, will illuminate for the entire night and –provided you get quality models – will last 20 years without maintenance or defect.

These dramatic increases in solar outdoor lighting reliability are due to recent advances in two areas of technology: photovoltaic cells and the introduction of the Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulb.

The photovoltaic cell is the technology that “captures” the sun’s energy. In the 1980’s, these cells could absorb only about 5% of the sunlight they were exposed to. Today this figure is moving past 15% and as further development of the compounds used in these cells continues (they are now silicon based but other compounds are being studied) they will only get more efficient.

Perhaps even more exciting has been the introduction of the solid state LED bulb. This technology involves manipulating electrons and moving them in a certain direction so that photons are produced. This creation of photons is the visible light. Unlike the traditional incandescent bulb, there is no excited gas, no burning filament, and therefore next to no heat production. Almost all of the energy produced is used as light. The bulbs last for 10,000 hours, require no maintenance and draw on average only three to five watts.

Today’s solar lights are excellent value

One of the biggest critiques of solar lights in the past has been the intensity of brightness they produce. This was a fair comment, but today’s solar lights are much brighter. Many mistake the term watt as a measure of brightness, which of course, it is not.

A watt is the measurement of the power required to operate something. If talking about only one type of light bulb, then there is a relationship; a 40w incandescent bulb will not be as bright as a 60w bulb. But when dealing with different technologies, this comparison is not fair. Indeed, one LED bulb drawing between three and five watts will produce the same brightness as a 40w bulb. And many solar lights are now manufactured with multiple LEDs, therefore producing light much brighter than the glow of a traditional 40w incandescent product.

More and more consumers are realizing that outdoor accent lighting really does have an enormous effect in creating a beautiful nightscape environment. Some prefer a low voltage lighting system because they will illuminate for the entire period of darkness and are reliable and energy efficient. Other consumers prefer the solar outdoor lighting solution because these lights are now just as reliable, are far easier to install and can be moved around at whim when trying different effects. There is also a satisfaction in getting free energy from the sun! But whatever the choice, there is no denying that residential outdoor lighting systems are becoming a standard feature on millions of properties.

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.

Types of solar landscape lights

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.
Different types of solar landscape lights

• Accent Lighting - Intense light is focused on a specific object to contrast it against a dark background. You can use spotlights or mini spreadlights for accent lighting.
• 
  Tier lights - Direct light downward on the ground or shrubs and minimize glare, making them ideal for lighting walks and steps.
• 
  Floodlights - Direct bright light upwards, they are a good choice for eliminating dark areas around windows and doors.
• 
  Spotlights - direct light upwards at controllable angles to illuminate statuary and highlight landscaping fences and architectural surfaces.
• 
  Low fixtures - Contains the light close to the ground, perfect for landscape borders and driveways.
• 
  Taller fixtures - Spreads the light over larger areas and can be used in gardens, patios or walkways