How to Choose Outdoor Solar Powered Lights

The lights I have bbought have all had replaceable batteries. I
have never seen nes that were not replaceable. Mine too have lasted
several years. Still, they produce very little light. Why do they
make these so under-powered? It seems they might be useful with 6
LEDs instead of one and perhaps 4 rechargeable D cells instead of 2
AA's.One great product I have found is a solar powered motion
detecting security flood light by (I think( Heath Zenith). These
use a 20 watt Halogen light with a 6v motorcycle type rechargeable
battery. They are about $90 at Home Depot. I have bought several of
them and use them all around outside my house and
driveway.

My last set of solar lights (powered by user-replaceable NiCd AA
batteries) lasted 8 years. Dirt build-up and weather-wear of the
optical sensor and electrical components eventually did them in. A
NiCd battery can be recharged 1000 times or more, and can (and
should) be recycled when it dies. The big drawback with solar
lights is that they need unobstructed sunlight in order to work
well. Partial shade, or full sun for only part of the day will
drastically shorten the illumination time.

Definitely cool high end stuff, saw them at Lightfair in New
York.With Solar Cynergy's line, you're paying for product quality
and technology. Only a few online stores have them b/c they're
targeting and working with large developers and
architects.

We just saw these new outdoor solar lights on
www.getwithgreen.com. They are in a brick/paver form-factor and can
be put in concrete, decking, between pavers, etc. My wife and I are
considering them for around our pool. The company is Solar Cynergy.
getwithgreen.com talks about their pricing...a bit pricey, but the
life expectancy is extremely high. anyone worked with
these?

We purchased these lights to light the front walk for an elderly
neighbor. They provide a cue so that he doesn't fall off the
sidewalk, but they really provide very little light and they are
plastic, heavy-metal-filled and destined for the landfill after
they stop working.

We purchased these lights to light the front walk for an elderly
neighbor. They provide a cue so that he doesn't fall off the
sidewalk, but they really provide very little light and they are
plastic, heavy-metal-filled and destined for the landfill after
they stop working.

Most outdoor solar lights are made in China, andthey are typical
Chinese junk.If you buy some that last a year, you are doingreally
good. Congratulations.

True, the batteries in solar lights that I have purchased at
Lowes and Home Depot generally last a year, but they are
replaceable. They are rechargeable NiCad AA's, but this summer I've
had one solar light running off of, and apparently recharging,
regular alkaline AA's. You probably don't want to go wild with 20
or 30 solar lights, because you will have to replace the batteries
in each of them yearly. But it is nice to have a few automatic
lights strategically located around the yard.

Pro's and Con's will be helpful...I was ready to buy one until I
read the comment on the battery not being replaceable.
F.Rojo

These solar lights are little more than a toy. If you really
want to save our Earth and end dependency on fossil fuels, why not
look into Fuel gasifiers
(http://www.powergeneration.siemens.com/products-solutions-services/products-packages/fuel-gasifiers/)
for your sewer, garbage, and trash. This includes plastics,
newspapers, and yard and garden clippings. These wastes are called
biomass and they can be easily converted into gas and/or liquid
fuels. The gas is called syngas and can be use directly in Solid
Oxide fuel cells produced by either Acromentics
(http://www.acumentrics.com/products-power-generators.htm) or
Siemens
(http://www.powergeneration.siemens.com/products-solutions-services/products-packages/fuel-cells/).
As for using solar panels, they are best suited for hydrogen
generation such as produced by Distributed Energy Systems
(http://www.acumentrics.com/products-power-generators.htm). Don't
let anyone tell you differently, industry and government have been
working hand in hand to solve our energy and global warming
problems.For more information, please see
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~chtank/ecoenergy.html,
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~chtank/homepower.html, and
my blog, http://chtank.blogspot.com/. I am retired from Engineering
and have dedicated my retirement to helping solve our energy
problems.

Some of the led solar lights that I have purchased I did not
like. They produce a bluish-white light which looks ghost like.
Both leds that I tried said "bright white" light. Plus the light
was very directional and did not have much of a spread. (this was
the spot light.) I don't know if the led/solar lights can tell you
a color rendering so you know what color that is.The solar without
led are very dim but are at least a yellow soft light. Whatever you
do make sure you can bring back the lights if you do not like them.
anna www.green-talk.com

Problem: the rechargeable batteries wear out fairly quickly.
Then the whole unit is caput in many cases as they are not
replaceable. This means trash in the landfill. Do we really need
junky gizmos like this wasting resources?

It's worse than more trash in the landfill--most of the
batteries are NiCd. The Cd in that is cadmium, one of the most
toxic heavy metals. That's something you really don't want to put
in landfills. If you must get one, shop carefully for one that uses
NiMH not NiCd batteries. It still might become trash, and nickel
isn't great either, but it's much better than cadmium.I browsed a
few of the links--many at Home Depot don't say, but the one that I
saw is NiCd. Snapdragon doesn't say. Gaiam has some that say NiCd,
some that don't say, and two that say NiMH (the garland and the
stepping stone). (So much for being able to trust that a product
from Gaiam will be environmentally friendly.) If you visit a
brick-and-mortar store, you can look on the box and read the
warning label to find out.