Garden solar lights

shanni

Anyone know why does my garden light (small stick in the ground type) that is supposed to be solar powered need an AA battery, of which needs changing every month??

trickdick

How old are the solar lights?

Ive had mine two years and have never had to change the batteries yet.

You do need to take them indoors for the winter and remove the batteries otherwise the low levels of sunlight will drain the batteries very quickly.

Hope this helps

innovate

I have 12 of these thingies, they're overwintering in their designated spot for the 3rd year now. Never changed a battery or a bulb, and at the moment all 12 are - sort of - on (don't even know whether mine have batteries).

A couple of them (can't remember how many) went into 'hibernation' the last two winters but recovered again during spring. One pair were the cheap £8.99 for 2 in Homebase, the other 10 were more expensive but the cheapies were the ones going strong during the last two winters, it was several of the expensive ones that hibernated.

Whether they all survive the next winter remains to be seen. Must say, though, when they eventually give up, I will have low voltage wired lights put in because the solar lights are just for decoration, and I want to actually have some light.

Bossyboots

shanni wrote:

Anyone know why does my garden light (small stick in the ground type) that is supposed to be solar powered need an AA battery, of which needs changing every month??

Could be faulty batteries or faulty lights. The sun charges the batteries during the day and then the batteries power the lights at night.

Are you sure your batteries are rechargeable?

shazrazmataz

We've had ours a copuple of months & the last couple of days have looked pretty pathetic, think hubby needs to pick them up & put them into hibernation ready for when we go to Oz

shanni

Thanks everyone, well, mine is one of a pair (my mum has the other one) and they were £15 each from kaleidascope catalogue, although mum bought them when they were on offer. The battery is a rechargable type but I've also used non-recharge ones and it works very bright for a week or so and then starts to dim. Some nights it goes on and others it doesn't. Weird! I was hoping there would be an easy scientific explanation but it seems maybe we have duds!

djohn2002uk

I think you've been given an explanation. The only batteries you are suposed to use are rechargables. The sun charges the battery during the day and the battery feeds the light when it's dark. Non chargable batteries will go flat pretty quickly and are not what the lights are designed to be used with.

mike_paterson

Send them back as not fit for the purpose they were sold for and buy some cheapy ones elsewhere. Mine came from Makro 10 for £23.50 and have been fine for the last 1.5 years - though in Winter they do not charge as much and hence they do not stay on all night.

shanni

djohn, thanks, I get it now! I see what bossyboots means now, only use rechargable batteries. Thanks guys!