Solar lights not working at front of house? why?

Davesnave

Risteard wrote: »

Extra-low voltage. The mains is low voltage.

Thanks, that's really helpful to the OP.

I agree with others that battery LED lights are the way to go if you only want a couple, and that quality is worth pursuing, as both cheap LEDs and casings can be false economy long term.

If you want to light a fairly long pathway, the mains powered option is probably better, but more costly initially. There's usually no complex electrics; just a step down transformer inside the house on a standard socket. The only problem is getting the 12v cable outside.....and remembering where it's buried if you take it underground.

Anne_Marie_2

Are the lights that you have from dusk to dawn or PIR lights? If the former, there is no way that they will light up for very long in the UK during winter time. As others have said, switch your lights off for a few days to let the charge build up, and see if they work then.

I have a variety of solar lights, and find that even here, with a lot of sun, the dusk to dawn ones don't last all night during the winter, whereas the PIR ones do. The ones with a separate solar panel are better, as you can place the panel to take best advantage of sunlight.

Have a look at http://www.thesolarcentre.co.uk/catalog/Works_In_Winter-97-1.html

bertha

Google winter solar lights. We have fairy lights in the garden that came on at 6pm last night and were still showing tiny glimmers of light at 6am this morning.

d0nkeyk0ng

runner2014 wrote: »

The solar panels need direct sunlight to recharge, its getting gloomier at this time of year, less powerful sun, and shorter daylight, so they just don't have as much energy to power up their batteries.

+1, I bought some solar LED lights at the start of summer. They would catch the sun from about 9am until 8pm (trees and buildings block the light the rest of the time) and they would stay lit up all night.

But over the past month, it's become darker and there's less sun out. Yesterday, for example, was overcast all day. One solar panel didn't light up and the other was very dim.