Solar powered security lights

Marty999

I am thinking of investing in some solar powered security lights as we don't have electricity at the bottom of our garden, and have had somebody prowling round recently.

My local DIY stores do not sell solar powered PIR lights but I have found these and these on the internet. Does anybody have any experience of using such an item? Are they any good?

isofa

I'm interested in them too, so equally would be keen to here experiences.

We have some standard solar garden lights, they work well in the summer, lasting until around midnight, but in the winter, they barely work at all.

In addition E.ON the energy company are selling these solar security lights (we had a flyer this week with our bill). Solar PIR Security Light from E.ON

isofa

Just thought I'd bump this back up to a current discussion to see if anyone has had any experience of these...

PROLIANT

Yes they are very good and low cost of ownership as well, obviously you get what you pay for so don’t opt for the cheapest out there, aim for mid range prices and you should be ok, they use LED technology which gives you a very bright light for the size and power of the unit, and there power consumption is very low as well.

bristolleedsfan

Wait a month and their should be some good deals about on outside lights.

isofa

bristolleedsfan wrote: »

Wait a month and their should be some good deals about on outside lights.

What's happening in a month bristolleedsfan ?

LittleJo

Hi,
My solar lights simply do not work at all in the winter.
Jo

bristolleedsfan

isofa wrote: »

What's happening in a month bristolleedsfan ?

Days will be lighter for much longer, shops will be wanting to put more summer lines out.

"Hi,
My solar lights simply do not work at all in the winter.
Jo"

I was as to where solar powered lights get their power from in winter.

smudger1964

like the previous poster jo said the lights will work ok on short summer nights when they have had long sunny days to charge but in the winter on short dark days you will find at 3 in the morning when you need them to come on bright they wont.

They are ok if you have no power supply you just have to accept the limitations

isofa

Are we talking about the normal garden lights, or the new type of security lights with higher capacity batteries? (The latter is what the OP and I are really interested in).

Our standard garden lights, have exactly the same problem, as posted above, in the summer they light until midnight after a good days sun, in the winter, obviously because there is little sunshine sometimes, they barely light at all. It's also to do with them using cheap internal NiCads rather than a more decent chargeable power ource like NiMh.

Paulo

I bought one of these last year, it has worked a treat.
By the end of winter it did not go on for a few days, but I think it was due to me adjusting settings not a fault with the light.

Great for the price.....