Solar powered garden light thingies?

[Sheila]

apologies as this is not exactly DIY.

My mum wants some light at the far end of her garden to assist her when she walks her dogs of an evening. Doesn't have to be a lot of light, just a glim to see the dogs by. Their last walkies is around midnight to 1am, so some light would be needed for 8-9 hours at this time of year. Would 'push in the ground solar lights' be up to the job? If so, any recommendations please for specific makes/types/models.

Cabling would be difficult as she lives on a hill (south facing) and the garden is terraced. The lights are required along the lowest edge of this terrace. Beneath the terrace is the next door neighbours property.

She lives in SW and sunshine is fairly good there.

Many thanks

S.

[Ian Stirling]

Some are really, really crap. I've got one that dies in 2 hours (at this time of year, only 3 months old)

I've been playing with another idea. Take a plastic 100mm high cup. Take a 100mm focal length credit card magnifier.

Put lens on top of cup. Put LED (or lines of LEDs) at bottom of cup.

This produces quite a sharp spotlight, 50cm at 10m. A line of LEDs across the bottom of the cup would produce a 5m*50cm line (at 10m). Mount a few of these in a location, and how does your garden glow.

[Set Square]

No - total waste of time!

They're just about ok in the summer when there's a lot more daylight than darkness - but even then, they're a bit like tame glow-worms!

At a rough estimate, they need 2 or 3 hours of good daylight for every hour of light output. So you would need at least 24 hours daylight per day to provide your 8 hours of light!

Now, if you lived in the land of the midnight sun . . . you wouldn't need them at all!

[Dorothy Bradbury]

Must be a long garden... :-)

LEDs mounted to the dog... ... Unidentified Barking Object

Solar powered lights do not perform well: o Siemens did some ok ones, but *barely acceptable* o Most typical ones are very poor re basic economics

---- feeble solar cell, low quality battery (with memory effect)

---- low quality LEDs (which have quite a low output & life)

---- very low light levels re 1) winter overcast 2) winter sun

The simpler solution is: o 12V feed from the house or outbuilding (shed)

---- IP67 transformer, cable, couple of lights

----

have some o House-mounted PIR pointing down garden

---- not 300W or 500W, but 150W will do

The PIR solution can be set to not shine on the next door's property, and 150W will be ample yet not annoying. The 2D type fluorescent items are unlikely to shine well enough, but would be cheaper to run (28W for example vs 150W).

[Mike Barnes]

Probably not. You might try a LED head torch, like this:

are plenty more like that from other manufacturers - try any outdoor sports shop. It will leave her hands free and provide enough light for walking the dogs, it's a lot more flexible than fixed lighting, and it will last for months of daily use on one set of alkaline batteries.

[S Viemeister]

The LED head torches work very well. My house is in an area without street lights and the nearest neighbour is a few minutes walk away. When there's no moon, I can't see my hand in front of my face. The headlamps are cheaper and more effective than the solar lamps would be.

Sheila (the other one)

[Andy Burns]

I saw (what I assumed to be solar powered) LED cat's eyes the other day on the A47, they were still going strong in the small hours ... don't suppose they're cheap though, and the dogs might chase them ;-)

[Andrew Chesters]

I've read something somewhere... The manufacturers also produce them to match traffic lights; gives you a bit more warning in queues etc. Also some that turn yellow in fog.

Going a bit further OT, I saw some cat's eyes that I could see illuminated in my mirror after I had passed them. No, nothing coming the other way! Anyone know anything about these?

[Andy Burns]

Yes, they're the ones I'm on about. The usual blueish tinge typical of "white" LEDs, they seem to be powered on about a 50% duty cycle so they appear to flicker as you pass them, conserving power in their super capacitors I suppose ... surprised nobody seems to have nicked any of them (yet)

[Ian Stirling]

Awkward to nick I suppose. I suspect you'd need a core drill, a big inverter to feed it, and a lookout a mile either side.

Probably easier just to buy one.

[Andy Burns]

Nah, wait till July when the tar's all gooey and jemmy one out :-P

[Owain]

"Andy Burns" wrote | Ian Stirling wrote: | > Awkward to nick I suppose. | > I suspect you'd need a core drill, a big inverter to feed it, and a lookout | > a mile either side.

Couple of day-glo vests and a few traffic cones and no-one would ask any questions.

| Nah, wait till July when the tar's all gooey and jemmy one out :-P

You expecting summer next year then?

Owain

[raden]

In message , Sheila writes

I have some. The light output is definitely what I would call low - more decorative than illuminative.

Also, this time of year, with very little overhead light (the sun being low), they only last an hour or so, they would not still be giving out light at midnight.