Are solar garden lights reliable? (2025 Update)

They're a nice soft glow, but the batteries need replacing every now and then, and at a fairly high cost. You can't beat the efficiency and power of the incandescents, IMHO. Tom Someday, it'll all be over....

Might as well ask "Are cars reliable?", you'll get as many answers. My mother has had a couple or three sets of them, and they all last a few years and then get tossed in the trash (after the obvious request that I "fix" them).

It's a wonderful idea, but it would be expensive to make good ones, so to keep costs down reliability goes out the window. If you really wanted a "good" one, I'd look at a separate panel -> charge controller

-> battery ->timer or photocell with low-voltage cutout -> low voltage hard-wired garden lights.

I have used both low-voltage and solar landscaping lights. In my opinion, the wired ones were much better. Tons brighter.

thank you, i have wondered about this too!

I like the Malibu's, but like my cordless phones, I replace the NiCad's with NiMH's.

Yes. I have one that's been lighting a statuette in my garden for two years. It works fine although it's not very bright.

Alarm and Home Automation System FAQ

=============================>

Bass Home Electronics

Tony, it's a troll, has already nym-shifted in a brief attempt to crawl out of killfiles. This one seems to be the "insult all the regulars to try to get them fighting amongst themselves" varient f troll.

My solar garden lights are into their second year and still going strong. They decorate the garden lovely and I'd highly recommend them.

Reliable as in years ? as AC 120v is !! NO....!

Batteries - NiCads Loose strength for every cycle . They have

A Waiste of your future time and money for quick sales and bull s*it in 2 - 6 yrs..

Compare price. Wired are best in the long run .... or 3 yrs out [ not a long run is it ]

Yea Brian, just wait till the 5tyh year, they will not go for more than 15 minutes

Our neighbors have them (which became obvious during a blackout). While they don't cast much light per se, they DO mark where their path is - like buoys marking a channel. I don't need to see the path, but the lights keep me ON the path. So far they've survived the brutal berkeley winters (we had to put on coats!).

I wonder about using LED clusters wired to 12V and just bury the low voltage wire back to the house.

A solar panel elsewhere with a simple charge circuit can keep a charge in a small battery (on the cheap side, using a mid-life car battery would last a while, but a proper deep-cycle battery, treated well, could last closer to a decade).

LEDs draw very very little power.

White Leds are as inneficient as condesants 75% less efficient than flourescents.

Didnt know that Eh, Its a Fact..............

The batteries wear out , electronics fail , they are cheap crap . in a few years you will wish you never sold the good stuff. If you want to get a few to try them ok , but in the long run 5-10 -15 yr they are a disposable waiste

Agreed. I got my garden lights at Home Depot. :^)

I found solar lights to be insufficient for my use. They're just bright enough to be seen but not enough to see anything else. The light lasted about 6 hours in winter (Florida) and a bit longer in summer, but the solar cell died after about two years.

This year I installed a 600 Watt transformer with built-in timer and ran low voltage cable around the outside of the pool cage and along the fence line behind our home. A few spot lights illuminate several palms from below and a row of mushroom lamps illuminate the gardens. The visual effect is quite pleasant and it has the added benefit of drawing mosquitoes away from the lanai. Florida mosquitoes are roughly the size of small dogs so keeping them out of the pool (where they like to do the back stroke) is a good thing.

Alarm and Home Automation System FAQ

=============================>

Bass Home Electronics