Want to get some decent outdoor lights. Auto day light switching and solar powered ideally but otherwise 12v as the run will be up to 100yds with 5-10 lights on it
I've seen some outdoor leds which were very weedy . Give out very little light So what spec would I be looking for ? No of leds? Wattage ?And wht duration could I expect on a winters night where it is dark from 17:00 to 08:00
Thanks in advance for all info
A long run means more voltage drop. And 12v takes more current than 240v ones, so more susceptible. In other words, suitable cable for that run in
12v will need to be thicker therefore more expensive than mains.But if they are solar powered, the source of that is going to determine what you use anyway.
Solar powered lights tend to be useless in midwinter and often kill their batteries stone dead if you leave them outside in the long dark nights. Even kit like the radar activated "please go round the bend" signs only last an hour or so after sunset and are dead in the water every cold frosty winters morning when they might do some good. Today has been very dull and foggy so the danger bend sign has already given up the ghost and it isn't even dark yet.
About 3W will give enough light for a path - best configuration is full cutoff so that you don't dazzle or add to light pollution. To work in winter reliably it will need to be actively powered - forget solar.
A lot depends on what you want the lights to achieve. If you just want to illuminate a path so that visitors don't go wandering off into the flowerbeds or falling into the pond, the lights don't have to be very strong. OTOH if you want the lights to be a decorative garden 'feecha' lighting up selected areas of the garden, you will probably want them stronger. LEDs come quite powerful these days, with many individual LED's in a single enclosure; the corn-cob lights are a good example. But they will draw more current than the simple path-illuminating ones.
IME solar powered lights in the UK are useless in winter (much like solar panels): not enough sunshine to recharge them during daylight hours. If you want your lights on all night, they'll have to be mains-powered, or at least a fairly large capacity battery, recharged from the mains. But who needs the lights on all night? Surely, there's no need for them after say midnight at the latest. Put them on a timer, or even with a PIR motion sensor so that they only come on when someone (or next-door's cat) activates them.
Suggestion, have them 12 volt but wired up to a radio remote so you only put them on when you need to negotiate the path they illuminate. Brian
I think solar lights will only work if they're motion activated. I have a Lidl one for lighting the path at the side of our house when I put the bins out.
In this role it works perfectly but if you want illumination measured in hours I don't think solar lights are anywhere near enough "evolved" for that purpose.
Tim
"Solar powered" and "decent" are mutually contradictory.
Short daylight hours to recharge and cold weather result in very weak lighting and short battery life. I had a fairly expensive LED light with a large solar cell which during the summer months would provide a good light dusk to dawn but during the winter never more than around 4 hours at an acceptable brightness. After around a year the light output fell off considerably as the batteries started to fail, especially in the cold weather.
I also have a solar charged LED light with a PIR which is still working after 3 years. However, the PIR timing is only around 30 to 60 seconds, triggered perhaps a couple of time per night and although fitted outdoors it is in a sheltered location.
too many assumptions in that really
NT
The OP said solar powered ideally, which means mains is available. You could supplement the solar - or replace it if running on PIR only - with a small mains 12-15v PSU sending charge current down a long thin wire.
NT
Just trying to point out you'll need a solar power supply large enough for the very worst case - a short dull day in mid winter. Which will be many many times the size of one which would be OK in mid summer.
Which is obvious to those who understand such things. Who are very much in a minority.
Under the worse conditions - mid winter - the batteries will be on charge for a shorter period than the lights are running. So not quite sure how you work out the power supply cable can be smaller than the light one? Unless of course it is at 240v.
Ah, the OP has emailed you more about their use I see. I thought they might be running them on PIR mainly.
NT
If you read the post, he says 'Auto day light switching and solar powered ideally'
So I take it he has emailed you stating a change of use?
The other thing to note is that you need something with a really good weather seal if it is to survive in wind and rain without corroding. Anything with a rating lower than IP55 will quickly fail outdoors.
I have one PIR with LED on for 30s after last trigger event that uses
3xC cells (and put one on our VH too). That lasts a couple of years on one set of batteries with regular daily use. It makes it a lot easier to find the keyhole in the pitch dark.Incidentally a lot of the garden LED lights are designed for much lower sunnier latitudes than the UK and so come on way too early in a UK summer during our very long twilight and are already fading when it gets properly dark. They are at best a buy and die novelty product.
PIRs usually have that
The PIR isn't the problem. It's powering the lights themselves.
I already have some solar powered. The problem is in Winter the days are short/cloudy and the nights and shadows are long. Consequently they don't get a full charge at this time of year. So at the time most needed, they function least well.
You have to be very careful where you site them, ie in full sunlight for as long as possible.
No wires to run, so easy and convenient to install.
The PIR itself uses power.
Not enough to matter. I have a battery powered PIR triggered 3W LED lamp over my front door and it lasts around 2 years on 3x C cells with regular use. It was a lot more frugal on batteries than I expected.
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