I see one with 2 x 11 LEDs advertised for around £20 with back up rechargeable batteries, my next door neighbour has one and it would seem ideal for my purpose to illuminate a dark remote area. However I have a couple of questions....
How does the solar part work is it from direct sunlight only or would it still charge albeit at a slower rate on a bright day where the sun doesnt actually break through.
Each lamp is 11 x LEDs if one breaks can I replace an individual LED (easily) or would I have to replace that complete bulb and are they readily available.
Can the solar panel be moved to collect the most light? Some of these lamps have panels attached to the light that can only be moved in one axis. The brightness and amount of time that the light can operate on batteries depends on the charging - the brighter the light on the panel the faster the charging. If you are going to fit the light in, say, a normally heavily shaded area during the day then the panel may not provide enough energy to operate the light for long during the hours of darkness. Don't forget that the PIR will be using power.
A solar powered lights tend to work better during the summer when the days are longer and there is less need to light dark areas.
In my experience, the low voltage solar lights (sold as flood lights) are poor quality and are not fully water proof. They are more likely to fail after a few years because of corrosion around switches and PCBs rather than a failure of the LEDs.
The rechargeable batteries are likely to be "to a cost" and often they can be easily replaced with better quality or higher capacity batteries.
If it's made of individual LEDs then these are cheap and easy to source but in these types of lamps they assume 10,000s of hours of LED life and are not designed to be replaced. They may have used LEDs with legs and "through hole" PCBs, they have used surface mount LEDs or it may be a manufactured hybrid led array. The first is easy to replace but probably not worth the effort.
Thanks all. The unit has a seperate solar panel (12 ft of cable) and will catch the sun for most of the day. The area to be lit is dark , basically a shed entrance so the light wont be used much when its dark and even less so in Winter when charging levels will be much lower so I reckon it should do the job. As its PIR operated it shouldnt be on much and it only operates dusk to dawn.
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K> I see one with 2 x 11 LEDs advertised for around £20 with back up >
And there is no such thing as a reliable solar security light. You need a big panel, much bigger than the ones sold with security lights to be at all useful in winter. Just look at how big they are on the odd traffic sign to get some idea of what's needed.
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