Solar Garden Lights are becoming of age; their application is almost through puberty.
Solar Powered Garden Lighting is reaching maturity.
And no wonder first of all they are a sign of environmental awareness, and secondly solar lights are very convenient.
In the old days we were struggling with the wiring in our garden, and especially grid connected systems in an outdoor environment are an accident waiting to happen if not maintained well.
Placing additional lights was a good afternoons work, or you had to hire a specialized electrician to do it for you.
Solar powered lights are an example of user friendliness, stick them in the ground, and place them wherever you need lighting.
Do choose a spot that receives enough sunlight during the day, switch them on.
Installation job done! The advantages of solar powered lights are obvious, no wiring, low or non-existent maintenance, and environmental friendly.
They are especially the way to go if you are into organically or green gardening.
If you are thinking about installing more than one or two fun lights make sure you buy good quality lights.
As with everything Solar Lighting has disadvantages as well.
Minuses that are especially troublesome in the cheap low end category of solar lights.
A short introduction on the working of these technical miracles will make my point clear.
The working of these solar lights is simple, and has the clue for their weak points build into it.
During the day a little solar cell receives sunlight and charges a small battery.
Often this is a simple regular AA rechargeable battery.
As light generating device most garden solar lights use LED's.
A LED is small light embittering semiconductor (diodes).
You have lived with them for years as little control lights on all sorts of appliances.
Compared to regular light bulbs they use very little energy.
A light bulb converts about 5% of the absorbed energy to light and a LED about 83%.
Now we can shed some light on the disadvantages of especially the cheaper types of solar garden lights.
Often manufacturers under dimension the device to save on production costs.
They use a simple low end solar panel and one usually bluish LED.
On a summers day with a lot of sun this will charge the battery to the degree it illuminated the LED the whole night.
But not so in less than ideal situations.
The consequence is a few hours of very limited light.
Nice for an illuminated the garden path or exit sign.
But that's where the story ends.
More expensive systems don't have these problems, or have them to a more workable degree.
The quality stand alone garden solar lights have more efficient and bigger solar panels and often come with a back up battery.
They have an array of LED's and are a real replacement for the garden light.
Some types give enough light to be used for reading a book on your warm summer night patio.
Solar Power has some great possibilities in gardening.
Light is only one of them.
Solar Energy is a truly mobile power source and can be used to power the pump in your garden pond, underwater lights, or a fountain.
With the use of smart heat exchange systems the sun can cool or warm your greenhouse.
And if you have a pool, the sun can greatly decrease your energy bill.
Solar Energy and Gardening is a happy couple.
No pollution, no CO2 emissions, low maintenance, and after the initial investment completely free of charge.