How using Solar Powered Garden lights can transform your garden
Today I look at Solar Lighting for your garden. With no wires, and the freedom to place the lights wherever you want - the future is definitely solar.
Create an ambient glow with stainless steel solar lights, they offer more durability and style than common plastic lights often found in your local garden center. The metal material ensures long term durability and water resistance, and reduces the risk of breakages if you accidentally knock them over whilst struggling with 2 weeks of shopping walking up your drive.
There are many different styles & designs to consider when purchasing, so lets have a run through the different options to help you decide on the perfect solar powered delight!
Stainless Steel Solar Powered Wall Lights
Do you have a wall or fence that looks dull as the sun goes down? Don't fancy running heavy duty cable around your garden, then you have the perfect option of quickly and easily mounting some solar wall lights.
Available in a couple of different flavours, you can choose to have the lights automatically turn on when the sun goes down, or choose motion activated lights.
If you are looking to shed some light down the side of your house, or illuminate the fences surrounding your garden these lights are absolutely perfect for you.
Installation is incredibly easy requiring only a couple of holes (model dependant) drilled into your surface - then attaching the light similar to hanging a photo in your living room.
It is important to remember the correct placement, if you would like to fit the lamp inside a small porch or an area that does not receive good levels of sunlight - the solar panel will not function correctly resulting in drained batteries.
Solar Powered Garden Post Lights
Made from stainless steel, each LED light emits a warm welcoming glow along your garden path / driveway. Solar Post lights often have a small spike at the base for quick and easy installation into the ground.
In our garden, we have installed the small lights inside potted plants surrounding our pond - which gives our garden a special magical feeling at night. We also installed slightly larger post lights (bollard) which run parallel to our driveway - which has caused a few jokes "it looks like a runway" 🤣
There are multiple styles of post lights ranging from tiny (6") to large traditional (6ft), and all depends on where you want to place them - and obviously your budget.
The cheaper packs of small lights can be as little as £12.00 for 10 lights, which make amazing house warming presents 🎁
Installing larger post lights will require the ground to be properly prepared before installation, which could increase the overall cost, and price for new tools (who needs an excuse to buy new tools though?)
Stainless Steel Solar Spot Lights
If you have a feature in your garden such as a pond, statue, rockery or even a favourite tree, you can easily direct light its way with directional solar spot lights. Unlike the standard post lights, the spot lights can be angled to the perfect direction which will give a thinner concentrated beam of light emphasising your chosen subject at night.
Unliked wired spotlights, each lamp requires no cable, no mains power, they purely charge throughout the day, and emit light when the sun goes down. This really allows you to be creative in your positioning without worrying if the cable is too short.
Garden solar spot lights generally have a stainless steel shaft with a plastic spike that will glide into the soil. The actual spotlight section has small thumb screws allowing quick and easy changes for that perfect angle.
Unfortunately, the metal solar spot lights are not hugely popular here in the UK, but you can find a few over at Amazon for about £20 - £60.
Frequently Asked Questions about Solar Powered Garden Lights
Why use metal solar lights instead of plastic?
We have used both in our own garden and find that although plastic solar lights are cheaper, after a cold winter the plastic becomes brittle. We also found that at least half of our plastic lights started to let water into the electronics.
Can I replace the batteries in my Garden Solar Powered Lights?
In 90% of all garden solar lights, the answer is yes. Most will use an AA rechargeable battery, or in some higher output LED lights will use a the more powerful 18650 batteries (often found in vape/e-cigarettes).
Why has my Solar Garden light stopped working / flickering?
This really depends on the reason why it stopped working. It's very rare for LEDs to stop working entirely and usually it's the battery that's just not working. If the battery is fine, then it might be time to return your lights for a replacement. We always buy our lights from Amazon because of their no quibble 12 months warranty (some larger post lights have a 2 year guarantee!).
In Conlusion
I love adding lighting to my garden, and the stainless steel gives a much more classy look. I can rest easy knowing that cold weather isn't going to make my lamp brittle. Metal solar lighting for your outdoor area can really turn a black hole into a masterpiece for very little money.
You have no concerns about wiring, you can fit them in minutes and spend the time saved admiring your handy work with a cheeky gin & tonic.