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Solar landscape lights that don’t suck: Whatchya got?

Discussion in 'General' started by sharkattack, Dec 3, 2021.

  1. sharkattack

    sharkattack Rescued pets over people. All day, every day

    Bought several sets of solar landscape lights from Home Depot and they only seem to work if they get tons of ultra bright sun. I had some years ago that would charge even on cloudy days and run nearly all night. Can’t recall the name, however.
    Are there any good solar lights that don’t need to be (seemingly) placed next to the sun to get anything out of them?
    Thx if you can help.
     
    G2G likes this.
  2. ChemGuy

    ChemGuy Harden The F%@# Up!

    I had good results several years ago with whatever Costco was selling. They could stay on all night. But even those only lasted a couple years before they died. If I ever want more I'll just buy whatever set they have at Costco. Nothing seems to last more than a couple seasons before they barely stay lit, just die, get hit by lawnmower, etc.
     
  3. Tristan

    Tristan Well-Known Member

    All I've tried are junk, but if it's just a matter of the lights getting dimmer over time just replace the battery- most take a AA rechargeable which can be had cheap at HF
     
  4. Nick_OMC

    Nick_OMC Will crash your bike

    Spend the money and get low voltage LED fixtures and do it right the first time. Newer systems out there even have an app you can control the area and color selections.
     
    ducnut likes this.
  5. Venom51

    Venom51 John Deere Equipment Expert - Not really

    I got lights wired to the same 120v source as the rest of the lights in my house I expect to work decently.
     
  6. tl1098

    tl1098 Well-Known Member

    I clean the solar panels with a scotch brite pad and some wd 40 before I put them out in the Spring,occasionally replace a battery now and then,they are all shit.
    I hate buying them over and over again,so it's worth it to me to try to save 'em.
     
  7. tl1098

    tl1098 Well-Known Member

    This is what I'll do when the crappy solar ones finally bite the dust.:beer:
     
  8. ducnut

    ducnut Well-Known Member

    ^^^ This!!!
     
  9. 418

    418 Expert #59

    FWIW I spent my life as a electrician replacing transformers on low voltage lights. No matter where they are installed at, water and dirt always seems to get in.
     
  10. ducnut

    ducnut Well-Known Member

    I mounted my transformer inside. At every piercing, I applied a liberal blob of Ox-Gard. Then, I ziptied the connectors to whatever I could to keep them up and out of any standing water. Lastly, the system is on a timer to turn off at 10pm, so it’s not on unnecessarily. I don’t know what else I can do to help prolong their life. Thoughts?
     
    418 likes this.
  11. 418

    418 Expert #59

    I got nothing. We would do all sorts of shit to make the stuff last and nothing seemed to work exceedingly well. Keep in mind I did mostly commercial stuff.

    Saying that our worst enemy were the landscape guys, they would run over errythang and anything.
     
    ducnut likes this.
  12. pickled egg

    pickled egg Tell me more

    And you kicked them back a little something something for the steady work, right? ;)

    Rare I do any landscape lighting, but all the stuff installed in the last 5 years has all been 12V DC LED stuff off a landscape lighting driver. The days of line voltage to landscape lighting is done, unless you’re talking a majorly long run and voltage drop is an issue.
     

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