Solar Garden Lights
 

We are thinking of Solar Lights to lighten a dark bit of pathway to the
bottom of the garden. We are thinking of the 'Lantern on the spike' sort of
thing. (As in the Argos or the KleeneZe Catalogues)

Anyone any recommendations?

Mike

--
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Solar Garden Lights
 

"Mike" wrote in message
...
We are thinking of Solar Lights to lighten a dark bit of pathway to the
bottom of the garden. We are thinking of the 'Lantern on the spike' sort
of
thing. (As in the Argos or the KleeneZe Catalogues)

Anyone any recommendations?

Mike

No recommendations, but do watch out for length of time they will stay lit
from one day's sunshine - especially if you're going to be relying on them
for illumination in winter, rather than just a bit of summertime "mood"
lighting.

The times listed on the box will be less than half that in winter - and
there's a lot of hours between sunset and bedtime at that time of year!

Bob

Solar Garden Lights
 

We are thinking of Solar Lights to lighten a dark bit of pathway to the
bottom of the garden. We are thinking of the 'Lantern on the spike' sort
of
thing. (As in the Argos or the KleeneZe Catalogues)

Anyone any recommendations?

Mike

No recommendations, but do watch out for length of time they will stay lit
from one day's sunshine - especially if you're going to be relying on them
for illumination in winter, rather than just a bit of summertime "mood"
lighting.

The times listed on the box will be less than half that in winter - and
there's a lot of hours between sunset and bedtime at that time of year!

Bob


Thanks Bob. I had given that thought, less time in the winter, but hadn't
thought of figures and the length of darkness in the winter. They will be
used predominantly for illumination in the winter, up to about 11.00pm when
I come in from a night out with the boys;-)

Mike

Solar Garden Lights
 

Mike wrote:
Thanks Bob. I had given that thought, less time in the winter, but
hadn't thought of figures and the length of darkness in the winter.
They will be used predominantly for illumination in the winter, up to
about 11.00pm when I come in from a night out with the boys;-)

I have about 8 that I bought from Sander's garden centre in Burnham-on-Sea,
and for the first year most of them stayed on for about 5 hours after dark,
summer or winter. Now only 3 can manage that. The instructions do say to
change the nicad batteries once a year as they wear out, so I will be doing
that if I get the tuits. Now, since they manage 5 hours regardless, it
appears that the limiting factor with mine is not the solar cell but the
battery capacity - there is more than enough area of cell to charge fully
even on a winter day. I shall be looking at putting larger cells in, as
they may last longer! (the ones in there are 760mAh, I have seen some as
high as 1100mAh)

For your pub wanderings, though, you might be pushing your luck in Dark
December. There is enough light to delineate the edges of the path, but not
to illuminate an e.g sleeping cat or fallen branch. There are several
low-voltage ones where you could put a transformer inside on a timeswitch,
and bury perfectly harmless bellwire style cable in the soil, or there again
you could just take a torch. A bloke I used to know had a torch locked in
one of those steel mailboxes by his front gate, for use when he came home
late. Course, you need to be able to still use a key, but the front door
will present a similar problem in a few minutes.

Solar Garden Lights
 

In article , Robert E A
Harvey writes
Mike wrote:
Thanks Bob. I had given that thought, less time in the winter, but
hadn't thought of figures and the length of darkness in the winter.
They will be used predominantly for illumination in the winter, up to
about 11.00pm when I come in from a night out with the boys;-)

I have about 8 that I bought from Sander's garden centre in Burnham-on-Sea,
and for the first year most of them stayed on for about 5 hours after dark,
summer or winter. Now only 3 can manage that. The instructions do say to
change the nicad batteries once a year as they wear out, so I will be doing
that if I get the tuits. Now, since they manage 5 hours regardless, it
appears that the limiting factor with mine is not the solar cell but the
battery capacity -

That is a possibility - my father acquired a cheap one from a garage and
passed it to me. I am trying it out between greenhouse and hedge,
overshadowed by a elderberry. To my surprise, the thing was still
glowing at 5am.

--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

Solar Garden Lights
 

Don't buy cheap ones from ebay - you won't be getting a bargain. I
bought four last year and looking outside now (9.20pm) one is full
brightness (a smidge above the brightness of a dying torch) and
another is going steady at about (0.75 glow worms). They'll both be
dead by midnight and no others can be seen :-(

Crom

Solar Garden Lights
 

Don't buy cheap ones from ebay - you won't be getting a bargain. I
bought four last year and looking outside now (9.20pm) one is full
brightness (a smidge above the brightness of a dying torch) and
another is going steady at about (0.75 glow worms). They'll both be
dead by midnight and no others can be seen :-(

Someone will know more than I about this - but isn't it down to the
battery? Unless it is a light with NiMh batteries, you get a memory
effect: however much/long the light on the very first time you use it,
that is the limit to which it will charge forever after - so unless you
first put it out on the morning of a long sunny day, you've had it?

Klara

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

Solar Garden Lights
 

klara King wrote:
Don't buy cheap ones from ebay - you won't be getting a bargain. I
bought four last year and looking outside now (9.20pm) one is full
brightness (a smidge above the brightness of a dying torch) and
another is going steady at about (0.75 glow worms). They'll both be
dead by midnight and no others can be seen :-(

Someone will know more than I about this - but isn't it down to the
battery? Unless it is a light with NiMh batteries, you get a memory
effect: however much/long the light on the very first time you use it,
that is the limit to which it will charge forever after - so unless
you first put it out on the morning of a long sunny day, you've had
it?

Not quite. Once it decides to discharge, it discharges until the NIcad
reaches some rather low voltage - no significant memory effect that I've
been able to discern. I am thinking of trying NiMH batteries this time, for
a laugh.

Solar Garden Lights
 

"klara King" wrote in message
...

Don't buy cheap ones from ebay - you won't be getting a bargain. I
bought four last year and looking outside now (9.20pm) one is full
brightness (a smidge above the brightness of a dying torch) and
another is going steady at about (0.75 glow worms). They'll both be
dead by midnight and no others can be seen :-(

Someone will know more than I about this - but isn't it down to the
battery? Unless it is a light with NiMh batteries, you get a memory
effect: however much/long the light on the very first time you use it,
that is the limit to which it will charge forever after - so unless
you
first put it out on the morning of a long sunny day, you've had it?

Klara

http://www.geocities.com/chitianzi/memoryeffect.txt

Solar Garden Lights
 

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 09:38:10 +0100, "Bob"
wrote:


"Mike" wrote in message
...
We are thinking of Solar Lights to lighten a dark bit of pathway to the
bottom of the garden. We are thinking of the 'Lantern on the spike' sort
of
thing. (As in the Argos or the KleeneZe Catalogues)

Anyone any recommendations?

Mike

No recommendations, but do watch out for length of time they will stay lit
from one day's sunshine - especially if you're going to be relying on them
for illumination in winter, rather than just a bit of summertime "mood"
lighting.

The times listed on the box will be less than half that in winter - and
there's a lot of hours between sunset and bedtime at that time of year!

On the garden solar lamps I bought, as anchoring lights for a boat,
the rechargeable batteries didn't last long enough to have to worry
about winter.
At their best the light was just about adequate for locating the
lamps.
Breeding glow worms would be a better solution.

Solar Garden Lights
 

"Mike" wrote :
We are thinking of Solar Lights to lighten a dark bit of pathway to the
bottom of the garden. We are thinking of the 'Lantern on the spike' sort
of
thing. (As in the Argos or the KleeneZe Catalogues)

Anyone any recommendations?


I got some in Homebase, when they were on offer "buy one get one free", I
think the offer is still on. These are the new type "white" LED and at the
moment they seem to be performing quite well. The ones in the sunniest part
of the garden usually stay on until fist light in the morning. The ones in
shadier spots do not stay on quite as long. I move them around every couple
of weeks, just so the others can get more of a charge.

-=# Amos E Wolfe #=-

Solar Garden Lights
 

"Amos E Wolfe" wrote in message
...

I got some in Homebase, when they were on offer "buy one get one free", I
think the offer is still on. These are the new type "white" LED and at the
moment they seem to be performing quite well. The ones in the sunniest
part
of the garden usually stay on until fist light in the morning. The ones in
shadier spots do not stay on quite as long. I move them around every
couple
of weeks, just so the others can get more of a charge.

-=# Amos E Wolfe #=-

We have the same ones from Homebase bought on BOGOF offer. They are still
lit the next morning as daylight takes over. Had them about three weeks now.
All seems fine.