If you are considering outdoor lighting for your garden or back yard then you may like to look at solar lights as an option. Many people find these outside solar lights useful and cost-effective, as they do not use any electricity from the grid, as you probably guessed from their name.

There are many situations where these solar lights can help, but be careful about putting them into areas that need persistent strong lighting. They are best used where they need to emit a faint glow.

They usually work best when exposed to sunlight, but some will work even on cloudy days. They take the energy from the sun and convert it to electrical energy, using panels that will absorb the sunlight and a solar battery that will store and transfer it to light as needed. They usually require no manual turning on, as the sensors, like those used on security lights, detect when darkness falls and they activate the LED light. This makes them “intelligent” and efficient.

Most of them have specific designs based upon where you will put them. This will affect their power levels and the way they are to be installed. For example, yard lights need a more powerful cell and larger panels as they will need to light a whole area. They will need a convenient way to fix them onto a post in the yard or garden.

Smaller string lights like those that form chains along railings, or need only to provide a faint glow for pathway lighting will need less powerful set ups and will usually be cheaper to buy.

All lights will need to withstand the rigors of the weather but the models intended as solar driveway lights will also have to be hardy enough to take the pressure of a car driving over them, as they light the edge of the driveway.

You can see here that these are all factors that need to be considered before finding the right one for your situation.