Since you are already saving money on your ongoing power bills, it is worthwhile investing . . . → Read More: How to Use Solar Lights in Your Garden]]> Solar yard lights are an amazingly useful source of lighting. They don’t require any wires, draw no electricity, and are wonderful for the environment. With the latest advances in solar cell technology, solar lights are more effective than ever.

Since you are already saving money on your ongoing power bills, it is worthwhile investing a bit more on exactly the right lights for the look you want to achieve in your garden.

Make sure that you place your lights somewhere that they will get a few hours of direct light every day. If they are in permanent shade, you may find that they don’t fully charge. If you want solar lights in an area that is always shady, look for solar rope lights or tube lights that allow you to place the solar cell and battery unit away from the actual light bulbs.

Spots with strong direct sunlight are great for your solar lights, but unfortunately not every spot of your garden receives the same amount of direct sunlight. You may wish to spread your lights out to get an even distribution of light throughout your entire garden. To do this without having to worry about your solar lights dimming or going out at night, you need to rotate your solar lights every so often. As long as you keep up a regular rotation schedule, you should never have to worry about dimming problems.

You’ll find that finding the best solar lighting scheme for your garden takes experimentation. The beauty of the light and the effectiveness of the lights in providing usable light at night depends in large part on how you place your light. A diffused, spread out scheme generally works best for most people. Experiment with staggering the height of your lights, using shadows, and varied concentrations of light to create a beautiful, dramatic effect in your garden.

Here is a couple of ideas that you might try:

• Use antique style lights to hang in the corners of your patio – here is an example of how these can look
• Use solar lights camouflaged as rocks to subtly illuminate features in a rockery or garden bed
• Use hanging solar lights in trees to create a fairytale scene
• Line paths with solar post lights for convenience after dark

If you’re really into renewable energy, there is no reason you have to limit yourself to solar lighting alone. Every part of your garden and landscaping has an environmentally friendly solution. For example, solar swimming pool covers are available in quite contemporary designs – and in fact you could combine solar rope lights with this for a self powered pool that really catches the eye!

There are a few reasons for this:

Solar lighting together with LED technology uses no energy at all, while maintaining a similar level of brightness to mains lighting. Unless you need . . . → Read More: Environmental benefits of solar lighting]]> If you are concerned with the environmental impact of your lighting system, you may want to move towards solar powered lighting where possible.

There are a few reasons for this:

Solar lighting together with LED technology uses no energy at all, while maintaining a similar level of brightness to mains lighting. Unless you need your space to be extremely bright (think Supermarket or office levels of brightness), solar is a much more sensible solution. Saving electricity not only reduces your cost of lighting each month, but also reduces your carbon footprint. By using less electricity, you’re reducing our dependence on smog-producing oil, coal, and natural gas, and lessening the need for potentially dangerous solutions like nuclear energy.

You also have the benefit of not going through lots of light bulbs when using a solar garden light system like you would with mains powered lights. The difference is extremely significant; you might go through several specialty bulbs a year for every light in your garden using conventional lights.

The cost savings are immediately obvious, especially considering you don’t lose out very much on total light provided, but there’s also the environmental impact to consider. Discarded light bulbs fill up landfills and can leak dangerous chemicals that pose environmental hazards. Cracked bulbs are in fact one of the leading causes of mercury leakages in landfills. These leakages have the potential to significantly damage underground water supplies and wildlife. This is becoming so problematic that many governments are considering the outright ban of halogen and incandescent lights, which are a major factor in most mains lighting systems. You can lessen your environmental impact by moving away from the use of mains lighting and using solar yard lights in their place.

The solar panel

This gathers the energy that powers the light. Solar panels are actually a collection of photovoltaic cells. A photovoltaic cell is a device that converts sunlight to energy. When light hits the cell, the light creates electrical energy. . . . → Read More: How Solar Yard Lights Work]]> Solar lights are actually quite simple in theory. They have 5 key parts.

The solar panel

This gathers the energy that powers the light. Solar panels are actually a collection of photovoltaic cells. A photovoltaic cell is a device that converts sunlight to energy. When light hits the cell, the light creates electrical energy. To make sure that your solar lights are working to their full efficiency, you need to place the cell somewhere that it can gather enough sunlight. Don’t be afraid to experiment to get your lights working just right.

The battery

Once electricity is produced, it is used to recharge the battery in your solar light. The battery is usually a nickel-cadmium battery for peak performance, and is called a ‘deep cycle battery’. This means that it is designed for frequent charging and use without a loss of performance. The battery is charged during the day and at night it runs to power the light! Most solar lights are designed to last for the whole night when fully charged.

The light sensor

A small photocell detects the light level in your garden, and when it is dark enough it switches on your lights. You may find that solar lights activate a bit before dusk if you place them in a shaded part of your garden.

The light

Most solar lights use LED technology as their bulb. Light Emitting Diodes are a great option because they use much less power than normal light bulbs and they last for much longer. Most solar post lights are actually sealed to protect from the weather, so the bulbs are difficult to replace.

The housing

The housing is where solar lights can be very different in design. The only important function is to protect the light from the weather and other damage, and to hold all the parts together. Other than that, the housing can be as decorative as neccessary for each style of light!