Solar Christmas Lights from Target = Junk

[winniegirl]

OK, I spent $20 for a 23 ft string of white lights, put them on the top of the run thinking I could use them to see if I ever have to check on the girls at night. They charge with 8 hours sunlight and then they last 8 hours on blinking mode. Hmmm, not quite

After three nights the longest time has been 2 hours, and yesterday we had a full day of sun. They are quite dim, more blue than white, but I guess you get what you pay for. My kids love them since they look like "Fairies flying all around!!

" Just the effect I was hoping for

Has anyone found a decently bright solar spotlight? Just bright enough so I can peek out the window and see what's going on without having to go out when it's below zero.
(I know, I know DH says use a flashlight

)

 

[scooter147]

Invest in a good flashlight. I hate to think what I have spent on solar lights. I have bought numerous of these types of lights for around my garden pond and patio.
You can buy a box of 8 and 6 will work perfectly and the others last about a week.
They are just junk, unfortunately most stuff you buy now a days is junk.

Side note, I bought 5 bath towels the other day at Wal Mart on sale from 9.99 to 4.50 a piece, took them home washed them and when I took them out of the dryer 3 of the 5 the seam had already given and I had a bunch of strings down one side. Needless to say I took the junk back. I looked at the tag and never heard of the place in which they were made.

 

[annmarie]

Here's an article about choosing solar lights from a company I buy some of my gardening supplies from. Their products (inc. solar lights) tend to be more pricey, but are higher quality than what you find in most stores.

http://www.gardeners.com/Choosing-a-Solar-Light/5684,default,pg.html

 

[HennysMom]

my solar lights are pretty good actually - we have them on our farm sign and they light it up at night. Of course, we paid about $60.00 for 3 lights so... but they mount anywhere or you can put them on the ground as well.

I was wondering how those string lights did. I purchased battery operated window candles with LED lights last year for Christmas for my windows - ugh - I thought they'd be nice and bright, flickering like a real candle and glowing. Yeah well - they do flicker, but they are orange and dim - not bright like the plug in candles you put in your windows.

Such a disappointment - I feel your pain.

 

[wegotchickens]

Think they'd put out enough light to help put the chickers to bed? We have no power by the coop/runs. I was thinking of putting the light potion inside the nesting area and the charger outside on the wall that gets the most daylight.
I only want light for an hour or so. Enough to help them get indoors but not mess up their natural laying rhythms (we want healthy chickers and not too many eggs).

 

[HennysMom]

yeah I think so - if you put 2 up they would, absolutely. I have one on each side of my farm sign and the solar charger is sitting on the ground aimed towards the sun to charge. The lights are on separate little poles but wired to the charge panel - and at night - you can see my sign from quite a distance away and read it clearly (its a large green colored & brass sign, about 18X18)

I'm sure even one light would be sufficient - but if you want them to sleep, I'd def. put them on a timer of some sort (they have those solar too, I saw that somewhere online). Then again, can you put a solar light on a timer??

 

[Dar]

I bought NOMA solar lights a few years ago when we moved out to the counrty...i wanted to put them about 5 feet appart down the driveway cause man its dark out here...they get full sun through the day and i am lucky to get a dull light out of them and they last for about 1 hour and then they are dead.....junk...all junk..

 

[HennysMom]

Okay, here's our sign - and if you look to the bottom of the mailbox to the right, you will see a pole - that is one of our solar lights, its about 2 feet away from the mailbox (placement) and the actual light sits down about 4 feet from the sign. Its the exact same way on the other side of the mailbox to the left that you dont see. The solar panel is located behind the mailbox to the left of it actually (cant see it obviously) but it gets sun all day long.

My sign is above my head as my mailbox is chest high - so that should tell you how good my solar lights work.... and we've had them for over a year now w/out any issues.

ETA: We purchased ours at Lowes - they come 3 to a box with the solar panel and they also pivet on the poles and/or stake (depends on which way you want to mount them). They have 9 little LED lights in a circle inside each solar light and run off of 6 rechargeable AA batteries (recharged by the panel). Cost was apprx. $60.00. If I can find them on Lowes.com I'll post which ones they are.

 

[HennysMom]

I dont see them at Lowe's but these are as close as I could find to mine -

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=176587-251-LZ413L20&lpage=none

They look almost identical, but we paid like $54.99 or something like that for ours....it was close to 60.00 - but these are very close.

 

[wegotchickens]

Thanks for the info, HennysMom!
Those aren't too expensive if they'll last for a while. I wonder if you can just hook up 1 rather than all 3?
And how long do yours burn during the night?

I really don't want something that will last all night....
Will talk to DH about a timer on them.