Solar Lights for Walkways - Cut Costs

Over the last fifteen years, solar energy has become a highly flexible power source. One of the best ways to use it and cut costs is go with solar lighting for your walkways.

A common misconception among many people is that solar energy requires large, bulky panels to work. While this is true if you want to produce large amounts of electricity for a structure, it leaves out a large segment of cheaper solar users.

The solar industry has made major advancements in creating one piece solar platforms that are cheap and can be used for practical purposes. Using solar lights for pathways around your home is one area.

Solar lighting is now the choice for gardens, landscaping and lighting paths. Lighting products typically come in sets of two to six self-contained lights. Each light typically is comprised of a metal or plastic stem with a lighting mechanism on the top. The lighting mechanism uses LED technology and is powered by a small solar panel built into the top of the piece. The lights can be purchased with or without backup batteries depending on your needs.

Once you’ve selected your solar lighting pieces, you simply map out where you want to add lighting in your landscaping. Next, you put the solar lights in place by sticking them in the ground to a point where they are snug and will not blow over in the wind. Congratulations! You now have lighting for your pathways that isn’t adding to your utility bill.

Your lights will charge during the day and light up in the evening. Depending on the particular brand, the lights may stay on throughout the night. Alternatively, certain brands will run for 8 hours or so, which means they go dark around midnight or one in the morning.

Maintaining your solar lights is very simple. You really don’t have to do anything. If the lights start to dim or go out earlier than usual, they are not broken. Typically, the problem is you have dirty solar panels. Clean them off with water or follow the manufacturer direction. Once clean, the lights should work perfectly.

Using the sun to power your outdoor lighting needs is a great way to highlight your home and save money on energy costs. Keep them clean and the lights will last for years.

About The Author
Rick Chapo is with http://www.solarcompanies.com – a directory of solar energy and solar power companies. Visit http://www.solarcompanies.com/articles to read more solar electricity articles.

Solar Outdoor Lighting

The Old Way

Once upon a time if you wanted outdoor lights, you had to assemble the lights, dig ditches, run wires, find and outlet for the transformer(these were low voltage systems using 12 volts), connect the light connections to the main cable, cover the ditches and set back to enjoy the fruits of your labors. If there was a sidewalk or driveway involved, then the work had just begun, trying to get your main cable across these obstacles. They worked great until the bulbs started getting older, then they would fade a little, burn out or their connection would corrode and need occasional cleaning and reinserting.

The New Way

Solar Outdoor lighting has made improvements by leaps and bounds over the last decade. The efficiency of the solar panels including the reduction in their size coupled with the quality of the batteries they charge has made the purchase of solar lights very economical. In the beginning, they only had one color, bluish white. They have now developed an amber color which is less artificial looking.

They can be purchased individually or in sets. If you only want to light up a feature in your yard such as a tree, you can purchase the light to do it. If you want to light up the walk to your front door, you can purchase a set to do this.

Now, installing outdoor lights has never been easier. All you need to do is decide where you want to install a light, stick it in the ground and you are done. If you decide you don’t like that location, just pull it up and move it. No wiring to fuss with or move, no timer to set and no connections to worry about.

Overall: For the person with a lot of time to spend on installing all the components involved with the old system and the maintenance they require, they are less expensive and dependable to a point. For the person who is busy, likes instant gratification, and may want to change the location of their lights to gain different effects, solar lights are the way to go.

Johnny Shaw
http://www.rfunstuff.com/
Never give up, Never surrender

About The Author
Johnny Shaw
I am a retired military trying to supplemente my income with an online store.
bossjhn@yahoo.com