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Solar LED Garden lights... Random topic of the day

 
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ontrider
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PostPosted: Nov 02, 2015 9:41 am    Post subject: Solar LED Garden lights... Random topic of the day Reply with quote

Can anyone recommend decent solar lights? We have some around the pool but they suck... As in, not very bright at all. I'm looking for some recommendations on good ones for thst purpose and a couple for the gsrden to light up a few areas like tall shrubs, evergreens... They're like little spotlights i guess with a wide beam.
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PostPosted: Nov 02, 2015 1:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd be interested to see others' responses on this one. I've never had much luck with the solar lights working very well.
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flixmaster
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PostPosted: Nov 03, 2015 1:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have nothing to recommend. The cheap ones I have always bought at Costco have always failed me. Smile
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chavez
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Joined: 22 Sep 2003
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PostPosted: Nov 04, 2015 7:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't think you are going to get the result you want out of solar unless you spend the $$. Our Costco bought ones are OK. They provide only a small amount of light. They have been reliable for the most part, which is good.


If you want to go with solar to do uplighting and such, you probably need to step up a notch or two to something more like these: http://www.gardeners.com/buy/bright-solar-spotlight/38-621.html?cgid=OutdoorLighting_Dept&start=8

This seems to be a "get what you pay for" kind of category. Spend a few more $ to not end up disappointed.

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eeven73
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PostPosted: Nov 04, 2015 7:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have never had any sort of sustainable success with solar lights. I dont think that a reliable, repeatable solar light system exists.

Just pay a couple hundred to a electrican to hook up a low voltage circuit and do it the old fasioned way.

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ontrider
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PostPosted: Nov 04, 2015 7:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

eeven73 wrote:
I have never had any sort of sustainable success with solar lights. I dont think that a reliable, repeatable solar light system exists.

Just pay a couple hundred to a electrican to hook up a low voltage circuit and do it the old fasioned way.


After doing some more reading I think this is exactly where I'm headed. Low voltage system... just get a box and shouldn't be too difficult to run the wiring. Most of the solar I've found is pretty weak and unreliable. I'd imagine uplighting would be difficult and you'd need a solution with a panel in a separate location away from the tree obviously.... similar to the link chavez posted. That light in the link looks half decent and was sort of what I was looking for, but at like 100 bucks a light i don't think the technology is there at a realistic price point yet.
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ontrider
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PostPosted: Nov 06, 2015 7:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So for these low voltage systems, I'm seeing 600W transformers with pricing kind of all over the map, but not sure why? Anyone know?

For example:
https://www.lowes.ca/outdoor-transformers/paradise-garden-gl22007-600w-12v-outdoor-transformer-black_g1016723.html

http://www.amazon.ca/Hatch-GLT600TD-Professional-Transformer-Landscape/dp/B009OFR5GO/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1446824037&sr=8-9&keywords=landscape+lighting+transformer

I'm assuming the Lowes stuff is fine for home application? Any other recommendations or tips in what to look for specifically with lighting, types, intensity, color?

Basically what I'm thinking of doing is a couple runs of path lighting and then 3-4 runs which would go out to spotlights on various trees.
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chavez
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PostPosted: Nov 06, 2015 7:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm sure those would work fine. I've only ever had or worked with Intermatic and those have worked well.

We have this one powering our led pool lights at the moment: http://www.amazon.com/Intermatic-PX300-300-Watt-Transformer-Enclosure/dp/B0039QEK2G

Works great. They make a 600w version of it as well.

How many lights are you looking at doing? LED or halogen? A 300w transformer could power a good amount of halogen lights or a crazy amount of LED lights. 600w might be overkill for your setup.

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ontrider
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PostPosted: Nov 06, 2015 8:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cool, thanks for the info. Does your box just plug into a GFI outlet?

I'm still in the planning stages, so I'll have to see about 600W vs 300W. Still debating on the number of lights... maybe 6-10 path lights and probably 7-8 spots for the backyard. Then the front maybe 3 spotlgiths 3-4 path lights. I'm going to sketch it all out and add up the wattage. Gotta do a bit more research on the LED prices vs. Halogen as well.
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chavez
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PostPosted: Nov 06, 2015 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Our box is hardwired (with a GFI in the circuit). But you could very easily put a pigtail on there and plug it in to a GFI.

The 300w box for our pool lights is ridiculous overkill. We have three 10w LED lights. So we use 30w of the 300w. I could easily add a stuff ton of LED landscape lights to the circuit if I didn't mind it all being on the same circuit/timer.

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ohsix
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PostPosted: Nov 06, 2015 9:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Most of my house is LED lights and I think the bulbs range from 9 watts to ~25 watts for outdoor flood/spotlights. I would guess my landscape lights are less than 9 watts each. 600 watts of LED seems like a ton of light.
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fish6942
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PostPosted: Nov 06, 2015 11:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had a very good experience working with these guys on my deck lighting project. Real people answer the phone.

http://www.decksdirect.com/
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ontrider
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PostPosted: Nov 06, 2015 1:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ohsix wrote:
Most of my house is LED lights and I think the bulbs range from 9 watts to ~25 watts for outdoor flood/spotlights. I would guess my landscape lights are less than 9 watts each. 600 watts of LED seems like a ton of light.

Yeah, after some more looking probably wouldn't need anywhere near that much wattage if going LED's... I like the look of the Kichler lights, but the led's are fairly pricey... like $200-$300 per fixture.
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