Best Solar Powered Outdoor Lights 2016 + Battery and LED Tips

Where to start? I guess the basics of Solar panels, Battery and LED's Lumens are the ones to start with in our guide to the best solar lighting on 2016.

Solar panels:

There are three distinct types. 

1. Monocrystaline, 
2. polycrystalline and 
3. amorphous. 

Mono is considered the best overall performer, followed by polycrystalline. Amorphous are the ones used in calculators and the cheapest solar products.

Polycrystalline are somewhat easy to spot because there appear to be "flakes" on the surface of the solar cells. Monocrystalline are what you'll find in higher priced pieces that look to have a smooth even appearance. All of these types can come laminated with a glass cover, but most amorphous are not. They are sealed over the top with glue and will become yellowed in time.

Batteries. 

The cheapest and least environmentally friendly are the nickel cadmium (NiCad) batteries. These are environmentally damaging in production and in disposal. They have a "memory" - meaning they must fully discharge to gain the longest useful life from them. They will last perhaps one season at best and do not have large storage capacity (maximum about 900mAh).

Next best are nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. These batteries have little environmental consequence, though they, like all rechargeable batteries, should be recycled. They have no memory, so they do not need to be fully discharged to gain the most useful life. They have large storage capacities (upwards of 2600 mAh), and they have about twice the lifecycle of the NiCAD. Both NiCad and NiMH have shelf life drainage. Meaning, they will die out on the shelf.

Most solar lamp suppliers include instructions to charge the solar lamps for 48 hours before first use. That is because they may have NiCad or NiMH batteries that have drained completely while sitting on the shelf. It will take the NiMH batteries 5 ~ 10 charging cycles before they fully gain their potential.

Finally, the lithium battery. These LiFePO4 batteries are the king when it comes to performance. They pose little if any environmental threats, have huge storage capacities, no memory, have minimal shelf life drain, and last for up to 3 years.

Also read: 3 Best Solar Powered Lights - Buying Guide and Tips

Okay, so now about LEDs.

Just because an LED emits a blue hue does not mean it is a lesser quality LED. It only means the phosphors that are use are at the colder end of the kelvin scale (whiteness in LEDs is expressed in degrees K). The higher the degrees K, the whiter it will be. Warm white LEDs are within the 2700K ~ 3200K range. White begins at 4500K and becomes a bluish white at 5500K. The measure of light output is expressed in lumens. The base by which retailers express, for example, their "10X Brighter" statements is a measure against the 1.2 lumen bottom-of-the-line LED product. Spotlights with 50+ lumens are suitable for garden lighting, but wouldn't light up a tree or side of your house. For lumen output of 100+, you'll look to spend upwards of $100. 

As to LEDs, the bluer LEDs are not of lesser quality, they are just cheaper. Much more complex mixes of phosphors are required to get the warmer temperatures. 

So, when shopping for solar, remember good/better/best is going to be the combination of;

1. Solar panels (Amorphous/Polycrystalline/Monocrystalline; 
2. Batteries (NiCad/NiHM/LiFePO4); and 
3. lumens (the higher the lumens, the brighter the solar lamp).

Here is a photo of a high quality solar post lantern sold at Home Depot. It employs a monocrystalline solar panel, lithium batteries, and is rated 135 Lumens.

 

A couple of things to remember about the current crop of solar lights is that they are made for mass-marketing. The key to this is "make them as cheap as possible". The performance of a solar cell is roughly defined by how much power a cell can produce for a given surface area, or in engineering terms it is how much of the sunlight energy gets converted to power (i.e, efficiency).

A manufacture will choose the cheapest cell type that meets the power requirements and still fits within the lights designed dimensions. Some of the Chinese manufacturers may use scrap cells from other solar cell productions (like broken pieces from larger cells that can be re-cut into useable product) that may be of a higher quality than others, allowing them to use a slightly smaller part. Either way, the lifespan of most any cell is measured in decades, far longer than the expected lifespan of the light. What this all boils down to is choosing the cell that has the best protection from the elements thereby ensuring the longest useful life, and not fretting over the underlying cell chemistry.

NiCads need to discharge fully to get maximum life (number of cycles) as stated above. This is exactly the environment of solar yard lights. Their temperature and overcharging tolerance, low cost, and general robustness make them ideal. Many NiCad lights I have dissected don't even use a charging regulator, the solar cell charges the battery directly. In these designs the cell is chosen such that its power output is below the level that could damage the NiCad by over charging. 

Alas the NiCad is not prized for being environmentally friendly. I have not seen any NiMH batteries in the lights I have dissected (Though I assume there are some out there!). My assumptions for this are as follows. 

NiMH batteries have more delicate charging requirements than NiCads. This requires the light manufacturer to install some form of charging control (at an added expense). The cost/charge cycle is about 3X higher for NiMH over NiCad (given proper maintenance such as operating temperature and full discharges for NiCads). Of course the manufacturer will consider this when deciding on a battery technology. You may disagree with me on the lifecycle count being higher for NiMH. All information I have puts NiCad at about 3x-5x longer life (again, with proper maintenance).

NiMH does have a superior energy density, that is where one AA cell NiMH will hold about the same amount of charge as two AA cell NiCads. If the manufacturer can recoup the higher costs of NiMH by reducing the size of their light, then NiMH would have an advantage. Of course the 'greenness' of NiMH versus the cadmium toxicity of NiCad may become an overriding factor. Lithium is indeed the 'king' for all of the above performance parameters, but the much higher cost and required charging circuitry will keep these out of the lowest end of the yard light market (i.e. the $1 WalMart specials).

As an aside, I bought several $10 solar floods and lo and behold, they use lithium batteries! Everything about these lights spells cheap. My guess for the choice of lithium is 

• The greater energy storage needs to run a flood light overnight, 
• The non-toxicity for marketing/environmental compliance.

Round Up

Final Verdict for shopping criteria with some the exception of the solar cell. Technology doesn't matter as the dominating consideration should be the protective layer over the cell. Simple coatings are the worst (will yellow/flake off), plastic covers will eventually cloud, glass will last years.

With more money spent, you will get the better technologies. Manufactures will make the light as cheap as possible while meeting the lighting requirements so you don't really have a choice except to pick what fits your needs.

3 Best Solar Powered Lights - Buying Guide and Tips

Whether you are going to use the Outdoor lights for Gardening and security purposes or indoor, Quality is an issue that real matters for Solar lights. There are three important factors for the light itself (housing aesthetics and material aside) as we are going to check them below:-

Read: Best Outdoor Lighting Ideas for your smart home

1. Quality of the solar cell.

There is not much variance here. All solar cells used by these lights produce roughly the same power for the same surface area. The difference is in the coatings. Cheap lights use plastics or other coatings that will yellow or cloud up over time. Better cells are covered with glass (and there are different kinds of glass that are better/worse). Best bet is to look for a glass covered cell and maintain it by keeping it clean. 

Cell area determines how much power is delivered to the battery. A larger cell is needed for a full charge in dimly sunlit areas or places where the daylight is of short duration (shadows). Unfortunately all the lights I have seen are built to basically get a full battery charge given a full 8 or more hours of sunlight. The full charge is designed to give 6-8 hours of light from the LED after dark. The tinkerer types can combine the parts from two lights to either provide longer run time at night or get a full charge with a shorter daylight cycle.

2. Batteries.

Nickel Cadmium batteries (NiCd or 'NiCad')

The standard lights these days all use Nickel Cadmium (NiCd or 'NiCad') batteries. NiCads are generally cheap, reliable, and will give the longest service life compared to other battery types. NiCads however will all fail after a year or two since the number of cycles they can take (charged to discharged) is limited to a few hundred given the environment they operate in.

Temperature range

NiCads also have the best temperature range and are the technology best suited for outdoor use.Most batteries can be easily replaced but watch out for 'oddball' battery sizes in the smaller lights. Also be aware that often the cost of new batteries is higher than the cost of the original light. 

Avoid mixing battery types. 

You cannot just replace NiCads with Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries since the charging requirements are different. Most of these cheaper lights have really simple charging circuits and will just not work with other battery types.

 Keep the battery contacts clean! 

The cheapest lights have poor sealing for the batteries and the contacts often get gummed up or corroded. This is a common cause of the lights losing their 'run time' or failing all together rather than dying a slow, graceful death due to the battery wearing out. 

3. LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes)

Bright, power efficient LEDs are what made these lights possible. There is a careful balance between the size of the solar cell, battery, and LED. The cell must generate enough energy to charge the battery, the battery must store this energy, and the LED must use up this energy at a low enough rate to shine through the night. 

Also read: Cheap Outdoor solar powered lighting for your Smart home

Better lights use better quality LEDs. A 'better quality' LED with be more power efficient, have a better light quality (this is the color rendering index or CRI), and be better focused. If you notice, the cheapest lights will have a harsh, bluish light. that seems to come from a single point. These are the cheapest LEDs to use. Better lights will have a 'warmer' glow and provide a more diffuse light pattern.

Useful Additional Hints 

This Precious information from My friends is worth to share with you! Let's Go..

I have used solar powered fairy (string) LED lights over the years and I have found that they work pretty well even when they aren't very expensive - however I have lost a set to frost when left outside (electronics don't like that much it seems!) and a se to foxes chewing through the wires. In London they would work all year round (and that is not a sunny place) except for the two weeks around Christmas / the winter solstice - which always sent my solar powered Christmas tree light plans awry. My solution is to have Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere whenever possible - where it's nice and sunny and warm!

Seriously though, if you research well and treat them well they tend to be a good bet. Just think about what you are buying, what it's tolerances are, where you are using them and what you want them for. The brighter you want them the more energy they'll need - so factor that in. For the most part however you don't need a LOT of light outdoors at night for most things.

How To Set Up Apple TV Multiple Accounts For Home Sharing

How to Set Up Separate Accounts on Your Apple TV

The use of multiple account is one of the best feature of the Apple TV. This makes family sharing to be easy. It gives freedom with your apps and account as whole. 

Setting up multiple account helps  kids and their parent to access their accounts without interfering each other for sharing their home TV. The freedom of ask to buy is just as in iPhone and iPad

The latest fourth-generation Apple TV has been trending on the web since it was released. With this popular gadget at your home, the coincidence of being using the television by two people normally happens.In order to have enough tricks for your apple device, i'm going to show you how to add multiple iTunes accounts so as to help the person who want's to separately access the television through his/her own unique Apple ID's at your home.

Apple TV's accounts allows a single TV to be used by multiple users. This is one of the best thing from the latest Apple TV.It allows you to add multiple Apple ID. So, when someone wants to access the media, he/she just switch the account and enjoy the show. Let's stop wasting time and go direct to the point.

How to add(set up) multiple accounts on the Apple TV

In order to add the second account, you must log in first with the first existing account by using the Apple ID. Follow the steps below just after you successfully log in 

On your Home screen, 

1. go to Settings
2. click on the accounts 
3. go to iTunes and App Store
4. Then add new Apple ID
5. Enter the new user's Apple ID username to sign in
6. Click on Continue
7. Enter the additional Apple ID password. and finally
8. Click on Sign In.

By following those simple credentials correctly,You will be able to access your TV by using that new user's account. And That's how to add the additional user account.

How to switch between two user accounts on your Apple TV
Your Apple's device is capable of using only one account at a time. So, you have to decide and choose which account you are going to use among those multiple accounts.

Below is how to switch it!

From your Home Screen

1. Launch Settings 
2. Click on Accounts.
3. Go to iTunes and App Store and click it.
4. Click on the account you've decided to use.

That's how to do it! You'll now be able to use the account by downloading or re-downloading apps and contents from your account.