Are you looking to use solar lights around your home

Are you one of the thousands of business or home owners who want to save money on your electricity bill by using solar lights instead of traditional low voltage outdoor lighting? You more than likely already know the benefits of a solar lighting system.

By switching over to outdoor solar lights you can save hundreds of dollars a year on your exterior lighting bill, especially if you previously used incandescent bulbs in your outside lights.

But are you also aware of the many different types of solar lights that are available for your home?  What kind you buy will not only depend on where you want to place your lights but also what your budget is and whether or not you want to install a lighting system for your entire yard, or just light up a specific area (such as your driveway).

For example, you can buy four or five solar driveway lights just to add lighting to the edge of your driveway for less than fifty dollars or you can spend as much as a thousand dollars on a complete lighting system that lights up your entire yard and patio at night.

Because solar lights are easier to install than traditional lighting systems, you’ll find it’s quite easy to put together an entire set of lights for your yard. Some of the lights you’ll be able to find at your local stores are:

Solar flood or spot lights

The only difference between these and regular flood lights are that instead of having a cord that you plug in to supply power to them, they have a solar panel either attached to the top of them or on a electrical cord so you can place the panel up to six feet away from the lights.

Solar driveway lights

There are two different styles of driveway lights. The first type are placed alongside the driveway (usually on the edge of the grass) by pushing them into the ground and the lights either sit on top of the stakes or hang down from them on shepherds hooks. The second kind available is the least common because they are embedded in the surface of the driveway or attached to it with an epoxy to keep it in place.

Solar patio lights

Solar patio lights are a category of lights that are designed to be used on your patio or porch. There are many different kinds such as: solar house numbers, string lights (which are just like patio string lights except they have a solar panel instead of a electrical plug at one end), and even wall sconces.

Solar lamp posts

These can actually be cheaper than traditional lamp posts and are much easier to install since you don’t need to dig in your yard to bury the power cables. They are also the best lights to put in out of the way places in your yard such as dark corners alongside your fence line.

Led Deck Lights

People who want to enjoy their patio after dark might want to consider installing led deck lights. Not only is this type of lighting good for your pocket as you will save on electricity, it is also low voltage and adds an aesthetic look and visibility to your patio. Depending on the type of lights you install such as led deck post lights for example you can literally highlight specific areas on your deck or patio thereby creating a unique atmosphere.

As an alternative you could opt for solar deck lights which can greatly enhance the look of your patio or deck at night by giving off a soft glow powered by rechargeable batteries which also means that no wiring is required to install these types of deck lights.

Low voltage led deck lights especially if they are wired always require an electrical outlet, whereas solar Led deck lights run on batteries and are therefore much easier to install. So if you are planning on installing led deck post lights keep this in mind. Some of these solar led deck lights have on and off switches so you can control the way your patio is illuminated, in other case you might just have to remove the battery if you don’t want the light.

Low voltage led deck lights

Low voltage led deck lights are without a doubt the best option if you are installing patio deck lights for the first time. Just from an energy savings point of view, there is no other outdoor lighting that is as energy efficient as led deck lights.

Unlike traditional light bulbs,led lights hardly ever need replacing as they can last for years because they are not affected by the fragility and the wear and tear of traditional light bulbs. Some advocates even claim that led deck lights hold several advantages over solar lights as solar lights need energy from the sun whereas led lights don’t suffer from this limitation.

This calls from some explanation on the difference between low voltage deck lights
and solar deck lights. From a purely economical point of view solar lights are of course very eco-friendly but are quite costly when you consider the cost of solar panels. Most if not all solar lights use led bulbs making them even more environmentally friendly.

So while low voltage led deck lights running on electricity are still a lot more energy efficient than the traditional incandescent light bulbs, the one major drawback is their initial cost price. You would have to use these kinds of lights for many years in order to gain a return on your investment, although that is probably about to change with the efforts the world is undertaking in making our society greener.

The one thing you should remember is that led deck lights for now still cost more than the classic light bulbs but that it will pay off in the long run. Remember it isn’t often that something can be called both economical and environmentally friendly. The conclusion is that low voltage deck lights or solar led deck lights are definitely the way to go if you care about your wallet as well as the environment.