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Page 1: Do it yourself with landscape lighting

DO It Yourself With Landscape LightingPublished by Blueviper on March 4, 2014

Solar powered lights are a good option for reducing outdoor energy consumption. These stand-alone units are simply pushed into the ground or fastened to a fence where you need the light. In the evening, once your eyes get acclimated to the dark, the solar landscaping lights give a nice soft light blanket over the ground.

Pathways can be lined with short staked solar lamps. Special trees or features of the landscape can be highlighted by light from the ground pointing up. The light emitting diode products available today, allow for energy efficient and even non-energy use lighting in your landscape to accent the best features.

*Solar Landscaping Lights

Solar lighting in the landscape provides soft lighting in the evening along your pathways and near special features you want to highlight. The advantage of solar lighting is that it doesn't need to be wired to your home's electrical system and it runs for free.

Pathway Lines with Solar Lamps

Solar lighting has four components that make them possible. Each has a solar cell that converts the sun's light energy into electricity. They have batteries to store the electricity. They have low energy use LEDs. They also have a light sensor that controls when the LED will be turned on and off. Solar lighting for the landscape comes in many styles.

*Staked Solar Light

Installing and operating landscape solar lighting is very simple. The lamps come with a stake that simply gets pushed into the ground. Typically no cement is needed for installation. Some lights come with the solar cell mounted with hinges to allow you to position the cell for maximum sun exposure.

Page 2: Do it yourself with landscape lighting

Pivoted Solar Lights

In the northern hemisphere, solar lights work better on the south side of the house. If located near the north side of the house, there may not be enough sun to keep the battery charged. Also, shrubs and treesthat block the sun should be cleared where they cover the solar light.

Longevity wise, most off-the-shelf landscaping solar lamps available today are very light weight. Because they are only supported by a push-in stake, they can be easily knocked over by passing children or animals. Because of this, we would recommend in-ground solar lights or build your own outdoor lights.

*Do It Yourself

The solar cell on top of the lamp should also be cleaned periodically, because of dirt or dust build-up outside. Also, the lighting produced by these solar lamps tends to be dimmer than electrically powered lights.


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