Four Reasons Why People Switch From Low Voltage To Solar Garden Lights

Solar garden lights have become quite popular recently. One of the main reasons for this is the drop in prices for them. Now you can purchase solar lights not only at specialty shops, but also home improvement stores, like Lowes and Home Depot, and discount stores, like Walmart, Kmart and Target. Everybody has jumped on the solar lighting bandwagon lately.

If you already installed, you may be asking yourself if you should switch to solar lighting. If you have an expensive or elaborate low voltage lighting design already in place, and it is working well for you, the answer is no. It doesn’t make sense to rip out thousands of dollars worth of lighting, just to “go green” with solar lighting.

If you just have a few lights in place, and either they don’t work well, or you need to add more, then the answer changes to yes. There are many advantages to using solar lights to illuminate your landscape, and here are the main four:

Purchase Costs

Solar lights are typically less expensive than low voltage lights. Plus, you can buy just one light, if that is what you need. Traditional low voltage lights come in sets with the lights, a transformer and the wiring you need to hook it all together. It wasn’t practical to purchase just one or two lights, as you would still need the transformer and the wiring. Along with the lower initial purchase costs, you won’t need to pay a professional to install your solar lights, as this is a project that can be completed by most homeowners without assistance.

Maintenance Costs

Most solar powered garden lights use LED bulbs. While not as bright as other types of garden lighting bulbs, they are practically maintenance free and can last up to 10 years. Additionally, you don’t have to worry about damaging the low voltage wiring while you are working in your garden. Unless the path of the wire is clearly marked, you run the risk of accidentally cutting it or digging it up. With solar lights, your only maintenance chore, besides making sure they get enough sun every day, is to keep the solar power pack clean. This is easily accomplished by wiping it with a soft cloth a couple of times a year.

Operating Costs

This one is pretty self-explanatory. As long as sunshine is free, so are the operating costs for powering your solar garden lights. With just a few hours of sun each day, they will generate enough power to stay lit all night long.

Environmental Costs

Solar lighting doesn’t consume any of our precious natural resources to operate. It gets its energy from a 100% renewable source: the sun. Solar energy is considered “clean” because it doesn’t contribute to global warming and it doesn’t produce any pollution.

So there you have it: the four main reasons why people switch from low voltage to solar garden lights. The initial purchase price is typically lower, maintenance is virtually nonexistent, operating costs are zero, and there are no environmental costs. If you are considering making the switch, go ahead. You’ll be joining thousands of people who are already enjoying the benefits of solar lighting.


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2 Responses to Four Reasons Why People Switch From Low Voltage To Solar Garden Lights

  1. Melbourne Electricians on January 24, 2011 at 4:42 am

    Good to see another point of view on the use of these lights, and informative for energy conscious people.

  2. Bill on April 25, 2011 at 6:58 pm

    Sure, the sun is eco. freindly and all that. But, how about the eco. costs of making this stuff, the plastics, battery and solar panel? I have 12 of these things and when I got them out of winter storage I found only 7 of them worked. Three had faulty bulbs and one a bad battery and one a broken wire on the circuit board. That I was able to re-solder. It now works okay. To date, I have been unable to locate repacement parts of any kind. When they stop working are we to simply trash the entire unit? That is most certinaly not eco. freindly. I also question the life cycle of the battery. Though small (AA) they do contain dangerous heavy metals and should have special disposal handling. So, considering all aspects, these things, though inexpensive, do not appear very eco friendly.

    Just my 2cents worth.

    bill

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