Solar powered spot lights/ spikes

DJ85 · 19 Feb 2020 at 20:05

Looking around for a set of 4 but all the reviews seem varied in terms of brightness. Does anyone use these or have a recommendation.need to brighten up the garden a bit at night for our incoming pup.
Our garden is 4m x 5m square.

lewism · 19 Feb 2020 at 20:06

Get an external light put up, the solar ones are pants and you'll get longer use out of a wired one.

DJ85 · 19 Feb 2020 at 20:10

I did look at the wired spike ones but it looks like a 240v plug so I'd need to feed it into my house and have it plugged in? Via a connection box and a led driver going by the instructions on screwfix. I thought it was like an external battery doing the work.

UnworthyBean · 19 Feb 2020 at 20:33

The solar power lights are more for marking out paths and such, I've never seen any that are decent enough to actually light up anything.

Do you not have a wall you can either fit a floodlight or just any powered light? As above it'll be more useful than solar powered ones.

DJ85 · 19 Feb 2020 at 22:18

I have patio doors in my livingroom heading out to my garden so I could put a flood light on the wall above the doors pointing to the garden, something like below

https://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-single-led-floodlight-with-pir-black-21w-cool-white/6666v

But the Instructions look pointless online how would this be installed or are there battery versions of this type.

Bickaxe · 20 Feb 2020 at 11:43

The solar powered ones are quite poor as they only work for 2 years at the most.

Used a few over the past couple of years for marking paths and steps on the garden but the solar panel fails eventually.

DJ85 · 20 Feb 2020 at 11:54

Ok solar ones are out the window. How hard is it to hard wire one in? Also thought about 3 spikes up either side but they look to have a 240v plug and I don't have a socket outside so would have to run a cable into the house?

Semple · 20 Feb 2020 at 12:56

I bought a set of mpow ones on Amazon that i put up around the garden for our puppy. I've actually been quite impressed with how well they work considering some peoples experiences are hit and miss. Our garden is south facing, so even if we only get a few rays of sun during the day they seem to charge up very well. I've got them set so that they emit a low glow throughout the night, and if it senses motion then it they go to max brightness for a short duration.

Can't comment on the durability of them yet, although arguably i've tested them through the worst time of the year for charging solar, and so far so good.

Maccy · 20 Feb 2020 at 14:30

We bought some in Sainsburys for £1 each last year. One snapped in the recent storms, 2 of them still work at this time of the year and the rest are doing nothing. Make of that what you will

Relentless81 · 20 Feb 2020 at 14:50

Semple said:
I bought a set of mpow ones on Amazon

I have the exact same, they are really good so far and been in use all of this winter but as for long term I cant comment yet

Yaayuh! · 20 Feb 2020 at 15:09

Bickaxe said:
The solar powered ones are quite poor as they only work for 2 years at the most.

Used a few over the past couple of years for marking paths and steps on the garden but the solar panel fails eventually.

Same here, I swore off them as it just seems a waste.

DJ85 · 20 Feb 2020 at 19:04

Seen a few battery packs as I'm not to sure about mounting to the wall YouTube videos seem to drill a hole into the house feed a cable down and out into a room next to a socket then plug it in.
Could you not take the face plate off and add the E/N/L into the back of the faceplate in with tue existing ones?

https://www.mrbeams.co.uk/products/mb3000-high-performance-floodlight/

Battery style

FTM · 21 Feb 2020 at 11:18

Relentless81 said:
I have the exact same, they are really good so far and been in use all of this winter but as for long term I cant comment yet

I have the same and they are more than adequate..I have had them up for more than a year and they still work fine

moon man · 22 Feb 2020 at 07:01

all solar is not equal ,this is my utility ( yes a bit scruffy ,not attached to house ,functional) lit up in pitch black by winter light powered solar light (motion triggered outdoor )
15 quid ,my ex got from either lidl or aldi

alexakasloth · 22 Feb 2020 at 07:52

@Semple I have one of those by the back door that is almost 2 years old, it's in quite a shaded area and still works well.

@David Flett I believe an external PIR light would be wired up to the existing lighting circuit.