solar power lights

[12richardk]

There are a lot of solar power lights with say 50w or even 200w power output that state they will last 10 hrs or so ,I have a few and they work ok , but are you getting 50w ?or 200w
I have a spare 100w solar panel and a 20amp/hr battery and a solar charge controller connected it to a 20w solar light and it gives more light than any solar light for much longer
are we being ripped off ?
One of mine solar light stop working so took it apart it was a 100w , had a 3,2v 10amp battery ?
volts x amps =power so 3.2v x10amps =32w ?

[Richard Mackay]

Way back when all we had were incandescent lights they used the wattage of globe as a measure of light intensity.
Those incandescent lamps were very inefficient at generating light so now we have LED lights they are very efficient at generating light so this measurement of light intensity has been abandoned.
The intensity of LED light fittings should be indicated by lumens and the power consumption in Watts.
Specifications of solar lights with their own PV panels need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

[bigboy529]

I have more than 15 of these solar lights up around my place, bought at different times and different price brackets, some well known brands and others China shop specials.

Since day one not a single one of them worked as advertised,, not one of them lasting through a night giving its full light output.

My conclusion was that they are like that by design, over a 8 or 10 hour period they go through a couple of dimming stages to last an entire night. There is also no way to set it to full intencity until it simply dies.

[An3s]

Yup, those mfrs. pretty much thumbsuck the specs.

I have two identical wall-mounted solar LED lights in my driveway, one runs all night, the other does not, and I think the panels receive the same amount of sunlight for the same amount of time daily.

I've been wanting to try a DIY one, but it is a lot bulkier. The really good ready-made ones are very expensive.

[WAJ]

Have a couple of these, lasts mostly till morning IF it got a good charge, but they dimm down to be able to do this. Sadly, they are sealed or not easily opened by screws so I would like to be able to put a bigger or better quality battery in it, but it seems it would need a dremil or some such tool to cut it open.


They want us to buy more, not fix or improve stuff....

[Andrew V9X]

https://www.takealot.com/solar-flood...w/PLID92348141

I have installed plenty of these. Supplied by my client. I didn’t buy myself.
They appear to last the whole night as I’ve never had a complaint. The output of 100W though is definitely not the same as a hard wire powered floodlight. I guess for the price it’s acceptable though.

[Kalahari Safari]

There are a lot of solar power lights with say 50w or even 200w power output that state they will last 10 hrs or so ,I have a few and they work ok , but are you getting 50w ?or 200w
I have a spare 100w solar panel and a 20amp/hr battery and a solar charge controller connected it to a 20w solar light and it gives more light than any solar light for much longer
are we being ripped off ?
One of mine solar light stop working so took it apart it was a 100w , had a 3,2v 10amp battery ?
volts x amps =power so 3.2v x10amps =32w ?

It is not 10amp but 10amp hours battery.
Different calculation then.

amp hours being the capacity not the current of the battery.

[Grebel]

Yeah, I’ve noticed the same thing. I’ve got a few of those solar lights too, and they never seem to live up to their power claims. I set up my own system with a 100w solar panel and a 20ah battery, and it definitely gives off way more light than any of those store-bought lights. I took apart one of my solar lights, and it had a 3.2v 10ah battery inside, which only adds up to 32w, not the 100w it claimed. It seems like a lot of these lights are way overstated in terms of power.

[12richardk]

It is not 10amp but 10amp hours battery.
Different calculation then.

amp hours being the capacity not the current of the battery.

Indeed its 10amp hrs so if light is 32w it will last 1 hr but they say 100w so 20 min ?

[SBSP]

Problem is when incandescent lights were on the market they were x amount of watts. I.E 100W then came led lights which use allot less power so the light intensity of LEDs are advertised as the equivalent of a 100W not actually using 100W of power. This became the norm which also opened false advertising because the word "equivalent" is not always mentioned especially on Chinese products.

The usual 10 to 40 watt Solar panel flood light combination jobbies have 1 , 2 or 3 cheap 18650 batteries in them with a 6V PV panel. a High quality 18650 3600mah battery is only 13Wh these things dont have high quality batteries in them so expect much less.

You cannot rely on Chinese specs. We all know most Chinese products are just plain false advertising.

But I have some around the house for more than a year and they still run fine, trick is the panel has to have full sun for as long as possible. If they konk out just buy a new one or replace the batteries if you can get it open without breaking it still beats the expensive ones from builders.

[spicydave]

My experience on the farm, Solar light is just plain ### ...

300W is not even close to a 20W direct wire light ...

I got rid of all and just wired 30W in where I need decent light ....