Solar landscape lights

[Sandie]

So we bought 5 outside solar lights to put around the patio area...3 days ago. They are in direct sunlight all day in AZ. Shouldn't they be charged already? It would be just my luck that I picked out 5 bad ones. Really, how long does it take before they work? Sigh...

 

[AnnR]

They should definitely be charged by now! Not sure how to explain this, but was there anything inside the light to keep it "off" until you bought it? I have a solar turtle that had a piece of thin plastic in between the metal connections to keep them from touching. I guess it prolongs the rechargeable battery life to keep the connections apart until you set it up. Usually things like that are marked with a big "Remove" arrow, but this one wasn't. Still doesn't work well because I'm in the woods in Wisconsin - glows for maybe 2 minutes at dusk on a really nice day. It's turned into kind of a game - can we actually catch the turtle lit up! One more suggestion for your lights - I think most solar lights have a photo sensor to allow them to come on at dusk - is it dark enough at night to allow them to shine? I mean no other outside lights around anywhere that could be interfering with the photo sensor. We had Christmas lights on a photo sensitive timer one year (on at dusk, off in 8 hours) til we realized that every time a truck drove down the street the headlights would hit the photo sensor and start the whole 8 hours over! Good luck!

 

[JohnDar]

Sometimes those lights have a tiny on/off switch on the bottom. Some also have a protective plastic film over the solar collector, that needs to be removed. And lastly, are the batteries in correctly? To be sure they work at all, put an alkaline battery in them.

 

[Sandie]

Mine don't have any switch and the solar panel is inside the bulb not on top. I really thought it would be on by now... we will see what happens tonight. They will be going back if they don't come on by tomorrow though.

 

[JohnDar]

Mine don't have any switch and the solar panel is inside the bulb not on top. I really thought it would be on by now... we will see what happens tonight. They will be going back if they don't come on by tomorrow though.

That's interesting. Is there a brand name or website for them?

 

[Sandie]

Ok we found some orange tag inside with an arrow so we pulled and hopefully that will do the trick. Geez I feel so stupid. We have never had these before. Thought you just stuck them in the ground and Bamm instant light. LOL

 

[pegmikef]

Ok we found some orange tag inside with an arrow so we pulled and hopefully that will do the trick. Geez I feel so stupid. We have never had these before. Thought you just stuck them in the ground and Bamm instant light. LOL

That should fix it because a lot of them use paper or cellulose insulators to keep the battery from a continuous drain when the lights are shipped with the batteries installed.

I couldn't help notice you mentioned Arizona. My daughter lives in Mesa and keeps solar lights in the yard around the pool area. Unfortunately they replace them every year because the sun just eats up the plastic solar panel on the top of the lights. The ones in shaded areas seem to do better.

 

[dfowler]

Be sure and keep them in bright sunlight during the day so the battery can stay charged. Also, I have had some that the battery did not fit tight and also had one with a discharged battery.

 

[Sandie]

Thanks for all the tips! They were all lit up last night.

 

[RanCarr]

Did you pull the small TAB (usually orange or yellow) out of them so contact is made? Some people don't know to do this.