I want to install smart lighting into my garden? Solar-powered or LED lighting?

[JuliaCao]

Hello. I'm planning to install smart lighting in my garden but am unsure whether to choose solar-powered or low-voltage LED lights. Solar lights are easy to install and energy-efficient, but I've heard they may not provide consistent brightness during cloudy days or when sunlight is insufficient. On the other hand, low-voltage LED lights offer stable illumination and have a longer lifespan, but they require a connection to the power supply, making installation potentially more complex. Has anyone used either of these lighting options? Could you share your experiences and recommendations?

 

[oneeye]

Hello Julia thanks for posting. For garden lighting, electric light will give you the best brightness and reliability. Solar lighting can malfunction and cause low light quality. Keep us posted on how it turns out.

 

[Sean Regan]

Hi and welcome.

Mains and low voltage lighting I find best. They are less troublesome.

We have 5 x 240v porch lights on the back of the house, the garage, shed and summerhouse. Two 30w 12v spotlights, two 12v lanterns, a 12v fountain/light and four sets of 12v fairy lights.
The lanterns have recycled pool lights and have been there for nearly forty years, as have the mains porch lights.
Every few years we have to change the fairy lights as a few bulbs stop working.

All the lights and the fountain are controlled by four switches behind the lounge curtains.
No exposed 240v cables.

We did have some solar lights as in the video, but despite taking them in and removing the batteries each winter, they were a pain to get going again the following year, as damp would get in and rust the terminals. So I had to use bits of copper wire to make a good connection. I don't bother with them now, (I actually binned them).

 

[PinkyP22]

It's an excellent idea, but we recommend installing the electrical lights because they are reliable. Overall, adding extra beauty to your garden is a superb decision.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I have seen led lights that run off a 12volt solar powered battery. Presumably if there is enough oomph in the battery it could compensate for 'off' days.

 

[MiTmite9]

Because my family and I love animals and also love stargazing, we don't have any lighting at all on our property, apart from a few tiny solar lights along one path up to the main house.

"Are night lights bad for the environment?
However, human-created or 'anthropogenic' light in the outdoor nighttime environment has negative impacts, including ecological disruptions, increased sky brightness, and impacts on specific at-risk animal species."

I encourage you to read up on the negative affects of lighting up your garden.

I get that it's fun to sit outside at night, but if you do decide to artificially illuminate your garden, I hope you'll turn those lights off as soon as you go back into your home.

People who have lights strung in tree branches or lights "artfully" situated to shine up into trees, night after night, are not people who care about wildlife.

 

[Sean Regan]

Thanks, but I don't need "encouraging" to do anything.

To be honest, we rarely turn our lights on.
Most garden lights are pretty low wattage anyway and here in the UK, gardens tend to be small.
We have bright street lights on our road less than thirty feet from the houses. They will have a far more detrimental effect on wild life than a few fairy lights.

The hedgehogs that visit our garden to visit the feeders activate the PIR security lights that stay on for ten seconds, they completely ignore them. Wild life are good at adapting to changing circumstances.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Your answer really does depend on distance from a power source and the ability to run a electric line or not to run the line. My gazebo happens to be 100 paces from my house, would I like lights down there---maybe---do I want to deal with running a wire all that way, nope. I find today lots of solar lights work well, have some on my deck now, they turn on at dusk and stay on till about 4Am. I also have a solar fountain down by the gazebo, works really nice from about 10AM to 4PM. good enough for me.

 

[Sean Regan]

Forty years ago I laid a multi-strand armoured cable between the house and the garage, under the concrete raft that supports the patio. With only a vague idea what I'd use it for. You can just see where it comes up in the narrow bed and goes into the garage.

We've four switches behind the lounge curtains. One is for the porch light next to the French windows. (On one of the house circuits).

The cable is connected to these sockets under the consumer unit in the garage. They are for all the lights in the garden and the fountain.
The consumer unit has 4 mini-breakers, for the water heater over the basin in our "freezer room." garage power, garage lights and the garden lights. Adapters for the fountain and a low voltage spotlight are next to the consumer unit. There are adapters in a double adapter, for the fairy lights on the pergolas.
There's no exposed mains cables, outside of either the garage or shed. They are all in trunking inside. I put this new consumer unit in three years ago, to balance out the load.

The shed and tea-house have their own mini breaker.

There's also a double pole switch for the tea-house power and lighting.

Transformers for the low voltage lighting are on the tea-house ceiling.

Everything is protected by the quality RCCB, I installed when I built the koi pool, we had for thirty years. The power comes into the garage by some 7029 mains cable to an old-fashioned breaker that uses 15amp fuse wire. As they say, "if it aint broke, don't fix it." That fuse is protected by the RCCB. There has never been a problem, I do test the RCCB once a month.

There's two freezers which are on all the time, in this room as is my Budweiser fridge in the tea-house. The water heater I only use occasionally, when I need hot water to wash stuff. I've also a mini kettle in here if I want to make a cup of tea. But I can't remember the last time I used it

As I said earlier, we rarely have the lights on. But I do turn them on for a few seconds each night just before we go to bed, just to satisfy myself that they are all still working!