Solar Light Overview

You may have passed homes that use outdoor lighting on their landscapes at night.  Pay close attention, do you notice any cords or wires? If they are cordless or wireless, it is a good chance that those landscaping lights are actually outdoor solar lights. How do solar lights work?

In a nutshell, solar lights work by absorbing and storing solar energy from sunlight during the day and then using that energy to power LED bulbs at night.

Solar Light Components

Solar Panel

A solar panel is used to convert solar energy from natural Sunlight into electrical energy.  Trying to have solar panels absorb indoor lighting from light bulbs in your house is inefficient and you won't convert as much energy as you could by placing your solar panels outdoors in the natural sunlight.

Power Storage

Once the solar panel absorbs solar energy, it converts it into electrical energy.  That electrical energy needs to be stored somewhere, and typically a type of rechargeable battery is used to store that electrical energy.

Photoresistor

When the sun goes down and it gets dark, your solar light's power storage should be fully charged and ready to brighten up the night.  It would be a pain to have to go to every solar light and turn the solar lights on. Therefore, most solar lights use a photoresistor that detects when it is dark (nighttime) and allows the power storage to let energy flow into a lighting device.

Lighting

Solar lights are most likely using small LEDs.  They need very little power and can operate up to 15 hours on a full charge.  More expensive solar lights use multiple LEDs and sometimes a small halogen light to provide stronger lighting.

Motion Detection

Some solar lights use a motion detection device to only turn on the solar light when motion is detected.  This saves more power by only consuming energy for light when turned on by motion.