So we just recently hit the switches on our new solar power for our home. It was a long journey and now we are thrilled to be reaping the rewards of our patience and persistence in moving forward with this project. Now comes the holiday season and it is time for the decorations to go up on our house. So I mentioned to my wife that maybe we could somehow incorporate solar into the Christmas display too.
I began digging around in my favorite resources online for all things solar and was pleasantly surprised to find a variety of solar decorative lights solutions to choose from on the market. Solar is growing rapidly and not just in the rooftop commercial installations we all think of when we look at solar power. No there are a ton of innovative other products out there for all kinds of applications from walkway lighting to solar Christmas lights.
One day while shopping through the local fliers that we are inundated with each week, we spied solar Christmas lights , and just knew we had to have them. It was a perfect fit between celebrating the season visually and our new found love of solar powered systems.
We really liked the ready made solution, and they were really inexpensive too. The whole setup was done in about an hour.
There was a small sealed switch on the back of the panel that you could turn on and off. The panel has a small battery enclosed in the case so it is really just plug in and go. The first night they were not charged up very much so only stayed on for an hour, but after a full day of charging, even on a cloudy day, they would light up from dusk till we turned them off at night.
The battery is charged even when the panel is turned to the off position, as the switch only controls if the lights are on or off, which is very convenient.
I know what you are thinking… most days in December are so short that there is no way that they are going to be charged up by such a small solar panel. The truth is, that is what we thought too. But we were wrong. The lights will run for over 3 hours even if it was cloudy all day. Why?
The secret is that the solar Christmas lights are all led. The newest development in lighting has to be led lights.
The best part is that it is not using any electricity really, they are charged by renewable energy, easy to install and inexpensive. That really does not sound like a part of Christmas that I have ever been accustomed to?
This video is worth watching if only for the hilarious version of Jingle Bells on the soundtrack….
Their product is out of stock by the way.