Solar Power Christmas Lights : Decorating for the Holidays

How do solar power Christmas lights work? The key to the effectiveness of Solar Christmas lights is the bringing together of two technologies: photovoltaic technology and LED or light emitting diode technology.

Standard Christmas lights are incandescent and based on the same basic technology as Thomas Edison's electric light - an electric current heats a filament that gives off light. In the LED technology, electricity crosses junctions of different materials in a diode to create light. Incandescent lights require a lot of energy and unfortunately much of the energy is turned into heat instead of usable light.

Christmas LEDs on the other hand emit a fair amount of light and almost no heat. This makes it a perfect light source to be run by solar power.

The solar panel on a solar power Christmas light set produces 2-3 watts of electricity. That means a single cell could produce only enough power for a small incandescent Christmas light. However, LEDs only use about one tenth the energy their traditional counterparts use, meaning a small solar cell can power a string of LEDs effectively.

During the day, the solar cell converts sunlight to DC electrical current which is used to charge rechargeable batteries. A sensor reads the outdoor light level. Once the light level is low enough outdoors, then it turns on the power to the LEDs.

Because of the low power consumption, the solar cell is able to provide enough power to keep the lights on for several hours, usually six to eight hours or more depending on the amount of sunlight available that day.

Solar power Christmas lights offer some safety advantages over traditional incandescent Christmas lights. They pose a smaller risk of starting fires and of electric shock.

Solar power Christmas lights are much cooler than traditional lights. LED lights burn much cooler than incandescent lights. They are so cool that even after hours of operation, if someone touches one, they won't be burned. The same cannot be said of traditional lighting. By operating at much cooler temperatures, if a piece of paper, leaves, or pine needles come into contact with them they won't start a fire. While unusual, fires can be started by contact with a traditional Christmas light bulb. With traditional Christmas lights you will probably have to have extension chords stretched out across the lawn. Those can fray, short, and cause a fire hazard or electric shock hazard.

Traditional Christmas lights use 120V household current which can cause serious shock or electrocution if the wires are frayed. However, solar power Christmas lights operate at very low voltage and very low wattage. If you do come in contact with exposed or frayed wire, it will not cause a serious shock or electrocution.

As with all electrical devices, low voltage or not, if the wire is frayed...do not use it.!

Solar power Christmas lights are an Eco friendly alternative for decorating outdoors. Traditional Christmas lights require electricity from the local electric utility company. That power, unless it is from a nuclear generating facility (not much improvement) or from a renewable resource like wind or solar, comes from fossil fuels like coal or natural gas. Fossil fuel energy generation puts pollutants especially green house gases (like carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere. This is a major component leading to global warming.

Solar power Christmas lights derive their energy from the sunlight that strikes the earth each day, and is non-polluting. So every strand of traditional Christmas lights you replace with solar power Christmas lights will result in less greenhouse gas going into the atmosphere.

One of the advantages of solar power Christmas lights is that you can decorate in remote areas without access to a working electric outlet. That's why you often see solar power warning lights and street lights in many remote areas. It costs too much to run an electric line to those area so solar powered lights are a great alternative.

In my case, I wanted to decorate a fence that was near the road in front of my house. Unfortunately the section I wanted to decorate was near the road but about 150 yards or more from my house. I didn't have a viable way to decorate using traditional lights.

Solar power Christmas lights are the perfect alternative. I purchased some strings of multi-colored Christmas lights and wrapped them in some garland that I ran along the fence. In addition, I purchase solar powered spotlights to light up a Christmas wreath. When it was done, I had a nice set of decorations down along the road for Christmas.

As a bonus, it didn't add any cost to my electric bill.

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