How long do solar lights last?
Introduction:
Are you tired of paying many electricity bills? Currently, the rates of electricity are increasing widely so here, there is the cheapest way to produce electricity through solar energy. In addition, there are solar lights that are far better than other halogen bulbs. Therefore, in this article, we discuss what are solar lights like solar string lights available in the market, how it works, how long they last, and where it uses.
What are solar lights?
Solar lights are the fixture of lights that include LED lights and are involved in the production of electricity through sunlight. Solar lights consist of photovoltaic panels, rechargeable batteries, and solar cells the most important it works according to the principal photovoltaic effect.
Working of solar lights:
Now we see how these solar lights work, when sunlight falls on solar panels then the solar cells of the solar panel change this sunlight into the current, and the production of electricity starts. Electricity is also stored in the solar batteries for later use like at night when there is no sunlight then these batteries works and the stored current is used.
Night duration of solar lights:
Solar lights use LED lights that produce less heat in the environment as compared to halogen bulbs. If you fully charge your solar battery around 4-8 hours in sunlight then it lasts up to 6 to 12 hours at night.
How long do solar lights last?
The average life span of solar lights is 2 to 8 years and solar lights are composed of solar panels, solar batteries, and inverters. Therefore, when we discuss how long solar lights last we definitely talk about the average life spans of all the things which solar lights consist of.
Solar panel:
The average life span of solar panels is 10-30 years depending upon many factors like weather, usage, efficiency, and quality. Most important of all factors that may affect the life span of the solar panel is time. As long as time goes on, the working of solar panels is affected by it.
Solar batteries:
The average life spans of solar batteries are 5-6 years approximately. You have to change or replace the solar battery to cope with the average life span of your solar system or solar lights. There are three types of solar batteries that are commonly used in the solar system. These are:
- Lead-acid batteries
- Lithium-ion batteries
- Saltwater batteries
Solar inverter:
The solar inverter of the solar system has an average life span of 10 years but in some cases, luckily it lasts 20 years to work in solar lights. Many major factors that affect the life span of a solar inverter are temperature, heat, humidity, and maintenance.
LED lights:
The average life span of LED lights is 50000 to 75000 hours, and it works effectively in these hours but that doesn’t mean their life span ends and it will not work after that but their efficiency must be low after spending these hours for sure.
Solar Controller:
The basic purpose of solar controllers is to control the charging of the battery and lighting. It directly indicates that when a battery is fully charged and prevents it from undercharging or overcharging. So, the average life span of the solar controller is 15 years.
How to make solar lights last longer:
Locate your solar light directly to the sun:
As solar lights name mentioned, solar lights directly mean sunlight so for producing electricity directly through the sun, you have to locate it directly to the sun. You need to put your solar lights in some place where direct sun rays reach. So, the maximum amount of electricity is produced in its correct position.
Correct solar light’s panel direction:
When the direction of your solar light’s panel is correct then it absorbs the maximum amount of sunlight and after that, it produces the maximum amount of electricity and is stored in the batteries. Now just have a look at how we can correct the direction of solar light. As you know, the sunrises from the east and sets in the west so, when you are living in the northern hemisphere of the earth you have to adjust the direction of solar light towards the south and vice versa. Then you will long use these solar lights by putting them in the right direction directly to the sun. Although you have to make an angle of 90 for both sun and solar lights panel that absorbs the maximum amount of energy from the sun.
Clean your panel and maintenance of solar lights:
The most important factor that makes the solar light’s life span longer is the cleaning and maintenance of solar light and its panel. You know when a little dust or small piece of debris causes minimum absorption of light and that affects the life span of solar lights. Therefore, you have to clean the solar panel after 2-3 months with a piece of cloth gently. Maintenance of solar lights also plays a vital role in its long life span you have to keep an eye on the weather, temperature, and heat and maintain the solar lights according to this.
Solar light uses:
Solar lights are widely used in our society, both outdoors and indoors purposes. it is used both in public and private sectors, such as solar street lights, solar garden lights, solar emergency lights, and solar flood lights. Therefore, its uses are wide and you can see these lights everywhere in your environment if you notice them.
Conclusion:
Now we conclude how long solar light lasts longer, so its average life span is 2 to 8 years. And it depends on many factors and the most important of them is maintaining, as much you maintain and clean your solar light, as long its duration of life span increases.
