Solar Garden Lighting - Saving You Money and Lowering Your Carbon Footprint!

Solar Garden Lighting Can Save You Money


For the green thumb and gardening enthusiasts, proper lighting for your beloved garden is truly a serious endeavour.  Appropriate and well-planned lighting can make a big difference in illuminating and highlighting the best features of your garden.

It brings in a stroke of magic as it brightens the garden and makes it alive even at night.  The perfect choice of lights and their proper installation as ground lights, up-lights and water highlights or even floodlights can produce different moods and dramatic effects.

However, there are several things to note and consider when deciding for and choosing a good lighting system for your garden. It needs to be planned accordingly and must abide by Australian state safety standards for electric use (SA, VIC,WA etc). It is best not to attempt to do any major lighting plan and installation on your own.  You may need to consult an electrician or a lighting expert for specific jobs that would need expert knowledge and experience.

Lighting installation doesn't have to be very sophisticated and costly.  However, a major decision on whether to opt for electricity-powered or solar-powered lighting needs to be made as part of the final design that you want for your garden.  Here we discuss how solar garden-lighting, despite its relatively higher price would be the wiser option compared to wired and electricity-powered garden lighting.

Modern age gardening technology has made it possible for solar lighting to be almost as good as wired and powered setups because some models now have the capability of charging power enough to produce light during the entire night time period. The first advantage of the solar powered lighting system is its safety, as no extensive electrical wiring is needed and solar batteries are usually easier and safer to install or pre-installed.

Solar garden lighting is also more flexible and is ideal for those that usually tend to rearrange their garden set-up occasionally.  Since there is no need to connect the fittings on sockets and wirings, it is very easy to mount and set-up.  Some may even be used as portable lights that you can carry around your garden. 

Modern models of solar powered garden lights have also been made to be more effective and almost the equivalent of electrically powered lighting, in terms of quality and brightness. Although the highest intensity of lighting may not be produced and generated from most solar garden lighting, this is not a major concern for most gardeners.

The most obvious and practical advantage of the solar powered lighting over the traditional wired ones is that it enables the user to save considerable money, year after year, and, although solar powered garden lighting may sometimes be more expensive than the regular powered lighting system, it is usually more cost-efficient in the long run as it will save you money on your regular electricity bills because it totally sources its power from the sun.

Technology has really made it advantageous and more cost-efficient for the modern gardener to maintain a beautifully well lit garden, affordably. With solar powered garden lighting, traditional garden lighting which makes use of electricity may soon become a thing of the past.

Here's to a Green Garden! :)

Educational Solar Kits

Recently we have been researching kits that help kids learn about alternative energy, to use in our children's activity programs within the community.  Our main focus was solar energy, however we came across some interesting wind powered kits also, along with a few other kits such as one that was powered by salt water.  Fascinating stuff!

As the solar kits operate by the sun no batteries are required.  Apparently a 50W Halogen light can be used if no sun is available, such as indoors conditions.

Here's a brief run-down of the kits we ended up buying/ordering.  At a later stage, when we have received them all and tried them out, I will write about our impressions of them.


Super Solar Recycler Kit

Great kit which can be used to create 6 different solar powered working models.  These can only be created one at a time however, due to re-use of various parts.  

• Street Roller uses a soft drink can Walking Robot, same as above
• Bottle Yacht, which... you guessed it... uses a plastic bottle and can actually operate on water!
• Drummer Robot which I have seen using a bottle or a can
• Flying Bird, once again, a plastic bottle
• And my favourite, the CD Racer which turns old CD's into shiny wheels!

Lots of fun and raising of green awareness with this kit.  I'm sure inventive kids could work out various other things that they could recycle for use in these models!



14 in 1 Educational Solar Robot Kit

This kit has 14 different working solar powered models you can create, both land and water models. Once again, parts are re-used in the different models.

The models are divided into two levels of difficulty (The kit is rated at 10+): 

• Level One includes: Turtle-bot, Beetle-bot, Quadru-bot, Boat-bot, Walker-bot, Dog-bot, and Wheel-bot.
• Level Two: Roly Poly-bot, Auto-bot, Slither-bot, Surf-bot, Zombie-bot, Crab-bot, and Row-bot.

Additional features includes: adjustable polarity on the solar panel to change direction of motor rotation, retractable robot head which can be quickly stored in the upper body and a transparent housing to see the movements of the gears. 

A quote from Owi, the company who makes this kit- "As the saying goes, “Our children are the future.” And if anything is certain about that future, it is that renewable energy sources and green technologies will play a major role in our children’s lives.  With 14 in 1 Educational Solar Robot Kit, let them learn about their future and have fun doing it with."

EcoRacers Remote controlled Green Energy Micro Cars

Solar energy produces power to recharge a little car, which can then be driven by remote control.

Although, once again, the model operates on solar energy, 2 AA batteries are required for the remote control.

There is also a wind powered version of this kit.  We got both so the kids can find out if one charges faster or better than the other.

6 in 1 Solar Robot Educational Kit

This one has 6 models, all run by solar power.

• Solar Windmill
• Solar Robot
• Solar Helicopter
• Solar Plane
• Solar Airboat
• Solar Wheeler

Easy snap together.  Once again, parts are re-used across the models.

We also ordered some micro solar cars and a mini solar bullet train.  So lots to experiment with!  Should be fun for the kids... and us!

Thinking Solar Power? A few points to consider...

Solar power is a great way to not only cut your power bills, but a direct, personal way you can lessen your impact on our stressed environment.  It pays to go into this with some general knowledge 'up your sleeve' so that you can get good value (which doesn't necessarily mean cheapest!) and the kind of system you need.

Justin Russell from Solar Depot gave us some tips for doing it right!

• In most cases, you get what you pay for!  Cheap components won't necessarily last in harsh Australian conditions.  Sure, these companies may offer warranties, but many close down within a relatively short time of being in business, leaving you with no come-back on your warranty.  Try to find a long standing company with a good reputation.

• Make sure you plan the location of your solar panels carefully.  Look at current shade patterns and how they might develop in the future... especially regarding trees you have no direct control over.

• Consider roof direction.  North is the best, however East and West are useable, but will have a 12-15% drop off in output.  You can get inverters that are designed for dual input so that you can have arrays facing different directions feeding in.

• In SA ideal roof pitch should be around 24-30 degrees.  If you have a flat roof you can elevate panels with angled frames, however these usually require obtaining council approval, along with the added cost of this and the manufacture of the frames.

• Panel weight is not usually an issue as they only way around 15kg each and this weight is spread out over a large area, however structural soundness of where you want to mount them should be checked.

• To claim on Smallscale Technology Certificates rebate your system must be installed by a licensed and accredited installer.

• You should have an idea of how much power you use, what times of day predominantly and what appliances are the heaviest users when you inquire about a solar system, so that the consultant can help plan the right system for you.

• For an average family, a 5kW upgradeable system should be adequate.  For a couple, probably a 3kW upgradeable system would suffice.

So... start planning your change to solar power now and start saving your money... and the planet!