Do Solar Power Lights Work in Winter (Outside)?


Outdoor lighting can bring out the beauty in your front or backyard. Well-lit gardens are the perfect place for a family to get together on a hot summer night. Besides enhancing the landscaping of your driveway or patio, outdoor lighting also improves the security of your home.

Having a well-lit yard can be a deterrent for intruders who use the cover of shadows to break into poorly lit homes. With all these benefits outdoor lighting can add to your energy bill. Fortunately, there is an alternative to using grid-supplied energy to light up your garden.

Can Solar Lights Stay Outside in Winter?

Outdoor solar lights can stay outside all year round. While weather conditions like snow or rainfall will affect how much light they will give off, they will still work. As long as they are receiving sunlight during the day, they will work at night.

Solar power lights will keep your outdoors lit without you having to pay for the extra lighting. As they run on solar, however, there is a small concern about how they perform on cloudy days and in winter. In this article, we will explore what you can expect in terms of the performance of solar lights in winter.


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How Do Solar Lights Work?

Solar lights have two main components. They have a small solar panel that absorbs sunlight and converts it into energy. They also have batteries that store the energy produced by the solar panels.

During the day when the sun is shining the solar panels are absorbing and sending energy they convert to the batteries. At night when the sun stops shining the energy stored in the batteries is used to provide electric current to the light.

This process works the same even in winter. The main point of difference is that in winter, the weather changes influence how effectively this process works.

(Source)

Also, find out If Solar Panels Work with Light Bulbs (Artificial Light)?

How Does Winter Affect the Performance of Solar Light?

Besides the biting cold, winter brings with it several conditions that reduce the effectiveness of a solar light.

  • Days are shorter in winter. This means there is less available light for the solar panel in a solar light to charge up its batteries.
  • The sun is lower in the sky. Solar panels need to be perpendicular to the sun for them to optimally absorb sunlight.
  • Snow can cover the solar panel. This has the effect of reducing the solar panel’s ability to absorb sunlight.

On the whole, these are the main factors that reduce, and not eliminate, the performance of a solar light. If your solar lights will not work as effectively, should you remove them? It is not necessary and is down to your choice.

Also, check out If Solar Panels Work on Overcast Days? How To Pick The Right Panels!

How to Properly Store Solar Lights?

If you do decide to put your solar lights in storage for the winter here are a few tips to make sure you do it correctly.

  1. Turn the light switch to “off” if there is one.
  2. Remove the batteries. Charge them before you do.
  3. Let them out at least once a month to let the lights get some sunlight. This extends their lifespan.

Following these simple steps will ensure your solar lights will be in optimum working condition when you take them out of storage for the warm weather months.

Why Are My Solar Lights Not Working in Winter? (Reasons)

There are several reasons why solar lights might stop working in winter. The most likely reasons are either to do with the batteries not storing energy or the solar panel not charging the batteries.

How would either of those happen?

1- Solar panel not charging

If the solar panel is at fault, it could be one of a few malfunctions.

  1. The solar panel might be in shade. The sun is at a lower angle in winter. Objects cast longer shadows in winter because of this. It might be that the solar panels are in shade and are not getting enough sunlight to charge the batteries in the light.
  2. The solar panel is not at the best angle. Some solar lights allow you to adjust the angle of the solar panel. Tilting the solar panel allows it to absorb more light. For more on this, check out our post Why Solar Panels Are Tilted?
  3. The solar panel is not at the best orientation. Similar to how a solar panel needs to be tilted at the right angle, it also needs to face the correct direction. South-facing panels produce more energy for countries in the northern hemisphere. (Source)
  4. Charging behind a window. Solar panels work best when directly exposed to sunlight. Anything, even glass, that comes in-between the solar panels will reduce its effectiveness in absorbing light.

2- Batteries not working

If the solar panels are fine then the problem is likely to be with the batteries.

  1. The simplest problem is that of the batteries not being installed correctly. Negative terminals must be on the negative. Positive terminals must be on the positive. Make sure the batteries are facing the correct side and are firmly in place.
  2. It might also be that the batteries need to be replaced. Over time batteries lose their capacity as the cell breaks down.

It’s important to check all these things to make sure it isn’t a simple fix that’s needed. It might even just be as simple as turning the light switch on if the solar light has one!

Do Solar Street Lights Work in The Winter?

Solar street lights will work in the winter. As long as a solar panel receives light it will generate energy that can be used to power any device. Solar works to convert sunlight into energy even when it is cloudy.

The important thing to know is that solar panels use a broad spectrum of light to produce an electric current. In rain or snow electricity will still be produced. The only time when solar cannot produce energy is at night.

What can be said about solar street lights in winter is that they may not work as efficiently as they would in summer. This is primarily because there is less direct sunlight for the solar panels to absorb in winter.

It is also due to the lower temperatures. Ordinarily, solar panels work better in cooler temperatures. Heat is not a requirement for solar panels to produce energy. However, the extreme cold in winter will compromise the efficiency of the batteries in storing energy.

(Source)

Conversely, the reflection of light on snow increases the available light from which solar panels produce an electric current.

sherifjallad

I am a very well-experienced techie civil engineer who’s extensively interested in solar panel technology and even more captivated by the potential of solar panels in supporting individual residential units.

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