Blinking Sun Solar Lighting FAQ

How Easy Is Solar Lighting To Install?
In most cases it couldn’t be easier and it’s simply a matter of unwrapping the product and placing in your chosen location. No electrician or electrical skills are needed and in a worst case you will need to screw fix a solar panel, light or components into location. Each product comes with its own installation/operating instructions.

Will Batteries Need Charging Initially Before Use?
Sometimes a product will arrive fully charged and be ready for use straight out of the package, but if that is not the case and the batteries are low in charge or empty, then 1 to 2 days of charging in daylight will be needed to fully charge for normal use. If the product has an on/off switch, and the light is not fully charged, then it is usually best to turn this off until the first 1 to 2 day charge is complete.

How Do The Lights Turn On?
The shed & garage lights are provided with manual switching similar to the type of switch that you might have at home to turn a light on.

The security lights are provided with motion sensors (PIR detectors) such that on detection of movement, when it is dark, they turn on automatically and stay turned on for the period they have been adjusted to. Generally the security lights also have on/off switches to disable the unit if they are not required to operate.

Patio, decking and garden lamps and lanterns will automatically turn on at dusk and operate during the hours of darkness. Each light has a small, photo cell (light sensor) device within the unit, which senses when light level is low and then turns the light on. Often these lights will have a means to disable the lights from coming on automatically, so that you can turn them on manually when dark, if that’s how you wish to control them, though most people prefer them to come on automatically.

Sometimes a strong or nearby light source can stop a light from switching on because it is not dark enough for a lights photocell to think it is dark. In such instances, the problem is usually solved by placing some plastic tape over part of the photo cell, so that it does not receive so much light and thus thinks it is darker than it is.

How Long Can A Light Be on For?
How long a solar light stays on for depends on a number of factors including location, season (winter, spring, summer or autumn) and weather conditions. Generally, for most months of the year, there is sufficient sunlight to provide half to full charge. However, the lights can charge up to a quarter of full charge, with no sunlight and just daylight, for example, on an over cast day. Obviously the sunnier & brighter the weather the more the batteries are charged and the longer the light will illuminate for.

Many lights will operate for 8 hours or more when batteries are fully charged. Some of the higher quality lights will operate from dusk till dawn even after several days of little or no sunshine and only daylight.

It is not recommended to place the solar panel sections of solar lights within areas of permanent shade. If light is required for a permanently shaded area we would recommend one of our lighting products that has a solar panel remote from the actual lights, so that the solar panel can be placed in a non shaded position while the lights are in the shade.

Some of the Garden Solar Lights can be less efficient, provide reduced illumination time or performance during winter months in the UK, however our overarching experience & feedback from customers is that Solar Lighting such as we sell at Blinking Sun is perfectly viable within UK weather conditions.

Do Batteries Need Replacing And Is This Easy To Do?
The majority of our products use regular, rechargeable AA batteries either of Ni-Cad (Nickel Cadmium) or Ni-Mh (Nickel Metal Hydride) sort. We recommend these are replaced every 2 – 3 years and these can be bought from us or readily from other battery retailers. Replacement is straightforward and details are provided with product instructions.

Some of the larger light installations such as the shed lights use 6 or 12 volt lead acid batteries (similar to car) to store additional charge and these are easily purchased or replaced from battery retailers of these items.

Can Bulbs Be Replaced Within Lights?
Almost without exception our lights use Light Emitting Diode or LED bulbs as the light source. LED are highly energy efficient producers of light when compared to conventional filament or even other modern energy efficient light bulbs such as compact fluorescents. LED’s have a life expectancy of up to 20 years and are very reliable and so replacement is not normally required.