Does everyone buy new solar lights every year?

[beain]

I have neighbours who have nice solar lights, they are always on every year.

I've never had solar lights that have lasted longer than one summer. Every single year I have to get new ones and it drives me insane.

What is the secret?????

I don't know either I'm just the same . Hopefully someone will have the answers

Did you know that most sets have a battery that needs changing, in the solar collector thingy? We usually change all of them at the end of the winter, and most of our sets have lasted for years. (our back garden is a small version of the Blackwood Illuminations)

I've mowed over ours every year so don't bother anymore

Ive stopped buying solar lights, they always break and end up in the bin. Lots of materials needed to make them so very bad for the environment. Instead I’ve splashed out (hopefully once only) on IP65 rated outdoor festoon lights. Meant to be able to handle 365 days outdoor!

This is interesting. I'm sick of spending money on them all the time. Do you have a particular way of charging them?

Put them away in winter, it's normally water damage that causes them to stop working, you can buy replacement solar panel things for some lights but they are sometimes more expensive than the original lights.

I have some that last every year, but I do put some of my favourite ones away in the winter.

I find the cheaper ones don't seem to last. Ive had more expensive ones that have lasted years.

Same

I bought mine from the solar center on line in 2021 they still work fine
I also have the square cubes and pebbles and they also work fine and I can change the colours
thr square cubes are great as mini tables / something to sit on as well

in the winter I charger them up maybe once every 10 days or so
I got a usb lead that came with them

not had no problem with them at all

What's the difference between festoon and other string lights? Are they solar or mains powered?

Cheap as chips twin pack of solar string lights, the little twinkly ones, bought 18m ago and have been twinkling 365days/yr in my garden ever since. Only thing that affects them is a dull day when they may only last a couple of hours.
Always make me smile!

SPV lights are really good. They charge on dull days and last for ages.
https://spvlights.co.uk/

I buy them every year. I tend to buy cheap ones. Current ones only cost me £1 each as they were reduced to clear from sainsburys. One year, I purchased more expensive ones, thinking that they would last longer than a summer, but they didn't, so I went back to the cheap ones.

I have cheap solar string lights too, and find they're the only ones that have lasted longer than a year. The stake lights never do though.

If you can open the box you may find there is a rechargable battery in there.(they don't last for ever) you would need to replace that with a new rechargable battery of the same size.
The sun light charges it.

I have two sets of these, super bright and charge up even on cloudy days, they stay on all night

spvlights.co.uk/collections/solar-fairy-lights/products/100-multi-colour-led-blossom-flower-solar-fairy-lights

I turn mine off, wrap them in an old towel and put them away in storage box in the shed in autumn, most have a replaceable battery too. In spring I leave them turned off but out to charge for 48 hours, then switch them on. They all last years.

iIt’s usually just ordinary AA batteries, not re-chargeable.

Do you take them in over winter?

No, I hate the fucking things. All made in China, this is exactly the sort of unnecessary crap we need to wean ourselves off buying.

I always worry that this disturbs nocturnal wildlife which, let's face it, has enough of its habitat invaded, and adds to light pollution

As you'll gather, we aren't into solar lights...

Well, we’ve got hedgehogs and foxes on regular nocturnal patrols, moths and bats that flyover in the dark, and the hedge is a large and well used avian maternity unit from March until August, so my little light show doesn’t seem to affect the wildlife here much.