LED Landscape Lights - Solar’s out, wired is IN
Your neighbors have solar-powered LED Malibu-type "landscape lights" driven into their front yards. Heck, probably a quarter of the people on your street do. On store shelves from your grocery store to Target, there are a dozen or more types and designs to choose from, and prices sure have come down in the last two years.
But you know they don't work, because on your way to dinner they are lit up but when you get home they're not. And even when they're on, the 2 or 3 LED lamps inside hardly offer to light up even the grass 4 inches from it. Even in sunny Southern California, there are enough trees in my yard to make it difficult to place a half-dozen lights in enough direct sunlight to last a couple hours. And it's unclear who's worse off - those who chose the yellow/amber LEDs, or those who picked white/"blue-ish". The pair of Ni-Cd AA's inside wears out in 7 months, and they become dim beacons in your local landfill.
Arg. Yet people are still buying them in droves - isn't there a better solution? Traditional Malibu lights are bright with their halogen bulbs and relatively inexpensive, but if you're like me, you're looking for an elegant solution that uses less electricity. A set running all night every night could cost $50 or more per year to power.
It seems there is a better way. If you don't mind stepping back 30 years in terms of an entire afternoon required to install a proper set of Malibu lights, there are some great new products on the market that hit the spot.
Option 1: If you have existing, traditional Malibu lights installed, replace their bulbs with new LED bulbs.
Replace the halogen bulbs with adapted LED bulbs for a lifetime of bright light. Sites like SuperBrightLEDs.com (and eBay of course) sell replacement LED bulbs for your existing fixtures. Pull out the old bulb, plug in a new LED bulb, and you're all set. They offer a variety of colors too (including warm white, which is much less garish than "cool white"), and are powered by more current and proper voltage for the LEDs to shine their brightest. Caveat: Manufacturer recommends you test your existing DC power supply first to ensure it's not delivering greater than 12VDC. If it is, you'd want to replace it with a regulated 12VDC supply.
Option 2: Purchase a new wired system that uses LEDs out of the box
Manufacturers have started to produce wired versions of traditional lights that employ LEDs as the only source of light. Parts can be purchased as a set or a la carte, and the cost is surprisingly low. I haven't been able to track down photos or links yet, but I'd seen a nice selection at Lowes stores last week. Even the 12VDC power supply is only around $15.00. They market the product as "Run the set for $5 a year" which sure sounds like it will pay itself back in only a few years. Caveat: The ones I've seen only have "cool white/aka blue" LEDs in them, so if you're looking for "warm white" like I am, you can:
- wait till they are manufactured, or
- buy warm white LEDs from eBay and replace them in the fixtures yourself, like I'm planning on doing.