Best Solar Shed Light for the UK guide (2022 Updated)
Want to buy The best solar shed light for the UK? Then read this guide !!! (2020 Updated).
The best solar shed light : There are a large number of different solar shed light designs available in the UK market, in fact many lights can be considered, even a solar power security light can double as a solar shed light . In this guide we are focusing specifically on solar shed light designs for your shed for the UK.
How much light do you need?
If you are planning on just popping to your garden shed or outbuilding to grab a few things, then in theory you don't need a huge amount of light, however we believe that you should be able to see clearly, as sheds and outbuildings can be dangerous places without sufficient lighting, that's why you need to consider the best solar shed light for your money.
There is normally any number of objects to trip over including spades, rakes, planting pots and so on, so lighting is actually a very important consideration, not only for useful purposes but also for safety.
We believe that you should be able to walk in your shed and see exactly what you are doing, be able to open a box, and clearly see what is inside it.
This way there is no chance of stumbling over things, due to lack of light, and you do not need to take a torch with you to find smaller items.
The Solar Ray shed light is probably the best solar shed light you can buy, comes with 48 Led's which generate 336 Lumens, this is roughly equivalent to a 45 watt mains bulb.
There is an argument that you don't need this much light however we believe that it's worth paying a little bit more and have a really good quality, bright light, after all the Solar Ray is under £30!
We really would not recommend the cheap 10 or even 5 led solar powered shed lights that you can buy, they really don't work very well, they do not produce enough useful light.
You can barely see what you are doing, and during winter time they are not consistent in operation. It is far better to pay a bit more and have something that works reliably all year around in our opinion.
What type of light do you require?
Most shed lights now a day's come with a PIR or motion sensor. This turns the light on when motion is detected.
So when you open the door to your shed or outbuilding the light will immediately detect movement and turn itself on.
| PIR Solar Shed Light |
Pull Cord Solar shed Lights |
Remote Controlled Solar shed light |
Powerbee lights are also designed to stay on whilst motion is being detected, not all solar shed lights do this.
In fact a large number of them are programmed to come on for 30 seconds at a time, then they will automatically switch themselves off.
We think that this type of functionality is not suitable for a shed, as the person is required to wave their arms around and activate the light again.
This can actually be quite dangerous especially if you are in the middle of doing something.
This year Powerbee have also introduced a brand new version of the solar ray with a remote control. This gives our customers an additional option of manually switching the light on and off.
This can be very handy for example, if you want to install a light, where animals may activate the light during the night.
How long per day do you wish to operate the light for?
Before purchasing any light you need to understand what it is you need this for?
If for example you spend 2 hours nearly every night in your shed, then you may well need to consider an Off grid solar powered system for example the Solar Hub 64.
You would certainly need a panel at least 5 watts to run a system like this.
Powerbee manufacture solar powered shed lights for general use. The solar ray shed light will run for 4 hours continuously from battery power alone, before needing to be recharged via solar, and on average can run an hour a day continuously throughout the year.
It's very handy to have 4 hours of lighting use stored in the battery as a reserve, for those one off late night jobs which can occur from time to time.
You could easily use our solar ray shed light for two hours a day, continuously every day, without fear of running out of battery power.
During winter time this would be significantly reduced to perhaps 15 – 30 minutes continuously every day.
However for most people this is not how they use their sheds, shed lights are normally used once or twice a week for 30 minutes to an hour at a time. This gives the unit plenty of chance to top up the battery with power before being used again.
Location of the solar panel
Please see our guide on how to locate your solar panel. The location of the solar panel is almost always overlooked; this is because most customers simply trust and believe the 'blurb' that unscrupulous retailers write, after all there is trading standards and government legislation to protect them right?.
This is true and you can always apply for a refund and get your money back, however this process can become complicated if you do not apply for a refund within 14 days.
So if you purchase a solar shed light in the summer time, you will never know that there is a problem with it until the winter nights start to roll in, after this you will not be entitled to a refund.
This is what most of the unscrupulous retailers are betting on! Additionally what if you purchase direct from China? Enforcing UK legislation on a Chinese supplier is like a minefield of costly international laws.
There is in the UK a problem with the quality and the reliability of solar shed lights, most of which are designed as no more than a utility light, which work in summer, and will occasionally work in winter time, given the right conditions.
Most solar shed lights that you will be able to purchase are in fact not designed for the UK market at all, but are designed for Asia, China and so on. Check out the minimal solar cells on the above light. It's not surprising when you consider that this market is far larger than in the UK, in China alone there is more than 1 billion people. The problem however is that the UK conditions are quite unique in terms of weather, everyone who actually lives in the UK knows this very well!
This is why you need to take a close look at the location that you are going to install your solar powered shed light, the really big question is: Can you get your solar panel facing south, without any obstruction, there is a tendency for wishful thinking here, even if a customer has a 40 foot leylandii obstructing 80% of the southern light, there is a tendency to believe that there is a jolly good chance that their newly arrived shed light will not have any problems, however this is not the case.
Powerbee Ltd have designed their lights with ALL of this in mind, our lights have been designed to take 80% of all such problems in to account. We deliberately oversize the panel and battery capacity to accommodate these more difficult situations, meaning that given just a normal installation our lights will work incredibly well, but will also work when conditions are restricted.
This is why the best solar shed light you can buy is from Powerbee Ltd!