Best landscape path lights according to redditors

Training Time!!!


If you live in a high construction/dense parking/unique demand area and have a street facing driveway get something that calls attention to your driveway. I suggest something along these lines. You need to draw attention to your driveway space. Keep in mind that Denver Code requires a 5' clearance from edge of driveway to the end of the car 54-458(2) but in high density areas (think Cap Hill) the 5' is a bit variable to allow more parking and as long as ingress/egress can occur we will be more lenient. But ultimately, you are responsible for making it less likely for someone to par in front of your driveway. Also, construction workers suck total ass when it comes to parking.


If someone has parked in front of your driveway and you can not get out immediately call Denver ROWE, 720-913-1600. The immediately call DPD non-emergency 720-913-2000 and ask for a response. DPD calls ROWE and sort of escalates the issue. Ask for an ETA. If the agent has not arrived within 20 min call back, ask for a supervisor. Demand it, because we don't call for a tow truck till we arrive.

There are some caveats to this. Before 8am and after 3pm theres limited avail agents to respond. The sooner you call us the quicker we can get there. And due to the horrible ROWE management we have, the department is only about 50% staffed so general service is already degraded to near unavailable levels.

Bring a few solar powered garden lights - the cheap ones you can find at target for five bucks - and place them around your campsite. You’ll always be able to find your site in the dark.

Also they make an easy futuristic torch you can carry around if you need to.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TWDRLKQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_4wjnDbKWXMP6C

I’m not suggesting buying these, but something similar. I see some in the clearance isle at Target at the end of every summer.

I wouldn't even touch the dispute. That's up for mediation or police.

I would only focus on things possibly related to your property. One might be:

> fruits smashed against the back of her house, back of house being egged several times, and things being thrown at the back of her house in the middle of the night and waking her up, frightening her.

I just put one of these on a rental and it ended some late night vandalism in that area

You can also check your gates and fences to make sure they lock and are secure.

• Exterior solar lights (there are many equivalents on Amazon with different shapes and options)
  
• Multimeter for testing connections before hooking them up, finding actual volts and polarity, etc.
  
• A bug net for my awning. Haven't tried it yet.
  
• Head lamps for looking around outside at night, or for keeping visible light very low
  
• A splatter guard. Bob uses this on his stove to heat his van; a stove can be set lower than a Buddy Heater, but you have to take extra precautions.
  
• A propane torch for starting campfires
  

Here's a single pack on amazon for ~$27 dollars, which is the lowest price it's ever been.

https://www.amazon.com/Sunforce-82121-Solar-Motion-Light/dp/B00O9ZUQV0

Solar lights, like to light your walk way, something like these and some solar lights for your tent (outside) so you can easily spot it. These string lights would look cool on the outside, and would help with lighting your area when its dark.

For a single light which is used infrequently, have you considered getting a solar powered light? Something like this? That's cheaper than 240' of romex already. You could probably DiY an actual halogen flood light with a solar panel and car battery for less than $150 as well.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FDQPCR2

Been happy with it. I dont need to do any wiring and I dont need to deal with batteries.

Sunforce 120 LED - I have 3 of them :)

I'd suggest calling and electrician. They will do it correctly and you won't have any issues. It's not hard to do but it's not easy either. You can get around this by going to home depot or Lowes and buy a solar powdered led light. The solar cell mounts high and recharges a battery. As you approach the light it sense and turns the light on.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FDQPCR2/ref=cm_sw_r_em_taa_XuTQzb3CWHRAP

I've got these things scattered all over my property, they work awesome. Some I've had for 2-3 years and still work great. Stick a nail in the wall, hang it and you're done.

They're not nearly as bright as an actual hardwired motion light, but work well enough for most areas where you'd want one. If you want something brighter, check out this.

You could look into how solar-powered garden lights work. They charge during the day, and then turn the lights on at night.

http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Creations-JB5629-Solar-Powered-Accent/dp/B002X8X8UG/

The only thing that makes me suspicious is the lack of detail on the amount of lumens it puts out, specifics on the type of LED, etc. Apparently they also work as a phone charger.. I don't know where I would get an adapter for my specific phone, but I could always make one if need be.

And this whole 3rd world charity thing.. ok, I can live with that I guess.

I have been playing around with these for a similar usage.

They are one LED lights (no idea what type of LED unfortunately) and typically run off 2 AA batteries that are recharged from the solar panel on top of the light. I've been removing the AA's and wiring in old mobile phone batteries. I then epoxy the lamp + battery onto the inside of a mason jar lid and affix the panel on the outside. So you wind up with a very similar light, just no where near as slick and pretty.

They were handy when the power was out for an extended period though!

I bought the floodlight.


After getting a wired POE stickup cam for the back yard, I saw the huge difference in video and night vision quality between the stick up cam wired - not wireless - vs my Floodlight cam.
I figured buying the Ring Floodlight with the bridge was a good option since it could integrate with Ring, and had some better features than basic ones on Amazon around 20-35 bucks that only did cold white light. I bought the Floodlight, was happy with the results, bought another POE stick up for the front of the house, and gave the floodlight camera away. I wouldn't suggest buying their floodlight cam until it at least gets the same image sensor that the Stick Up Cam wired has. It really is that much worse.


Keep in mind, I only bought the Ring Smart floodlight because I had an electrical box already in place. The only other reason I would recommend investing in Ring is you're super big into the cooler automation stuff, and have the property size to utilize it. I do not have the size, nor really the need for the integration. But, I have the bridge + floodlight combo to bring to a future house or use if I change my mind later.


I found a nice set of Solar lights for $50 on amazon that I'd rather have and save some money on. They're plenty bright for a walkway, look nicer IMO, and won't need batteries replaced anywhere near as often. We've had them for 3 months without issue.


For my back yard, I found this cheap battery powered light, much cheaper than Ring's options. Does the job well, I am happy with it.


For porch lights, stair lights, spotlights, etc, there are plenty of cheap, simple motion sensing options out there on Amazon for far less money. Only pay the premium if you really care about owning smart lights, whose main purpose is to have a Ring camera record if they see something. The Stick Up cam already records what I want to record, so I'm happy without.

For pathway lights I now have 6 of these:
https://www.amazon.com/LAMPAT-Decorative-Landscape-Lighting-Backyard/dp/B07C26KNNG/
They are the best I've found so far easily. They turn on at night dimly and then light up bright when there's motion near them. Either way they are always much brighter than any other solar led path light I have found

We have the Enbrighten puck lights around our pond and they're awesome. I've purchased several LEDs for the pond/garden over the years, but these Enbrightens are the best. However, they come in 6 pack and may be overkill depending on your size.

https://www.amazon.com/Enbrighten-41017-Selectable-Commercial-Weatherproof/dp/B07C34T1J5/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=enbrighten&qid=1565889409&s=hi&sr=1-5&th=1

There are some weatherproof LED lamps with remotes on Amazon for $16. I bought these originally, but needed more lights on a single strand. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071NDG8TH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We have some flame bulbs as well, but those are better suited for Halloween, in my opinion.

Your pathway to the door is an interesting angular pattern but I think the placement of the rocks and the curved bed in the foreground distract from the path as a feature.

My thoughts:

Clear area enclosed by the pathway and driveway of weeds. Move all the rocks (including those right at the back corner of the picture) to this area and arrange them in a pleasing way. Fill the enclosed area with light colored stones (1 - 1 1/2 inch stones). Use of a weed barrier is up to you. Maybe check with the neighbors whether it is needed in your area.

Get rid of the concrete edging pieces completely. Weed and prepare the area of the bed this side of the pathway and then reseed or sod the area. Now the lawn creates a clean contrast with the pathway on one side and the stones do the same on the other.

For fun, add low solar lights to illuminate the pathway - not the lights on a stick - think the size of small rocks. Maybe something like this or this.

Plant something taller and more interesting in the bed in the far back corner where the rocks were removed.

This will create a more formal entrance space for your house and reduce the maintenance with a lot less weeding.

Good luck!

Another versatile option:


GIGALUMI 8 Pack Solar Ground Lights, 8 LED Solar Powered Disk Lights Outdoor Waterproof Garden Landscape Lighting for Yard Deck Lawn Patio Pathway Walkway (Warm White) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TBDHBTV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_oe6KDbA9FS98N

I am using FLS-PP with this strip - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HBMN4YO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01

I also have the new Philips Hue Strip.

Besides being cheaper when you have lengths of 5m or so, the FLS-PP with this light strip produces much better bright colors. It is hard to describe, but while Philips Hue strip produces nice deep dark colors, it's brighter colors look washed out compared to the custom setup.

There is another slight minus of Philips Hue Strip, it's power adapter is producing a slight noise. Something you will never notice in a living room, but might be annoying if you will place it in the bedroom.

Get a solar powered garden light like these. Remove the rechargeable battery and the solar cell. Connect them using a low Vf diode such as the SB140 (thru hole) or the PMEG2010 (surface mount). Attach an LED flasher circuit made with an LM3909 IC, available from eBay. Done

I'd suggest trying to make an existing solar powered system work instead of building one from scratch. I've got this relatively inexpensive solar powered LED spot set up in my shed (motion detection and all) and it works great.

I have one of these on my porch, and one under my deck (we have a basement entrance there).


I like them a ton, and they do really well even without tons of direct light to build the battery resevoir.
I want to get a couple more for a few areas around my yard (I have some mature trees that provide more hiding in the dark than I'm totally comfortable with)

I have these LED lights over my garage.
I love this unit, it's the right level of sensitive, and the 180 degree range works great for in front of my garage.

I have this unit on one corner of my house.
And it's got some Cree LED flood lights in it.

I hate this light frankly. There is a sidewalk that is directly beneath it and the motion sensor just isn't capable of hitting that spot correctly, so if you're walking around my house, it won't always trigger. If you're 10 feet away walking around it will... maybe I just need to tinker with it, but right now I hate it (and those cree bulbs made it super expensive ($30 a bulb when I bought?))

There are three types of lights:

Spotlights

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WUD4EQG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_-skBzbWHNJ955


Lights in flower beds
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A52B7CS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_LtkBzbCFQMTE8


Lights on planters:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PHLZHQ4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_hukBzbT3V89JM

>I really wanna say that even with 100% efficiency that solar panel would not be able to give 240 V AC (guessing that's a European plug) and provide the current for any appliance.

Power output is measured in watts, not volts/current. Watts = Volts x Current. The one in the picture is pretty thick, could fit a decent number of capacitors or rechargeable cells.

>I would actually love these if they were only lights that could take in light during the day for night time lighting.

That you could do today. http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Creations-JB5629-Solar-Powered-Accent/dp/B002X8X8UG/ref=lp_553784_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1368185695&sr=1-4

Ok, so fine... great idea... give Africa light. No problem there.

But really? $15?

You can buy a set of 8 solar garden lights for $17.38 on Amazon.

Maybe they aren't too reliable (though the comments aren't all that bad, really), but even if only 1/4 of them last, they're still quite a bit cheaper.

Hi guys,I would recommend a great solar lights seller on Amazon I have bought and used for years since It is time to get new beautiful solar lights for your yard.

​

Here is Solar yard lights I like best: https://www.amazon.com/Decorative-Decorations-Landscape-Lighting-Stainless/dp/B07Q3VCF13/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=solar+yard+lights&m=A39PH15OSSYYUG&qid=1557540592&s=merchant-items&sr=1-1

Knowing that there is no electricity at the campsite.. SOLAR POWER!!

At least thats what we did last year, and it worked great! We had little driveway lights all around our campsite so finding it at night would be easy. They were something like these http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Creations-JB5629-Solar-Powered-Accent/dp/B002X8X8UG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1426870944&sr=8-2&keywords=solar+powered+lights

And now I've discovered that amazon even has solar powered string lights! How cool would these be at your campsite?: http://www.amazon.com/INST-Powered-Ambiance-Lighting-Christmas/dp/B00KGOCRLA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1426870944&sr=8-3&keywords=solar+powered+lights

No electricity? No problem! Nothings a problem when you're in the forest ;) Also not the best video but here I am hula hooping! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qteA9AQQZs&feature=youtu.be

I bought one with the base kit. The kit did not come with a tee connector.

This is the one I purchased:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DBN3FSQ/ref=twister_B07DQ1FWL1?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

They are $5 cheaper on Amazon.

I do have a hand crank/solar radio similar to that and a pack of these yard lights because they'll last for a while at least.

Most of my recharging is handled by a 15w Gomadic SunVolt MAX though.

4 for $32
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BVGJ7ST/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_K5c8BbAW8G9BJ

Also they have cheaper free you go on Amazon and just scroll to "similar items" .. Like 4 for $23. Not as highly reviewed.

edit this one has 8 led lights inside. OP posted one with 4 (?).

Are you looking for something super-bright or just visible?

https://smile.amazon.com/SUNLONG-Waterproof-Landscape-Spotlights-Driveways-Automatically/dp/B07B4916KJ/

I just installed the Sunforce 82080. IT seemed to get great reviews...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FDQPCR2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
A few things i noticed about it the past few days.

• the light is decent and goes about 15-20 feet pretty well
  
• you can adjust the sensitivity (It's touchy... cars driving by were activating mine)
  
• Make sure u place the solar panel where it can get the best light its got a long cable for that.
  
• it needs sunlight so if you live in seattle it may die quickly. If it goes completely dead you have to turn it off then let it charge for a few days.
  
  
  I hope this helps. I did a lot of research because I don't have power routed to where I wanted it (We had our car broken into...)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0798NZX7J/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522547482&sr=8-1-spons&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=remote+control+globe+lights&psc=1

Easy amazon search for remote control globe lights.

Edit: just looking around in similar items there’s tons of variations, you shouldn’t have trouble finding something you like.

For driveway markers, this sort of thing. That one has a 400 mAh NiMH battery, which is likely AA size and could be replaced with a higher capacity. Some have Li-ion batteries, which are often 18650 size and also well below the capacity of the best performers in that size. 18650 provides considerably higher maximum capacity. Linking this product is intended only as an example, not an endorsement.

To read in a tent, I'd use a headlamp - probably this one, which also runs on an 18650. To light the whole tent, I'd use something like this with a diffuser like this and a string tied to it to hang it from the top. Also 18650-powered. Some cheaper 18650-powered flashlights and headlamps would also do the trick, but these are nice.

Maybe a solar powered motion activated flood light? Couple of them placed strategically could provide some ok light. Plenty of options, I'd check reviews 1st though - http://www.amazon.com/Sunforce-82080-80-LED-Solar-Motion/dp/B00FDQPCR2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459175008&sr=8-1&keywords=solar+flood+light

I have about 4 different locations with these LED strip lighting. I use Cat 6 cable to do the runs. For example many of my LED strips are RGBW so you need 5 wires to make them work. Well cat 6 or even 5 as you know has 8 wires nice solid core stuff that is easy to solder. I've even contemplated using a patch panel as a DC distribution point and using RJ connector but have not done that yet since I'm pretty much done adding LEDs. BTW old desktop power supplies make great 12 volt power sources. As a controllers I use this with my Veralite system.

I'd run some 12 volt tot he kitchen for sure for under cabinet lights. Stair ways are also a nice touch

This is dimmable LED tape
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HBMN4YO/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_DEchyb1CSQXN0

First, even though those are listed as waterproof, it is IP65 and it says not to soak/submerge in water. Not sure what your plans are there.

That aside, I think the general guidance is that these strips are limited to about 10-15m (2-3 strips) of length before the voltage drop is too much since the conductors in each strip is very tiny. If you are intending to run 30 m long, you may need to use separate 10m lengths with thicker conductor supplies running with the strip.

I recommend you ask the seller what the rating is for max number of strips that can be put into a single run. I would also ask what the wattage per 5m strip is for the RGBW. That will tell you if your power supply will have enough. I couldn't find it in the listing.

My bigger concern would be that a long parallel run at 50A might be a very hot cable and those strips may not be able to handle it (don't know the actual current draw because we don't know per strip max wattage). You might want to do a parallel/series arrangement to bump the voltage to 24V or 36V so you can cut the current by half or two thirds and use smaller conductors. There are similar power supplies in 24V/25A/600W and 36V/16A/600W configurations on amazon if you search.

​

For example, this similar strip of RGBW on amazon (not waterproof tho):

https://www.amazon.com/LEDENET-Bright-Flexible-Lights-Lighting/dp/B00HBMN4YO

Says per 5m roll: 5A draw, 12VDC, 60W per 5m

The question/answer section says no more than 2 strips in parallel long run.

If you were to take this example and just connect 6 strips, 30A total at 12VDC for a total of 360W. 30A seems like a lot of current. You would need 7 AWG cable to carry that which is 3.6mm thick (conductor without sheath). If you were making a tight array in a square light panel, you could get away with chassis current rating of 14 AWG but that is still pretty thick.

​

EDIT: If you already bought some of these strips and have them. You could use a bench power supply to find out exactly how much current each strip draws when 12VDC is supplied them.

Here's some of what I was looking to add to my case eventually.

NZXT Hue

LEDENET RGBW Strips

SuperNight RGBW Strips

Phanteks RGB Strips

1-2 RGBW Splitter

If your mobo doesn't have an rgb(w) header, the nzxt hue+ would be a good option. I believe there's CAM software to control the lighting, opposed to a physical controller which you would have to route outside your case or open it up to change anything.

If you do have a mobo header for LEDs, check if its RGB or RGBW, then grab what's needed. I believe the splitter would allow you to run two off of it (I was gonna do one inside my case and route one outside the case around the desk.)

Out of curiosity, because I'm looking for a cheap alternative too... Why did you suggest the AliExpress over Amazon ones such as this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HBMN4YO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_RZhEyb38FXN1R

Also, do you need to purchase a power supply with either led product?

Thanks!