Are Solar Street Lights Any Good

Sensor lights have always been an important part of home and business security to turn the light on when somebody approaches was determined by illuminating the area and clearly displaying what a burglar is doing.

Solar Street Lights & Security Sensor Lights

Over the past few years, the improvements in technology have allowed solar lights to be considered for this purpose, solar lights are much easier to install and don’t require an electrician to run mains power to the light.

Security Sensor Lights Vs Solar Street Lights

This is a huge advantage when considering what type of sensor light to install. When you can compare the cost of a solar sensor light at about 50 to 80 Australian dollars against hardwired and Mains powered sensor lights costing about the same price plus the cost of installation and electrical cables you’re find set the mains powered security sensor light will be far more expensive. 

Another important factor to remember is that installation and positioning of a sensor light can be a little bit hit-and-miss. It’s common for people to install a product in one location thinking that will cover the area they wish to cover only to find out that it doesn’t or is slightly out-of-range, this is where the Wireless solar streetlight has the advantage that if it is mounted in an incorrect position or doesn’t have enough coverage he can be removed with a couple of screws and reinstalled in a better location in under a few minutes. 

It cost a lot more and takes a lot more effort to have a mains-powered sensor light relocated, compared with a wireless solar street light, No need for wires, and no need for an electrician. A handyman could easily install a solar street light in under 10 minutes.

 In this video, we have purchased two lights of one brand and one of another brand to test for reference. What we found was the biggest problem for the first light was the amount of range that the light had to detect the person moving. You almost had to be underneath a light for the light to illuminate which made the light redundant and the sensor function unusable.

 So when we receive the second batch of lights we decided to move the sensor to the front of a light projected forwards to be able to capture movements before you go anywhere near the light to hopefully increase the range of the light.

This modification was done in the video and you can see the tools and tricks with we use to make this modification.

After making the modification and doing several trials we came to the ultimate conclusion that the light out of the box was suitable enough to be used as a security sensor light.

 Battery power was efficient for nighttime usage providing that the sun had given the light a good charge during the day.

 The test also concluded that not all lights are the same and that there is a big difference in the quality of the parts used in the lights and this makes the difference between weather and whether the light is usable or not.

 The price but the solar lights are very low with the bottom-end lights costing $50 AUSD and some top-end solar street lights ranging in the $200-300 range. Even a top-end light is still good value.

In this video, we use low-end cheap lights from eBay, and two of them are suitable and useable, out of the box.

The main reason for using a solar street light is to light up an area that may be a place for a person to hide or a place where a burglar can use the cover of darkness to attack a building or entry.

By using a solar-powered street light you will remove the cover of darkness and hopefully make the burger’s job harder. You would have to be in a pretty remote place for a burglar to want to stand under a flood light or solar street light and try and attack a door for entry. Such lights allow people to clearly see what is happening under the solar light from a long distance away. Making it less attractive for burglars to be around.


In conclusion, we have found one brand of solar light superior to the other, we have also found that the range of the motion sensor is more than adequate, and the battery power is suitable for the application.

We also indicated that our lengthy and in-depth and also tricky modification was not required and that it was a waste of time being that the product has a suitable range from the beginning.

 feel free to watch a video and leave your comment at the end of the video


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