Best Solar Lights For Cold Climates
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Solar lights can brighten up your outdoor spaces and make them both more inviting and easier to navigate. These are reviews for the best solar lights for cold climates, so you can find a set that will stand up to any climate, or weather. Make your outdoor pathways more inviting, and light up the night with some of our favorite solar lights that are capable of working well into the cold winter climate.
Reviewing the Best Solar Lights for Cold Climates
Enjoying your patio, walkways and porch shouldn’t just be limited to the summertime. In fact, you can enjoy a cup of coffee, (or cocoa!) just as well in the wintertime. And, come night time solar lights are a really helpful guide to where the front path is once the snow has blanketed everything. Below I’ll give you a review of some of the most reliable solar lights that are able to be used all winter long. This includes a few different types of models that have their own uses around the yard and front. First, we’ll cover some tips for using solar lights when the cold sets in.
Can you Use Solar Lights in the Snow?
It may sound surprising to some, but there are solar lights that work perfectly well in the winter snow. In fact, the only thing you really need to be concerned about is cloud cover from a snow front. If you’re facing lots of snow and clouds, your solar lights may now power up as easily. By night time though, it’s really nice to have a path lit up to see where your outdoor walkways are.
What Types of Solar Lights are There?
- Motion sensor wall light
- Garden fence outdoor solar lights
- LED Landscape Spotlights
- Solar powered Ground Lights
- LED Outdoor Solar Rope Lights
You’ll find a lot of variation in these types of lights if you search them, but there’s a few standard types of solar lights that you’ll typically find based on your needs. Nowadays, LED has become the most popular type of lighting for outdoor fixtures too, be they temporary or permanent, wireless or otherwise. Many people use them for lighting outdoor paths, deck stairs, porch stairs as well as deck railings, fences and even pool areas.
What Makes a Solar Lights Waterproof?
There’s a general rule of thumb that applies to solar powered lights, as well as other electronics and lighting fixtures that you’ll use around the outside of your home. Lights, and other electronics are rated for their waterproofing using a scale based on their outer enclosure. This will be stated in advertisements, websites and store shelves as an ‘IP’ rating, or ‘ingress protection rating’. With the letters IP followed by a number. Find a helpful rating chart here to be able to interpret these numbers easily on the fly!
Below you’ll find some reviews for the best solar lights for cold climates that can stand up to winter weather, including snow, frost and melt.
Best Weatherproof Outdoor Solar Step Lights
Solpex Solar Deck Lights 16 Pack
These lights come in a really convenient 16 pack, which should give you enough units right out of the box to cover a large area of stairs, or railings. These are ideal for outdoor stairs, deck steps, fences and even your patio railing. What I love most about them though, is their weatherproofing, convenient assembly and design. We’ll go into more detail about each one of these features here.
They give off a ‘warm white’ light which is appealing to the eye in the evening, which is when you’ll be seeing the most of these lights. They’re completely solar powered, so they’ll charge all day throughout the day. If you’re looking for stair lights you can mount on stone or tile stairs, these are an ideal choice! You can mount these solar powered step lights using included adhesive strips, or 2 screws. For wooden decks and patio structures, I would recommend using two screws. For stone, tile or concrete you’d be better off using the adhesive strips. The only thing you’ll want to look out for with these lights is that you mount them with enough spacing on either side for people’s feet, so they don’t inadvertently trip on them. They’re rather short, so that’s very unlikely to happen, but it could if they’re spaced improperly.
Best Outdoor Motion Sensor Security Solar Lights
6 Pack Outdoor Solar Security Lights
This 6 pack of solar wall security lights is perfectly ideal for outdoor lighting around areas of your home where you want a motion sensor light. A lot of people use these for the outside of their home, as well as detached garages and pool areas. The benefit of using solar lights for security is that you never need to worry about them running out of battery power.
What makes these some of the best solar lights for cold climates is an IP65 waterproof rating. That means that you can be sure they’ll stand up to some snow during winter time. That being said, they’re wall mounted, so between that and the slanted design, it won’t spend a lot of time with snow on it. These easy to install security lights can light up a path, pool area, driveway or even an outdoor play structure.
Best Solar Powered Landscape Spotlights for Cold Climates
SUNVIE 12W Low Voltage LED Landscape Lights
We love these spotlights for their versatility, IP67 waterproofing, and all-around climate resistant design that makes them suitable for whatever your outdoor lighting needs demand. Each light comes packed with 12 LED lights, a long stake for mounting them in the garden, as well as durable pieces of hardware for mounting. The beauty of these solar powered lights is that you can use them as either garden stake landscaping lights, or wall mounted lights. Each will give you a wide array of bright LED light in a cold white, with variable lighting modes based on your preference.
These lights are also completely frost-proof, (and even heat-proof), which lends to their durability. The main reason this set of lights made our reviews is the durable high-impact ABS plastic, combined with the superior waterproofing and versatile design.
The Best Outdoor Solar Rope Lights for Cold Climates
Waterproof LED Solar Rope Lights for Outdoors
Whether it’s for Christmas, or a wedding, this pack of 33ft of fair string lights are completely waterproof at an IP65 rating. They come encased in a tube that can be manipulated into any shape you need, too! If you want to get creative with your outdoor lighting for an event, or even just normal evening use, these are the perfect lights to consider using. The best part is, they’ll work perfectly fine in the winter time! Cold climates won’t damage the light, so it can safely be left in place all year round.
There’s currently 3 different colors of LED light ropes available in this model. In my opinion, the multi color or warmwhite would work the best in cold climates since it would contrast white, fresh fallen snow. Based on how well these work, you might even consider them as a good alternative for Christmas lights! The enclosure is held on top of stake that you can place anywhere you can get the best sunlight.
The Best Outdoor Multicolored LED Lights
Otdair Solar Fence Lights 8 Pack Multicolored
These outdoor lights are ideal for fences, decks and patios! Beside the fact that they’re waterproof for cold or humid climates, they’re also great for those who can’t decide what color of light they want their LED’s to shine through the night. For a versatile set of well designed waterproof outdoor solar lights, these models give you a fantastic array of colors to choose from! They’re incredibly easy to install too, by simply removing the outer housing, you can simply screw them into whatever surface you want, before attaching the rest of the light. This also means that they’re easy to reposition, too.
While I love the wide color selection of these outdoor LED lights, my biggest complaint would be the visual design of the outer housing that holds the lighting in place. These shine bright, give you a wide range of colors to choose from and truly are waterproof, however it has a distinct design around the light housing that might not be to everyone’s taste.
Hopefully you’ve found our reviews for the best solar lights for cold climates useful! Follow Patio Gateway for up to date product reviews for everything under the sun, or at least in your backyard and patio! Have you ever owned a set of these lights? If so, what would you want other consumers to look out for? Let us know in the comment section below.
