These tips will enable you to obtain outdoor string lighting for just about an occasion.
Solar String Lights
These types of string lights have many attractive features that distance themselves from their normally powered competition. The biggest reason is cost of operation. Since they collect the sun’s energy and store it into a nickel cadmium battery inside the light’s housing, they will not consume electrical power from the electricity grid that your house taps into. As long as the solar collection panel can “see” the sun during the day for at least 8 hours, the solar string lights you install will stay illuminated all night long. What is even better is that since they do not need to be connected to your home’s electrical outlets, they can be placed in pretty much any location (including shade) as long as their collection panel (which is sometimes separate from the light itself) can receive sunlight during the day. So how do they know when to turn on? The answer is that these lights use a light sensor. When the amount of ambient lighting dips too low, the lights “know” that the sun has gone down. At this point they turn themselves on and remain on as long as they have power (or as long as the sun stays down). And with most solar powered string lights using LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs, they can stay lit for as long as 12 hours at night.
LED String Lights
LED string lights are the longest lasting and brightest string lights you can buy. They accomplish this feat while also being the smallest bulbs you can buy. The best thing about these lights is that they use far less energy than their conventional cousins. Thus saving you money (if they are conventionally powered) or extending their life (if solar powered).
Make Sure Your String Lighting Can Stand Up To Mother Nature
Because your string lights will be placed outdoors and at a particular point above the ground, taking them down before every rainstorm or snowstorm is not going to be an option. If the water gets into the lights, it can cause a fire to break out in the lights and lead to more damage to your property. In this case, you will need to make sure that your string lights are UL approved as weatherproof. As long as they are UL approved, you can be assured that they are safe for use outdoors in any environment.
Make Sure You Shop Offline And Online
Your local brick and mortar shops (including the “big box” stores) will have a good variety of string lights for you to purchase. Do some comparison shopping of these local stores and write down the types of lights available and their prices. Then, when you have your list, go online and shop there. Shopping online will normally give you a far greater inventory to peruse and usually offer some great discounts you can take care of. And with some states not requiring sales tax along with free shipping, the deals that can be had online can far outweigh those from your local stores.
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