Showing posts with label landscape lighting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label landscape lighting. Show all posts

7/06/2011

Mr. Light Solar-Powered Hummingbird Garden Stake with Color-Changing LED Backlighting Review

Mr. Light Solar-Powered Hummingbird Garden Stake with Color-Changing LED Backlighting
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Even I think color-changing light is a bit tacky, but hey, this is a hummingbird! A clear acrylic hummingbird tops a two-part stake. A rechargeable battery is included and must be inserted into one half of the stake prior to assembly. The solar panel is a disk encircling the stake. The hummingbird is well-done. There's some detail; it's not just a blob.
This baby stays lit all night. It's still lit at sunrise. The LED is a pretty bright light. This piece makes a bold statement at night. That said, it's virtually invisible during the day. I do like it, and will look for more solar/LED lighting now that I've tried this. If you prefer yard art with a little class, you won't like it. If you're into novelty, you will.
Edit May 9, 2009: I stored the unit in the garage over the winter. The solar panel was slightly damaged by wind and rain during the summer. But when I brought it out this year, it still worked, by golly. I bought another one and posted some photos.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Mr. Light Solar-Powered Hummingbird Garden Stake with Color-Changing LED Backlighting

Our solar garden stake has a unique design which features an integrated solar panel midway down the stake. Inside is a rechargeable AA NI-MH battery. A color-changing LED atop the stake shines through the clear acrylic 4" x 5" hummingbird to give a spectacular, decorative lighting effect in your garden. Plant the stake in the ground where it will get full sun, and the photo switch in the solar panel automatically turns itself on at night. Your garden stake will begin to glow as darkness falls, and continue to provide a calming light show into the night. (Assembled stands 32" tall)

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4/27/2011

Wild Grass Solar Garden Lights. A Set of 3 Sprigs of 1.2 Foot Tall Grass Lights. Review

Wild Grass Solar Garden Lights. A Set of 3 Sprigs of 1.2 Foot Tall Grass Lights.
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These lights are different from any other solar light that I've seen during all of my research in finding solar lights to build my "solar light garden." I live in an apartment building on the second floor, with a deck outside the living room. Since I don't have a yard, I decided to create a "garden" with solar lilies, tulips, pansies, cattails, globes, butterflies, dragonflies, and solar fiber optic sprays (which sway in the breeze). Almost every single "stalk" has a bare space of about 6" to 7" between the top of the solar cell and the bottom of the "flower" or globe or butterfly/dragonflies. This grass can be manipulated in the degree of spread and covers that bare space perfectly. I think anybody using garden solar lights would be delighted with the addition of this "grass." (In addition, the shipping service/speed was about as quick -- actually, quicker -- as anybody could reasonably expect.) It is my understanding this company has just begun using Amazon Marketplace. They possess quality of product and quality of service, so do not, I repeat, do not, let their relatively short period of working through Amazon be a deterrent. They are seemingly a company concerned with customer service, and that is increasingly hard to find in today's modern world.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Wild Grass Solar Garden Lights. A Set of 3 Sprigs of 1.2 Foot Tall Grass Lights.

Three sprigs of beautiful natural-looking Wild Grass LED Lights are powered by a solar panel and battery. Great product for your garden, patio and pavement decoration needs. Fiber-optic grass strands can easily be formed into different shapes. Make a bouquet by simply twisting and bending the grass wires. No A/C power needed. Self sustaining. Requires no maintenance. Great for holiday decoration and year round use. They illuminate a low- angel of 1.2 ft tall to the ground. They are perfect to work with any regular solar garden stake light to make light show at night. One year return and refund warranty from date of purchase.

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3/28/2011

Intermatic ML300RTW Malibu 300-Watt Power Pack with Timer and Ground Shield Review

Intermatic ML300RTW Malibu 300-Watt Power Pack with Timer and Ground Shield
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Decent quality steel case.
Mechanical timer.
I had the Hampton Bay 300 watt model....DO NOT BUY HAMPTON BAY TRANSFORMERS. CUSTOMER SERVICE IS VERY BAD AND THERE IS NOT EVEN ANY WARRANTY OR CUSTOMER SERVICE INFO IN WITH THE PRODUCT, as I found out when it broke and going to Home Depot for help was a joke. Anyway, I am happy so far with the Malibu and it seems that it has a bigger transformer than the Hampton and the overall construction is better. Just to convince you of how bad the Hampton Bay customer service is try doing a search for them online, you'll see.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Intermatic ML300RTW Malibu 300-Watt Power Pack with Timer and Ground Shield

The Malibu 300-watt power pack with timer and ground shield comes with 2 sets of trippers and a ground shield to help you program your lighting system. It converts 120-volt AC to 12-volt AC power and has an automatic multiple on/off timer with manual override switch. Control wattage outputs for your Malibu low-voltage lighting with this pack, which is protected by weather-resistant housing and is backed by a 6-year limited warranty.

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3/27/2011

Moonrays 95540 Low Voltage Path Lighting Kit with Power Pack Review

Moonrays 95540 Low Voltage Path Lighting Kit with Power Pack
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Like others have stated with these type of lights and systems, is you get what you pay for. Don't get me wrong, they are not horrid, but by no means are they a great system. The problem with Moonrays is the connection. It is made at the light bulb base where there are two pins under the base that pierce the cable. The problems are: The cable that comes with this unit is a very small gauge (18 Gauge is what is supplied despite the picture showing 16 Gauge). In order for the pins to hit the wire when the cable is pieced they have to be perfectly aligned. I learned from other reviewers and just bought some 14 Gauge wire instead, which gave me the desired thickness of copper to work with while maintaining flexibility when trying to bend the wire and push the pins into it. To keep the transformer on to check each connection I simply used a small piece of electrical tape over the sensor. I used a small nut driver to push the cable up into the light base pins while using the base of another (screwdriver) to hold the top part (where the light bulb goes) into place. Also contacts for the bulbs come very close together, are easily bent. If the bulb doesn't light after some manipulation of the bulb, pull the bulb base off, look at the wire and likely you'll see the perforations were off kilter, though with the 14 or 12 gauge wire this should not be a problem. Use your screwdriver to bend the pins in the proper direction and try again (but don't push the cable up into the housing with anything that will conduct electricity if you still have the transformer on. Having a voltmeter handy is nice, so if still the bulb doesn't lite, you can check the voltage across the bulb contacts. On a couple of mine it was hard just to get the bulb to contact properly and that's what was wrong even though the cable connection was good. Don't stake any of the lights down until all are connected and all are lit.
Once you get the idea of what your doing on the first light, the rest are quite easy to install. Unplug the transformer... install light, plug in to check if it works... repeat until finished.
Now all this works great for the pathway lights, the spot lights are another matter entirely. What a major pain in the butt to get installed. The major problem with the spot lights is there is no cam (the little thing that in the pathway lights, helps to keep the cable connected to the pins) for use in these. You push the pins and cable together, and attempt to set the "correct" angle for your spot lights, and place in the ground, the problem comes that if you Move the angle in which the spot light is set in the slightest without some major coordination of moving the cable along with it, the pins will come right out of the cable and your back to square one. Major flaw in setting these up. Setting up the two spot lights took longer than setting up the pathway lights.
So only 3 stars for this product, minus one star for the crappy 18 gauge wire they sent, and I had to go out and buy 14 gauge wire. Minus another star for the shoddy spot lights.
Otherwise, it was a fairly simple set up. I haven't had any problems with my transformer blowing yet, so do not know as to the longevity of the product.
If anyone knows of a link to finding decent / equivalent LED's for these lights, please let me know. Getting into Lumens / mCd vs Watts is a whole other story.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Moonrays 95540 Low Voltage Path Lighting Kit with Power Pack

14 Pack, Low Voltage, Plastic Tier Light Kit, Includes 12 Black Plastic Tier Lights, 2 Black Plastic Floodlights, 60W Control Unit, 50', 18 Gauge Low Voltage Cable, Fourteen 4W Bulbs, Control Unit Is Photocell Operated, Dusk To Dawn Operation, For Replace

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3/24/2011

Paradise Lighting GL23922 Solar Bamboo Look Tiki Torch including Ground Stake, 2 Flicker Amber LED Bulbs, Frosted Lens and Rechargable NiCad Batteries Review

Paradise Lighting GL23922 Solar Bamboo Look Tiki Torch including Ground Stake, 2 Flicker Amber LED Bulbs, Frosted Lens and Rechargable NiCad Batteries
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If you are looking for a soft glow and flicker this is the item for you. The light itself looks as if you have an actual candle in its frosted encasing. If you are actually looking for a tiki torch that provides lighting then you may not want to get this one,it provides little light. I paired it up with other solar torches to create a lighted walkway through my garden in which it is perfect for.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Paradise Lighting GL23922 Solar Bamboo Look Tiki Torch including Ground Stake, 2 Flicker Amber LED Bulbs, Frosted Lens and Rechargable NiCad Batteries

Paradise Garden Lighting GL23922 Solar Bamboo Look Tiki Torch Light, 2 Flickering Amber LED, Frosted Lens, Rechargable Ni-Cd BatteriesParadise Lighting solar bamboo torch fixture is a great poolside or patio accent. Gives a tropical affect without the use of oil or open flame. Uses NiCad rechargable batteries which charge during the day and power the fixture with 6-8 hours of LED light output at night. Dusk to dawn photo cell operation. Minimal assembly required. Requires full sun exposure to properly charge the batteries.Flickering amber LED bulbs. Frosted lens.Paradise Garden Lighting GL23922 Solar Bamboo Look Tiki Torch Light, 2 Flickering Amber LED, Frosted Lens, Rechargable Ni-Cd Batteries Features:; Simple assembly installs in minutes; Requires no wiring to operate; Energy efficient solar operation uses rechargable batteries to power the fixture; Tropical tiki look adds great accent lighting to your front or back yard; Durable poly construction weathers the elements; Frosted plastic lens; 2 Flickering Amber LED's; Bamboo; 59?Ç¥

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