There’s a lot more to consider when buying lights intended for outdoor use, such as best solar decking lights. Floor mounted decking lights need to be sturdy enough to hold up to foot traffic. Outdoor lights in general, need to hold up to the elements, yet attractive enough to complement your outdoor decor and illuminate your social gatherings.
We have a small list below of popular solar decking lights. We’ve included short blurbs on what liked about them, featuring the pros and cons neatly listed out. There’s also a buyers’ guide so you can learn which features are preferable in quality lights, and won’t be left in the dark when it comes to finding the best deals.
In a hurry? This is our winner!
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If you’re in need of some illumination ASAP, we have our top decking lights right here. Check out the Tomshine Recessed LED Deck Light Kit, a large pack of sixteen lights that boast great illuminating and waterproof qualities, perfect for outside use.
See why we liked these lights in some more detail below:
- A large kit of sixteen white LED fixtures that feature a warm and starry light that doesn’t look unnatural at night, and they’re easy to install wherever you can drill a hole.
- Safe for use by beginners and pros at garden DIY thanks to their low voltage DC12V output, and they’re detachable so you don’t need to use all sixteen, only as many as you need.
- Durable lights that won’t dislocate thanks to a clasp that anchors them into the ground at the bottom of each fixture, and they’re rated at IP67 to boot, so they can withstand water, dust, and debris.
Best Solar Decking Lights – Comparison Table
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Best Solar Decking Lights – Reviews
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Our first decking light option is the Tomshine Recessed LED Deck Light Kit, a large sixteen-piece kit of bright but safe, low voltage, versatile lights perfect for installation in a wide variety of floor surfaces. The lighting effect of these white lights has been described as warm and starry, meaning they don’t look artificial and synthetic when shining at night.
When we mentioned these lights are low voltage, we mean they have an output of DC12V, which makes these safe to handle and tinker with by minimizing the power that you can get exposed to. A stable copper connector tries to keep shock risk to a minimum anyway, though, and ensures a near-constant flow of power to avoid flickering when active.
This makes them very friendly to those who may not have much experience or know-how when it comes to garden DIY.
The connection between each of these sixteen lights is a parallel one, meaning they’re connected without obstructing one another and allowing for ample space between each fixture. Not only that, but they’re also detachable so that when you only want to use a fraction of these lights, you can detach however many you’ll be working with.
The individual light fixtures won’t detach from the ground, however, thanks to clasps beneath the LED lights that make sure they don’t dislocate when knocked around and stepped over on the floor of your deck.
Speaking of knocks, they’re also graded on the IP rating at IP67, meaning they’re dust-proof but also waterproof to withstand rain and other harsh, wet weathers.
For how many of them there are to work with, and the fact they’re cabled, these lights are also very easy to install compared to some of the other wired alternatives you can find out there.
They’re able to be installed more or less wherever you can drill a hole, one to place the light fixture in and another to thread the wiring through.
- Sixteen white LED fixtures that illuminate with a warm, starry light
- Low DC12V voltage output makes these safe to tinker with
- Detachable and parallel connection means each light is able to be installed independently of the other
- LED lights are clasped into the ground so that dislocation isn’t a worry
- Waterproof to an IP67 rating
- Easy to install wherever you can drill a hole
- The most expensive option here
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At the second spot on our list are the Forcetek Solar Power Deck Lights, a pack of four in-ground lights that are great for illuminating walkways, driveways, pool sides, and of course, decking. In each unit of these deck lights are four white and bright LEDs that are guaranteed to light your decking to a satisfying degree.
They harvest their power during the day via monocrystalline solar panels, high-performance tech that helps these lights achieve their brightness during the night. As for the body of these lights, they’re made from stainless steel in order to take any punishment that they’ll be subjected to outdoors, such as footfalls and other knocks.
Included with the purchase are the Ni-MH batteries that these light fixtures operate from. They’re not only rechargeable for a constant, repeating use when connected to the light’s solar panel, but they’re also replaceable if you happen to have a stronger battery lying around that you want to use.
When replacing the batteries, you’ll have to remove the top of these lights. The fact you can do this is also very useful for cleaning them, so you can make sure the interiors of these lights are clean and unobstructed, ensuring that they can last as long as possible and get you the most for your money.
On the product listing page, you’ll see that there’s not as many ratings of these lights as we’d like, but all of the ratings there are positive so far. If these are the lights you go with, we’d love to hear how you like them.
- Four pack of lights with four bright white LEDs per fixture
- Powered by high-performance monocrystalline solar panels
- Made with stainless steel for durability
- Replaceable and rechargeable Ni-MH batteries included
- Top can be removed for cleaning
- Not many Amazon ratings, but great reviews around other sites
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At the midpoint of our list we have the Otdair Solar Ground Lights which, as their feet suggest, are designed to be pushed into softer ground for outdoor lighting.
That said, they’re still able to be installed on your deck and patio with next to no trouble at all as long as you cut the requisite hole to slot them into, because the needles at the bottom aren’t that strong.
This also makes them easy to reuse should you later get rid of your deck and still want to use these lights on pathways.
Each has a built-in 600mAH battery which, whilst sounding small compared to some of the other battery power sources out there, gives a healthy charge of eight to ten hours after absorbing sunlight for about six to eight hours during the day.
This will obviously depend on the weather and the sunlight levels in your location.
The stainless steel bodies of these lights are covered in a waterproof coating that makes rain, but also snow, frost, and other moisture-carrying weather forms a non-issue. They’re also easy to use since they automatically detect the light levels around them and adjust accordingly, and use this function to turn on and off when needed.
The performance of these lights seems to be hit and miss depending on a wide variety of environmental factors, sometimes being dimmer than usual and sometimes brighter than usual.
This is something to keep in mind if you’re looking for lighting consistency.
- A pack of eight LED warm lights that can be installed in soft and solid ground
- Illuminates for eight to ten hours on six to eight hours of charge
- Advanced covering material used on the lamp shell stops rain and frost damage
- Automatically turn on and off when light levels are detected to change
- Can be prone to periods of inconsistent brightness
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Next up are the Siedinlar Solar Deck Lights, the Amazon’s Choice product for “driveway lights” because they’re floor mounted, but they can be mounted on walls too with the provided screws. Either way they’re safe for use on decking.
Since they’re designed to be used on floors, they’re made of aluminum alloy, which is durable in its own right, but they’re also made to be resistant to about 20-tons of pressure. This is enough to withstand cars and trucks, so hopefully it can withstand you too if you end up putting these on your decking.
They’re also waterproof to IP68, which is more capable than the IP65 ratings above, and means that they’re able to withstand thirty minutes of submersion under 1.5 meters of water. They should never have to perform to that capacity, of course, but it’s nice to know that these lights have great waterproof credentials backing you up.
As for their performance, they can last twelve to fifteen hours during the evening on just six to eight hours of daylight charging time respectively. This amount can vary depending on where you live, however, with some reporting they only get about four to six hours of charge.
- Deck lights made of durable aluminum alloy
- Resistant to pressures up to 20 tons
- Can last 12 to 15 hours during the night on only 6-8 hours of charge
- Waterproof to IP68 and resistant to blizzards and daily heat
- The lights are fainter than previous list entries
- Don’t hold charge in certain areas, you must have lots of sunlight
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Our last product in this list also happens to be the budget option. It’s the Moonrays 95028 Solar Deck Wall Mounted Sconce which comes in a few different shapes, but we’ve listed the larger, rectangular lights since they’re our favorite and feature the largest solar paneling.
The lights activate and deactivate when needed, since they sense the light levels around them much like the rest of the lights on this list. They’re able to be installed on walls and wooden constructs like fences and decking steps, too.
The plastic casings of these solar lights are bronze-colored, so they have a metallic look to them, and the color blends well with the browns of the wood that decking is made from. They aren’t just pretty, however, as they’re weather-resistant and rustproof.
The batteries that are in these models are only 600mAh, which isn’t that powerful a battery. You can get handheld battery power banks with higher mAh. Thankfully, it is possible to replace the battery with a more powerful one but that’s another expense, nonetheless.
- Automatically activate/deactivate at dawn and dusk
- Can be installed on walls, steps, or fences
- Rust-proof bronze-colored plastic housing blends in well with wood patterned decking
- Battery is only 600mAh, should consider replacing
Best Solar Decking Lights – Buyers Guide
How to find the best solar decking lights
Like with any form of electrical equipment, you’ll be staring down a lot of specs when hunting for suitable lights for your decking. This is especially the case for solar lights where the capacity of the solar paneling and the battery need some extra consideration. We’ll break the lights down into their parts and tell you what to look out for regarding each one. This’ll be the lumen output, solar paneling, battery capacity, motion sensors, durability, and ease of installation.
Lumen Output
With any light, you’ll want to check the lumen output. By this we mean the general light output, as there’s not much standardization between how something like light is measured, so it may be measured by a different metric for the other products you have your eyes on.
Whatever the case is, it makes sense to get the best performing light in lumens for your budget, but you’ll obviously want to keep certain things like the size of your yard and whether you have neighbors in mind. You won’t want to wake anyone up with any grand light displays.
You can also throw the number of lights in here too, since that’ll generally mean more light output depending on the kinds of decking lights you’re looking at.
Solar Paneling
You’ll also want to make sure the panels are the most efficient you can get for a reasonable price. An assurance of their durability is appreciated, too, since if any part of the casing is the most vulnerable it’ll be the solar panels.
The efficiency of the panels changes how much power the lights can get when subjected to sunlight, with higher percentages meaning a more cost and energy-efficient light. This also correlates with the charging time and illumination time of these lights, which brings us to our next point.
Battery Capacity
With batteries, bigger is generally better. Since these lights will usually be staying on in some dimmer capacity, you’ll want a powerful battery that can last the whole night. Fortunately, the handier people among you might be able to replace subpar batteries with better ones that can carry more charge.
Motion Sensors
These aren’t necessary, hence why we’ve put them this far into the guide instead of front and center, but if they are necessary you’ll have to once again consider the size of your yard since you don’t want these lights going off every time a car passes your street. Find lights with motion sensors that are reliable yet affordable and match up its sensing radius to the size of your decking and the yard that is presumably around that decking.
Durability
Buying tech that isn’t durable is a surefire way to burn your money. In fact, lighting your decking with a campfire stocked by one-dollar bills is probably cheaper than buying tech that’s likely to break because it can’t stand up to the punishment of the outside world.
This includes weatherproofing, particularly heatproofing and waterproofing to have the extremes covered. You’ll see items rated on their Ingress Protection ratings, such as IP65 or IP68 in the list above. The first digit refers to dustproofing but it’s the second waterproof number that’s more important, the higher that number the better.
Ease of Installation
The ease of installation is predicated on several things, from where these lights can get placed to how easy they are to mount on different surfaces. You want to get lights that aren’t too complicated to install and, depending on your preference, can either get replaced easily or will stay as a semi-permanent fixture.
Naturally, since you’re looking for decking lights, you’ll want lights that can get installed on, or on walls adjacent to, decking. However, we think it’s nice to have lights that can be installed on a wide variety of surfaces since there’s always the possibility of you moving them around, especially if you’re a tinkerer when it comes to backyard DIY.
Try and get lights that come with screws or other fixtures for their own mounting, but we trust that you’ll have some screws laying around if they don’t. Sometimes the screws that come with lights can be subpar though, so it’s good to have your own tools and screws on hand anyway.
Growing Indoors?
If you’re interested in LED lights for indoor growing, you may find this helpful. We’re also loving our decorative solar garden sun globe with cracked glass. It’s whimsically decorative by day and delightfully colorful at night and makes a great gift, including a gift for your garden or front porch
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