A month or so ago I purchased a solar powered shed lamp at a local home center. The light has a big solar panel that mounts on the outside of the shed and a small cord is then connected to the solar light. The idea is to have the solar panel outside where it is sunny and the light inside where it is dark (simple concept). Since the whole kit cost less than $30 I figured it’s a cheap solar product that I should test.

Once I got home I figured out that I will never go to my shed after dark, who needs a shovel at 10pm? With tears in my eyes and a broken heart, I decided to mount it on my work trailer. My work trailer has lights but they only work if the truck is on and the power is connected. A few times a week I need to work in my trailer or look for some tools so the trailer was in need of my new solar powered shed light. In a way, my trailer is a shed on wheels!

I mounted the solar panel on the back of my trailer in a way that the wind will not blow it off and it is able to get full sun. After a day of charging I was able to finally test my new light. The LED light cluster is able to light up the entire inside of my 6×12 trailer. Granted the light is not a blinding light but it provides enough light for me to work and find my tools.

I feel that the solar panel is large enough to quickly charge the batteries and provide an unlimited amount of uses for what was intended as a shed light. Some of my ideas so far include:

Installing the solar panel on the side of a home and installing the lamp in a kitchen or hallway to provide light at night. This would provide enough light for people to walk around without using overhead lights.

Using the light to light up a bulkhead or basement entry.

Using the light on boat or RV’s as a backup light.

If you buy one of the lights and come up with a different use please leave a comment!

A couple months ago I wrote an article on another blog about how long my solar powered fence lights were lasting. We originally took solar powered walkway lights and removed the bases in order for them to fit down the 1.25″x1.25″ shafts of our fence. Once in a while a good wind storm would cause them to fly away but year after year they survived the beatings and provided us with service. This spring I commented on how they have lasted 5,6 or 7 years (my memory is bad) without the solar panels or the batteries failing. Last night I looked outside and noticed that not one of them worked anymore!

This morning I transplanted 10 of the solar lights from our front yard to replace the lights on our fence. This spring I added 20 lights in our front yard and everyone feels that I might of added to many. None the less, our front and back yard are equally balance with ten solar lights each.

My next project is to attempt to revive our dead lights and use them on our back lower yard which is currently without any solar powered lights. I’m not sure if they died because the solar panels grew a black film over the panel or if the batteries got tired of 5-7 years of charging and draining cycles.

Welcome to the Solar Powered Garden Lamp blog!  Since we are big fans of solar powered lights we will be able to provide product reviews for products that we use.  Some of our first reviews will be on:

Solar powered tiki lamps.

Solar powered LED deck step lights.

Solar powered shed lamps.

Solar powered spot lights.

Solar powered umbrella lights.

Solar powered walkway lights.

If it’s solar powered we will review the product and share our experiences.