With the arrival of the holidays, the time also comes to decorate our house, balconies and garden with Christmas lights. But if we are concerned about the effect on the bill or if we simply prefer to decorate exteriors and interiors without impacting too much on the environment, there are several solutions at hand.
The first – for outdoor decorations – is to buy LED lights powered by solar panels. However, taking the classic light chain as a reference point, we will have to pay close attention that the battery can accumulate at least 1,200 mAh (thousandths of an amp hour). An amount usually enough to cover 10 hours each day.
For our lights inside the house, we could instead partially reduce consumption by buying a socket with a timer or a smart-plug so as not to keep the lighting on more than necessary.
Lepro Solar Outdoor String Lights for outdoor use with solar panels and USB
The Lepro chain consists of 26 LED globe lights linked together to an 25-feet string, with the nice plus of a photocell light sensor that turns the bulbs on at night and shuts them off during the day. As for the power supply, this can be both with solar panels -suitable for outdoors- and via a USB socket -for indoors. The solar battery capacity reaches is 2 x 1800 mAh (3600 mAh in total), allowing almost a full day of constant operation.
ITICdecor light chain with solar panels
This by ITICdecor is another chain of multicolored lights, but it is however not composed of medium-sized spheres but of 200 small LEDs on leather wire with anti-breakage copper wire. The length is 20 meters and features eight light modes (Ostant, Wave, Slow Flash, Continuous, Flash, Bright and Dark, Fast Flash and Dream) that can be adjusted easily either by a button or remotely through a small remote control. Duration is guaranteed by two 1200 mAh lithium batteries which can cover over 3 days of ignition – with a 6 hour solar charge.
JMEXSUSS light chain with solar panels
JMEXSUSS has produced a 75.5 feet long string of lights with 200 multicolor micro LEDs with eight lighting modes (combination, in a wave, sequential, slo glo, chasing/flash, slow fade, twinkle/flash, and steady on)). The intensity of these LED creates a warm, joyful and festive atmosphere for decorative passageways, gardens, terraces, yards and such, while the 1200 mah battery capacity guarantees up to 8-12 hours of light following a full charge.
Go2garden Solar Lantern with solar panels
An alternative proposal to the classic chain of lights is that of Go2garden: a hollow garden lantern in stainless metal suitable for being placed on a table or a windowsill or which can just as easily be hung. The built-in 600 mAh battery – lower than the standard 1200 for a chain of lights, but much more than enough for a single lamp – allows for about 8-10 hours of constant lighting.
Electric socket: timer or smart-plug
If, on the other hand, we want to buy a chain of lights with a more traditional power supply, we can also limit our energy consumption by making sure that the lights do not stay on when we are not at home thanks to two different devices: a very simple electrical socket with timer or a smart-plug to be integrated into a home automation system.
Among the electrical sockets with a mechanical timer, a recommended purchase is the GE socket: switching it off and on is absolutely easy by turning the crown at time intervals of 30 minutes and within a maximum span of 24 hours.
If, on the other hand, we prefer a more elaborate tool that allows us not only to control switching on and off but also to monitor our energy consumption, we would do well to turn to a product such as the TP-Link smart-plug, compatible with both Amazon’s Alexa assistant device both Google Home.
Target Point, Italian Ideas