# Philips Solar-Powered LED Christmas Lights Review



## StarHalo (Dec 3, 2009)

New for this year, Philips has introduced solar-powered LED Christmas lights:















Though I'm not entirely a fan of LED Christmas lights, I do like the idea of Christmas lights that don't have to be plugged in or attached to anything else; my wife picked these up at Target for the listed $19.99 price. The unbox:








Included are the lights permanently attached to the solar panel, a stake and pole for mounting the panel, and the single-sheet instructions. 








The panel is only a few inches in area, note the Fenix P1 for comparison.














The lights themselves are ~3mm units with a cylindrical package and concave end. There is no housing or cover over the LED. 








As with most non-"power" LEDs, the light output is only about locator/indicator level brightness, and the cylindrical package means how bright each LED looks varies greatly depending on how it's angled. 








My "install"; I've decided against using the stake/pole and have just set the solar panel on the ground - the lights are on the tree, but camouflage nicely thanks to their small size. 

I've had the panel out/charging since 11AM, full sunset will be around 5PM, I will update then..


*Update:*








(The orange ambient light in the image is a nearby streetlight. The image is deliberately underexposed to look closest to what the eye actually sees.)


They look pretty much the way you'd expect 3mm LEDs in a tree to look - not all that notable. One upshot is that they make the LED lights on the house look a little brighter, but note how bright the tree in the window looks in the image; that tree has standard incandescent Christmas bulbs on it, and they outshine any LED anywhere in the picture..


I'm not sure what the ideal application for these could be; maybe a small indoor tree next to a window, as long as the tree is in a dark room and you're not expecting anyone outside to see it. Like any other LED Christmas lights, the colors are vibrant, but the size and brightness just isn't there.


*Another Update:*


It looks like we're going to do some abuse testing, since the temps outside have fallen below freezing; that can't be good for a LiPo cell. And next week, rain and snow is in the forecast..


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## Alaric Darconville (Dec 3, 2009)

Can't wait for the "beamshots"!


Also of note is that Philips has a "net style" in all blue ( http://www.target.com/Philips-50-Bu...0&id=Philips 50-Bulb Solar-Powered Net Lights ) as well as other solar-powered offerings like icicle lights and what-have-you.

The times, they are a-changin'...


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## BentHeadTX (Dec 5, 2009)

Pretty cool though, a no brainer for folks that hate turning them on/off, stringing power cords everywhere etc. 

Imagine the fun with a big solar panel, XP-G R5 bins with a few SST-90's thrown in...


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## StarHalo (Dec 8, 2009)

*Update #3:* Snow and rain with heavy winds yesterday, overnight cooled to 25 degrees, and today's temp never went over 40, yet the lights are still coming on at sunset and remain on for several hours, pretty impressive..


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## Evan (Dec 22, 2009)

Taking a multicolor set apart, I find there is a 4.3K resistor in series with each LED, which explains how they operate red-yellow-orange LEDs in parallel with green-blue. The LEDs are operated at about 0.25mA each; 12mA for the string.

An orange string from Halloween doesn't have these resistors. I suspect with any one-color string (not the multi-color with the resistors) you can trade off brightness for number of LEDs by removing some.

I replaced my mixed string of 50 with a string of 10 green from an IKEA set designed to run on a 3v pack of 2 AA cells. These have no resistors and run at about 17mA off the Philips solar power. Their brightness is pretty impressive.

I put the solar panel on my dash and used black duct tape to space the 10 green LEDs evenly across the top edge of my windshield. They are barely visible from the inside, but plenty of Christmas cheer from the outside. Easy to find my car in a dark parking lot, but in a well-lit lot the solar panel turns them off.


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## Dave_H (Dec 24, 2009)

New to Philips this year, but not on the market; I've had
white and multi-coloured strings for a couple of years.
These are "debranded" refurbs at $10 for strings of 52.
The solar panel/electronics box is different. Mine uses one
AA NiCd but electronics are potted so can't see too much
else inside.

At 45 degrees latitiude and south-facing I find I can get
a few hours' operation typically on sunny days.

White string has constant/flash modes. Multi-colour has a
funky fast/slow strobe sequence that alone is almost worth
the price.

I keep mine inside in windows so can't comment on durability.

Nice pics, by the way!

Dave


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## Burgess (Dec 24, 2009)

Interesting product.


Perhaps Target will have 'em On Sale ( 50% ) after Christmas.



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