How solar light works
As I mention, choosing the best solar lights isn¡¯t an easy task, it requires few more things than the best list that you have read from other review posts. Understanding how solar light works is the very important thing.
Solar-powered lights use renewable energy, it is the lighting system composed of an LED lamp, Photovoltaic panels, built-in batteries, a charge controllers and a controller. A photovoltaic (PV) module collects energy from the sun and stores it in batteries to operate the required wattage of light at night when there is no sunlight to produce lighting. The light is being turned on by an intelligent controller which is switching on the LED light using the energy that has been stored.
A solar cell consists of multiple layers of crystalline silicone and chemicals that create layers of negatively-charged electrons and positively-charged spaces. As sunlight passes through the solar cell, it excites the negatively-charged electrons and pushes them into the positively-charged spaces. The positively-charged spaces then transfer the electron stream as a direct current of electricity through wires embedded into the solar cell to a battery where the electricity is stored until it¡¯s needed. The battery charges throughout the day as sunlight continues to be converted to electricity.
The battery is a standard Nicad battery or Lithium-ion Battery, the lithium-ion battery solar lights are better than Nicad-battery solar lights but they are also more expensive. When a solar light¡¯s battery dies, you can easily buy an another one to replace.
The light will be shown through the LED light. LED lights are very high efficiency and long life, up to 50,000 hours. A cheap solar light uses only a single LED will not enough to provide illumination. More expensive lights may offer a dozen of LED or a combination of an LED and a small halogen flashlight bulb, provide good illumination. If you have to buy solar lights for making a trail or for emergencies, you need to make sure that they are bright enough to see.