All night or “dusk to dawn,” lighting is a great way to keep your home safe. It will light your way when you leave the house or come home late at night. This post will cover some of the essential factors to consider when buying the best solar powered dusk to dawn light. Some of the top products available on the market right now will be reviewed as well.
Top Recommendation
A high quality solar floodlight with a dusk to dawn sensor, adjustable brightness, and motion sensor.
Upgrade Option
Sunwebcam 120 LED Solar Powered FloodLights
A bright and versatile flood light with a lot of special features, adjustable brightness, and will stay on all night.
Value Option
Solar light that is perfect for backyard, lawn, landscape security, fence, pathway, docks or any spot.
Before you rush out to buy new solar-powered dusk to dawn lighting, there are a few factors that you should consider. Here are the top features you will want to look out for in solar dusk to dawn lighting and why they are essential.
Like with all floodlighting, the brightness of dusk to dawn floodlights is measured in lumens. The higher the number of lumens, the brighter the light it will be. For reference, an average kitchen or bathroom bulb will have around 800 lumens or less – and some solar floodlights can go all the way up to 5,000 lumens.
Dusk till dawn lights, in general, are not as bright as other floodlights because they are designed to stay up all night without losing their charge. The average dusk to dawn light will have around 1,000 lumens – that is bright enough to illuminate a larger outdoor space like a driveway or garden, but not so bright that it will disturb the neighbors or keep you up all night.
Some dusk to dawn light controls will have multiple brightness settings to have a brighter light when you need it.
Solar-powered lights get their charge from the sun, so they are generally very cost-effective in your home. Leaving your solar-powered floodlights on all night will not run up your energy bill. That said, the best dusk to dawn lights will still use energy efficiency so that they can hold their charge to stay up all night.
You can look at a light’s run time to know that it will be able to hold its charge from dusk until dawn. If a light has an average run time of fewer than 8 hours, it won’t work well as your dusk to dawn outdoor light.
Dusk to dawn lights are meant to be used for outdoor spaces, so it is vital that they can withstand the elements. All outdoor lights are waterproof to some degree. For the best waterproofing, you should look for a dusk to dawn light with a high IP rating.
IP, or Ingress Protection, ratings are the measure of how well-sealed and encasing is. An IP over 65 will not just keep out moisture, but dust too, and will stay dry even if submerged in deep water. If you live in an area that sees a lot of storms and wet weather, a high IP rating is a good indication that you will be able to use your dusk to dawn outdoor lights for a long time without needing to replace or repair them.
Additionally, you should make sure that the casing around your solar-powered light is corrosion resistant and durable enough to last for years outdoors without needing replacement.
Most outdoor dusk to dawn lights is designed to be mounted on a wall so that you can light up an area right outside your house. Mounted lights are great for use in your driveway, back yard, or over your front door.
But if you are interested in placing dusk to dawn light somewhere you will not be able to mount it on a wall – like in a garden or your yard, for example – you will want to choose solar dusk to dawn light that can be placed in the ground on a stake or can be mounted on a high pole.
However you mount or place your solar-powered light, it must be located somewhere it will be in direct sunlight during the day. Most lights need around 7 or 8 hours of sunlight to fully charge – you should be conscious not to place the light in a dark or shady area.
Some lights come with detached solar panels, which allows you to mount the light wherever you want and then mount the solar panel separately, somewhere it will see plenty of direct sunlight.
One of the essential features of a dusk to dawn light is that it will automatically turn off and on with the daylight. Built-in dusk to dawn sensor in your floodlight will actually read the brightness, turn the light on at dusk, and then shut it off again at sunrise.
This feature helps to save energy and makes it easier for you – you don’t have to worry about turning the light on and off manually or setting a timer according to changing daylight hours.
While dusk to outdoor dawn lights is great for security, they can also be pretty annoying if they are shining in a window. They can also disturb wildlife like owls and bats around your home.
Some lights come with a motion sensor that will detect movement and cause the light to change from a dim to a bright setting to limit those issues. That means the light can be just bright enough to see all night and only get brighter when you walk in front of it.
Now that you know what features to look for, here are three of the best solar powered dusk to dawn lights available on the market right now. These are all excellent quality outdoor lights, but they each have the features that make them unique.
A high quality solar floodlight with a dusk to dawn sensor, adjustable brightness and motion sensor.
A bright and versatile flood light with a ton of special features, adjustable brightness and will stay on all night.
A great solar powered light for a low price, multiple mounting options, adjustable brightness, and motion sensor.
All three of these options are high-quality outdoor floodlights that can be used dusk to dawn. While they are all great, we think that the Guardian solar security floodlight is a clear winner over the other two. The Guardian light checks all the criteria mentioned earlier in this post: it is weatherproof, has an independent, detached solar panel, a great run time, and a dusk to dawn sensor.
While it is not the brightest LED dusk to dawn light out there, the Guardian light has a motion sensor that will cause it to get brighter whenever someone is walking through. That means that it will give you the comfort and security of staying on all night, without being bright enough to disturb your neighbors or upset wildlife.
We like the Guardian solar flood light best, but one of the other two options might be better suited to your needs. Whatever light you choose, make sure you mount the solar panel somewhere, it will get plenty of direct sunlight, and your outdoor light will keep your home secure night after night.