The Best Outdoor Solar String Lights For Your Backyard

Last updated on June 10, 2020

We moved from Colorado to Minnesota back in 2018. The home we bought was built in the 1940s and it looked like the backyard had not been touched since then.

The yard had a ton of dead spots, the pathway to the garage had sunken in creating a collection area for water, and worse of all was the plants.

Let me tell you something – Buckthorn is a nasty shrub and we had it all over the backyard. It all had to go!

We decided that we had to re-do the entire backyard. We ripped out all the buckthorn, extended the yard, graded it out, put in new sod, added a paver patio, and put a pergola over it.

The last step in the two month process was finding some lights for the pergola.

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Work With What You Have

When buying outdoor lights, you have to work with what you have.

What we did not have was an outdoor electrical outlet anywhere near our pergola. And, I was not about to run a 100 ft extension cord across my lawn.

So, I knew whatever type of lights we go with – they would have to be solar-powered.

I actually prefer solar powered outdoor lighting because:

  • They don’t increase your electric bill
  • They are low maintenance
  • Most have light sensors to turn off and on automatically

We decided we liked the string lighting the best over yard lights or single hanging lights. We felt that string lights provided more of an “outdoor patio” feel.

We also liked that you could wrap string lights around the canopy of a pergola, or any other structure, in any way you want without needing to nail them in.

FOXLUX Solar String Lights

I took to Amazon and did some comparison shopping of different solar string lights. There were a bunch of options but I found a set with great reviews and a relatively decent price.

It was the FOXLUX Solar String Lights 48 ft set. It was available for Prime delivery so I decided to give them a try.

The arrived in a well-packaged box and all of the bulbs were wrapped up nicely. The solar panel came with two attachments; a stake to stick it into the ground or a mounting bracket with a couple of screws to attach it to a structure.

The first thing the instructions say to do it to plug the lights into the solar panel and press the on button. The lights should quickly flash to show you that they all work and that the solar panel was now on and would be absorbing energy from the sun.

It was really that simple – plug the lights into the solar panel, turn it on, and hang them.

Hanging the Solar Lights

Hanging the lights can be a time-consuming process depending on where you are hanging them. I was looping them in and out of the canopy of my pergola so it took about an hour.

The first thing I did was install the mounting bracket for the solar panel in a position where it would get the most sunlight throughout the day. Then, I attached the panel and attached the string lights.

foxlux solar lights review

From there it was just weaving over and through the beams to get the lights to hang how I wanted them to. It was a lot of getting on a ladder, adjusting, moving the ladder, adjusting more – but, after about an hour I had it the way I wanted.

Waiting for Dusk

The solar panel has an ambient light sensor that automatically turns on the light at dusk. There is no way to adjust the light sensor so you have to wait until it is ready to kick on.

It surprisingly has to be pretty dark out before they turn on. I wish there was a way to adjust this setting.

However, when they did finally turn on, I was very impressed!

They all turned on and gave off a uniform amount of light. It is a soft yellowish light that lit up about a 20 x 20 ft area quite well.

The best way I can describe it in words is a “romantic ambiance”. It will be light enough to see everything but still dim enough to have a romantic or intimate type of setting.

Overall

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Pros

  • Well Packaged
  • Quality lights
  • Easy to set-up
  • No Maintenace (set it and forget it)
  • Weatherproof
  • Long-lasting (roughly 6 hours)

Cons

  • Ambient light sensor not adjustable

Overall, the FOXLUX Solar String Lights are a great purchase for any backyard. They are of high quality, low maintenance, and weatherproof. I even left them out all winter (a Minnesota winter) and they still all worked in the spring.

I was also impressed with how long they last. There are times where I have woke up at 3 or 4 am and they are still on. On average, you can expect 6 hours of light on a normal partly cloudy day.

For the price, I don’t believe you can do any better for solar string lights. You can purchase them by clicking the button below.

Aaron Written by:

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