Do solar lights work under a porch?

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If you are interested in installing solar lights in your porch area but unsure by the question: do solar lights work under a porch? than this is the post for you.

Through this post you will also learn about the best directions for solar lights under the porch to get maximum output.

Short answer: Yes, solar lights do work under a porch but its working and output will depend upon certain factors like direction of the porch, trees ,and buildings nearby.

Now let’s look at these factors in detail.

1. direction of the porch

We all know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. When I was learning about solar energy applications I came across a interesting fact about the direction of solar panels (maybe you don’t know about that too).

I came to know that the best direction for solar based appliances like solar lights is the south direction. I was amused!

Solar appliances work best if their solar panels face south direction. So if I take this fact into consideration than if your porch is facing south than you can have the best output from solar lights with minimum loss.

In other three directions the output loss will be more. The more you move away from the sun the less output your solar lights will give.

This diagram below will help you understand this concept better.

Direction	Output
East	Less
South-East	Maximum
South	Maximum
South-West	Moderate
West	Moderate
North	Very Less

So the direction of the porch plays an important role while installing solar lights under it.

2. trees and buildings

As we have earlier seen in a post about the impact of trees on solar lights if you have trees nearby with their shade falling on the porch than it will also affect the output.

The Same concept applies to buildings nearby.

So, to have the best output from your solar lights under porch try to place them in the direction where sunlight during day is maximum.

Do solar lights work under overhang?

Now this second question arose in my mind because I wanted to hang my solar lights on the porch wall near overhang.

To experiment I bought these solar lights and installed them at appropriate places.

Since my porch was facing the south so ample sunlight was received during the day. I also made sure to not hang the lights very near to the roof. This I done so that sunlight can reach them.

In the night the lights worked very well without getting dim. So yes solar lights can work under overhang provided you place them at appropriate height.

To test in other directions I put one among them in the east direction. Since less sunlight was available from east direction and that too in the early hours of sunrise, energy output was not that much but satisfactory.

conclusion

Through this article we got to know that yes, solar lights can be placed in porch area. I have also shown you the best directions to put solar lights for maximum output.

For getting best results out of your solar powered lights for porch, it is best to use solar lights with separate wired solar panel attached to it.

I hope you are satisfied with the answer.

Get more information about porch solar lights on my page: solar lights for porch