Do solar lights work in a conservatory?
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If you have a conservatory at your home and your are thinking about installing solar lights in it but unsure by the question do solar lights work in a conservatory? than this post is for you.
In this post I have made a detailed analyses whether solar lights can be used in a conservatory or not?
Short answer: Yes, solar lights work in a conservatory. But there are various other factors which needs to be checked to get the best and optimum performance from a solar light.
To know such other factors which have the effect on working of a solar light inside a glasshouse it is very important to first know about the basic structure of a sunroom.
This will help us to build the relationship between the factor and its effect on the glass house.
So let’s look at it first.
structure of a conservatory/glasshouse
Since you are on this page about solar lights in a conservatory I assume you might be having one at your one.
If you have than you may be aware of the basic structure of a conservatory.
A very basic conservatory is built using wooden/steel frame for structure and glass/other transparent material to allow sunlight to pass through it.
Roof of glasshouse is also made transparent.
Now we have a basic idea of how a sunroom looks like its time to look at our main question.
In my article do solar lights charge through glass I have talked about how the current from the solar panels is slashed to one-third of its original when placed behind the glass window.
This I am telling you here is because all of the conservatories use glass for capturing heat and sunlight inside the conservatory.
Because of this factor the first thing that will happen to your solar lights is their output will slash to its 1/3rd value.
Consequently the batteries will charge less and it will affect the performance of the solar light.
Next factor I need to discuss here is about heat. It is a research based fact that extreme temperatures can affect the output of the solar panels.
Solar panels work best in the temperature range of 15oC and 35oC[1]. Now you might be aware of this fact that how hot a conservatory can become during summers.
With increase of 1 degree in temperature the solar panel efficiency is decreased by 0.3%.
So with temperature going above 35 degree Celsius inside the sunroom the solar lights installed inside will experience a decrease in power generation.
With these two factors it becomes clear that although there is no problem in using solar lights inside the glasshouse but the power generation, storage and output from the batteries will decrease to a large extent.
But its not to say that you can’t use them. You can and you should if you want to decorate your conservatory with solar lights for night.
do solar lights charge in a conservatory? conclusion
Solar lights do charge inside of a conservatory. You will be able to use them inside the conservatory during the night.
But if the temperature inside the glasshouse will be above 35o Celsius then expect it to work less than normal.
For getting the best results out of your solar light use lights with detachable solar panels. In this way there will be no effect of extreme heat on the solar panels and you will be able to use them for longer durations.
I hope you got the answer you were looking for. For more such content you can check this page: will solar lights work in conservatory.