Decorative Lighting But Also Helpful For Security Purposes – The Best Gutter Lights

By Corey Majeau

Corey Majeau Home Improvement Contributor

Corey Majeau is a researcher, product tester, and writer for many sites including Homedit. With ten years of experience as a content writer, graphic designer, and hands-on product tester. Corey brings a certain level of quality and personality to the team.

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| Published on Jul 27, 2020

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Decorative Lighting But Also Helpful For Security Purposes - The Best Gutter Lights

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Gutter lights are both practical and decorative. While some people actually need them for lighting purposes, others just use them because nothing is more beautiful than admiring your yard in the evening, while the light highlights the trees and the flowers in an almost fairy tale landscape.

Choosing Gutter Lights

Before you actually shop for gutter lights, it’s important for you to know what are the features that are going to make a difference:

• Lumens

This is a term that is used to describe the light brightness of a particular fixture you’re interested in purchasing. The number of lumens that you want to go for depends on the purpose of the lights. People that are interested in installing gutter lights for safety reasons are going to want to choose units that are brighter and have a higher number of lumens. Alternatively, you can choose lights with fewer lumens, but install more units to get the amount of light you want. For the most part, gutter lights have 300 to 400 lumens, with less expensive units having as little as 100 lumens. The most powerful ones typically have around 500 lumens. Remember, the higher the number, the brighter the lights.

• Solar Panel

Because gutter lights are installed in a rather inconvenient place (in terms of weather exposure and proximity to power outlets), they are generally powered by the sun. These lights have small solar panels attached directly to them, so it’s important that you research the solar panel capacity before you buy the lights. Specifically, you want to look into the voltage and wattage. When both of these numbers are high, it means that the lights are more efficient overall. However, know that solar powered gutter lights don’t really need that much power to work, which means that you don’t have to completely rule out products that have a lower wattage and voltage.

• Construction

Different gutter lights will be made from different materials, so knowing this information will help you understand more about the durability and expectations you can have for this product’s lifespan. When it comes to the construction of these lights, there are two important aspects to consider: materials used and waterproof rating. The materials that are used to make gutter lights need to be sturdy and capable of withstanding nature’s elements. For instance, consider the fact that these lights will be exposed to the sun for a long period of time, so you can’t have the casing dilate or shrink because of heat and UV rays.

Also, it’s important that the lights be constructed in such a way as to prevent rainwater from reaching the parts inside the product, so look for gutter lights that have waterproof ratings. Typically, the winning combination in this particular aspect is the ABS and IP65 combo. This means that lights meeting these requirements can take a little “weather bashing” without suffering damage.

• Battery Life

Needless to say, you want gutter lights that are capable of staying lit throughout the entire night on a single charge. What this means is that the battery has to be good, but also that the lights need to get a decent amount of sun exposure every day so they can charge to the fullest. Gutter lights are typically equipped with lithium-ion batteries and Ni-MH batteries. The latter option is more powerful but also more expensive. The former one is low maintenance, but they are more affordable.

The choice of battery will affect the performance of the lights during the night. When you’re looking into the specifications of gutter lights, you will often come across a number followed by the abbreviation mAH. This is the indicator for the battery’s capacity, and a higher number represents a more powerful battery life. However, a battery that has a higher capacity will also take a longer time to charge, and if your lights don’t get a decent amount of sun exposure, they will never charge fully throughout the day. If you want lights with good battery power and capacity, they also need to have a larger solar panel so that they can absorb more light.

• Ease of Installation

This is an aspect that’s often overlooked because people pay attention to other indicators and specifications of a product before buying it. However, the ease of installation plays an important part in having a frustration-free experience with gutter lights. Preferably, you want to opt for lights that can be installed without the need to drill any holes.

For gutter installation, you want to look for lights that have clips or hooks attached to them. If the lights in questions can also be mounted on walls or in the ground, you have to make sure that the package includes all the installation hardware needed (such as mounting brackets, screws, or ground spikes). The more complete the package, the easier the installation experience.

• Automation

Most gutter lights will automatically turn on when low light conditions are detected and switch off when it’s light outside. This is important because gutter lights are usually installed out of reach, so having to get “up there” and turn the lights on every evening and turn them off at the break of dawn can be extremely frustrating. You want to look for gutter lights that are turned on upon installation and can do the rest of the job themselves without the need for human intervention.

Top 6 Best Gutter Lights

SMY Upgrade Solar Gutter Lights with Adjustable Bracket

Our first product on the day is a set of four gutter lights that are powered by the sun. They have these tiny solar panels mounted on them, and they will automatically turn on when low light conditions are detected. They promise to provide up to eight hours of continuous light thanks to their “dusk to dawn” feature.

They have an IP55 waterproof rating, so they are perfectly capable of staying outside even when it rains, making sure that the casing doesn’t allow water to reach the internal components. As for the construction, these lights are made from ABS and are each powered by LED lights.

The color temperature is 6000K pure white with 100 lumen. With your purchase, you will receive the four lights, together with eight mounting brackets, eight expansion particles, 20 screws, and the user manual.

6 Pack Gutter Solar Lights

If you’re interested in adding even more gutter lights to illuminate your yard, you can purchase the iSunMoon pack that comes with six units ready to light up your way. Equipped with rechargeable batteries, each of these lights come with a solar panel attached to the upper side, drawing power from the sun to fuel the LED bulbs that are packed in each unit.

Since they are cordless, they can basically be installed wherever needed, with no proximity to an outlet required. They have built-in hooks that allow easy gutter attachment, but they can also be hung onto fences, rails, or wherever you have the required support needed to place them.

The lights have an IP44 waterproof rating and emit a soft white light. They have sensors that will automatically turn on the lights at night, while the AA 1200mAh battery promises a runtime between six and eight hours, depending on the weather conditions and sun exposure the panels can get throughout the day.

8 Packs Fence Gutter Solar Lights

Next up, we have a pack of eight gutter lights in store for you, which are particularly interesting if you want multiple lights spread across your gutters. Since they are solar-powered, placement is everything, as you want the lights to be able to absorb as much sunlight as possible in order to charge the 1.2V/1500mAh AA Ni-MH batteries that are found in each unit.

Made from a combination of metal allow, PS, and PP, these lights have a waterproof rating of IP65, which is quite a good combination considering the amount of weather exposure these babies have to have. What caught out attention is the charging time of a maximum of six hours, which means that the batteries can reach a full charge without needing as much sunlight exposure as some of the other products we’ve looked at.

The manufacturer promises that these LED gutter lights each have a span of about 50,000 hours and, if that’s true, these offer great value for the money. Aside from the actual lights, you will also receive eight screws and dowels for mounting the lights without the need for any additional hardware.

Gutter Fence Wall Lampand and Bracket

If the previous pack of eight lights didn’t convince you to buy it, maybe you’ll fancy the FALOVE set even more. It comes with the same number of lights and just a few different specifications that you have to know about. They are advertised as being fence lights but can also be mounted under the roof if that’s where you want to place them.

They are equipped with light sensors that can detect nighttime approach and turn on automatically when this happens. They are solar-powered, which means that it’s important to place them in a spot the gets as much light throughout the day as possible. They are IP44 waterproof rated and require one 1.2v 1200 mAH battery per piece to operate.

The manufacturer promises that these lights can handle a full charge in less than 5 hours but this, of course, will depend on the light conditions that the solar panel is exposed to. Ona full charge, the battery can give you enough light for a time period that varies between six and nine hours. This is a rather vague specification, as there is a huge difference between the lower and higher limit of this interval, as nine hours is perfect but six is a little too short.

Solar Gutter-Deck Lights

The Sunface gutter lights have found their way into our “best of” list because their design is completely out of the ordinary. They are perfect for people who want gutter lights mostly for decorative purposes, as they bring forth a stunning visual effect as if you trapped fireflies in a glass container.

But that’s not all these light have to offer. They also have a color-changing mode that opens up a world of possibilities in terms of yard showcasing during the night. When you turn on this mode, you will have the units shuffle between a number of seven different colors. On default, they will emit a warm white color.

Each of the units is equipped with a large solar panel that’s made from polysilicon, promising to convert 19.5% of sunlight into electricity. The lights have an IP65 waterproof rating with a clear plastic construction that makes them look breathtaking. The installation process is very simple as well, just make sure that you select the color-changing mode before putting up the lights.

InnoGear 24 LED Solar Lights Dim to Bright Motion

We wanted to end our list with a best-seller, as InnoGear solar lights have often pleased a wide variety of customers and will continue to do so thanks to products like these. These gutter lights have very basic specifications, but their construction and light power is not to be underestimated.

They are super easy to install, and since they draw power from the sun, they do not require drilling any holes or having any nasty wires that nobody wants to see. They are IP65 waterproof rated, which is the ideal rating for this specific type of product. They are also made from high-strength ABS, which is another feature that speaks in favor of these lights.

Each of the four gutter lights included in the package has 24 LEDs with 150 lumens of brightness each. They come with a built-in motion sensor that will turn the lights on automatically when movement is detected in a three to six-meter range. Upon purchase, you will also receive eight screws and eight expansion pillar-hinges, plus a user manual where you can find other important bits of information.

Bottom Line

Who knew there were so many things to take into consideration before buying gutter lights? Powered by the sun and ready to light up your yard, these products can be quite different from one manufacturer to another, so knowing the different features of a product is essential in being able to tell if you’re spending your money wisely or not. After knowing what the different product specifications mean, it’s time to choose the products that meet your personal requirements.