I’m hoping to do some decent lighting outdoors. But what I really don’t want is to have to run power from the house. Having to run power and bury the line feels like a big hassle after all the automation work I’ve done recently.
Is there a set of smart /WiFi / zwave or zigbee lights I can purchase that maybe run on solar power or battery?
Maybe I can hack together a solution?
Advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
They don’t work with SmartThings, but Ring Smart Lights are an option. They do work with Alexa and Alexa routines. I’ve been happy with mine to spot lights and step light. The spot lights are over a year on the original set of batteries and the step light almost made it a year before needing to be changed.
Thank you @Automated_House, this is a decent solution since I do use alexa as the voice assist.
Some questions for you:
Do i need a ring bridge for this stuff if i already have alexa?
When you say “a year before needing to be changed” are you saying the battery on its own lasts an entire year, or were you periodically recharging and then after a year it died and needed replacing?
You’ll need thing Ring lighting Bridge. I just bought the ring solar path lights. Keep in mind, these are meant to turn on with motion. Not stay on all night. That will drain the battery much quicker.
Battery on its own. The ones I have aren’t rechargeable. They use D-cell alkaline batteries. As @Its2loud said, they only turn on with motion or you asking through Alexa.
Interesting. But they’re solar charged right? If I WANTED to run them from sunset to like 10pm, I can right? Even if it drains?
It’s been a while since I looked at the ring lighting product lineup. Looks they do now how a solar option for everything but the spot light.
The landscape lights are solar. The spotlights are not. I can run a test for you from sundown to 10pm to see how much it drains the battery. The solar charge is trickle charge to a AA rechargeable battery. It’s not meant todo a full recharge of the battery every day.
Edit. The battery is not a standard AA battery. It’s actually a bit bigger than that.
A test would be mighty noble of you!