Can you use regular batteries in solar lights?
Mar 03, 2021
Can you use regular batteries in solar lights?
If you are looking for a straight answer to whether can I use regular batteries in solar lights (for example, solar street lights and solar flood lights), the short one is no.
Let’s see why.
First of all, we need to know what are regular batteries.
Generally speaking, regular batteries refer to dry batteries commonly used in our lives. Regular dry batteries are zinc-manganese batteries, also known as carbon-zinc batteries. It is suitable for household products such as flashlights, radios, remote controls, toys, etc.
Regular batteries can power the solar lights for a short time, but they will damage the solar installation, that's for sure.
Obviously, regular batteries are not suitable for solar lights.
Solar lights are energy-saving outdoor lighting fixtures. It can convert light energy into electricity through solar panels and store it in batteries. Depending on the battery type, the total life of a solar battery is typically 2-5 years. As time goes by, the lifespan of the battery starts to shorten, which also means a decrease in the performance of the product.
In simple terms, the solar light battery is a rechargeable battery. At present, the common rechargeable batteries on the market are Ni-MH, lead-acid, lithium-ion, or LiFePO4 batteries. These batteries are relatively easy to find at local stores. Therefore, it is easy when you need to replace the batteries for your solar lights.
So, with so many types of rechargeable batteries, which one is better?
The direct measure of the quality of the battery is the number of cycles because it directly determines the service life of the battery. On average, lead-acid batteries have 500 cycles, lithium batteries have 1,000 cycles, and LiFePO4 batteries have 2,000 cycles. In terms of service life, lead-acid batteries are 2-3 years, lithium batteries are 3-4 years, and LiFePO4 batteries are 5-6 years.
High-quality solar street lights generally use lithium iron phosphate batteries, while household solar flood lights generally use ordinary lithium batteries. When we choose a battery, we can choose freely according to our needs.
