A local park recently installed some solar outdoor bollard lights for the pathways around their park. These bollards' lights provide pathway lighting around the perimeter pedestrian walkway and add to the safety of this residential area. I wanted to provide you with a good comparison of different style solar bollard light systems for projects similar to this one.
There are solar bollards that have the solar panel built-in at the very top and the battery storage within the bollard. These kinds of lights can be a target for vandalism because their solar panels are tiny and difficult to secure.
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They're also not as bright and don't provide continuous illumination. They are ideal for pathways that don't require much illumination and are generally used as only markings for paths. If you locate a bollard that can run continuously throughout the night, the lights are usually dim and don't have sufficient power backup for periods of bad weather.
But, this kind of bollard can provide illumination and power within a single, self-contained unit. It is also possible to have one solar power unit which powers multiple appliances through a path. This could provide more security for the solar since you can place the solar up high, on the pole far from danger.
This kind of setup requires digging to bury the solar panel's wiring panel to each bollard along the string, but it is not as much trenching needed as it is for conventional grid energy. The solar panel is usually sized to be used for nighttime lighting, using an LED lamp that is bright.