Patio Umbrella Lights

Patio umbrella lights make it easy to light up the immediate area around your patio table. Sometimes a light attached to your home that shines on the patio area is too blaring and in your face. Directional lighting, even pointing from your home can often be invasive if coming down from an angle that shines in your face. Patio umbrella lights offer up close lighting that isn't obtrusive. They come in two basic styles, lights that hang along the vanes of the umbrella or fit around the umbrella pole near the top. This kind is battery powered and use LED lights which means a longer lifespan of the bulbs. The batteries are often rechargeable to make this type of outdoor lighting ideal for energy efficiency.

Enjoying your patio during the day is definitely a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, but sometimes you want to carry on the fun into the evening. A patio umbrella light can make this possible. Candles can work but this is often a mess waiting to happen or a fire hazard if you are not paying attention. Smoke can also become an issue with candles. Umbrella lights often use LED lights so that they won't attract bugs. The lights won't crowd you out either as they attach directly to the umbrella. You can install stings of patio umbrella lighting along the ribs of larger umbrellas to illuminate the entire table or you can use the lights that come in a ring that fits around the pole.

I've briefly mentioned two outdoor umbrella lights but let's get a closer look at them as well as a third type of lights. A large umbrella with lights, like I said, mostly utilizes light strings. These stretch out along the umbrella ribs to ensure all parts of the umbrella area are well lit. The light shines directly down so there is no chance of getting blinded. The downside of these lights is that they usually require an outlet to operate. A cord running from your table to your home can easily present dangers at night if not careful. The upside is the effect the lighting has on the atmosphere of the setting. These will provide an abundance of light for your outdoor fun.

For a smaller patio umbrella with lights, the ring is a better option. This can illuminate the entire surface area of a normal octagonal patio umbrella. These are more energy efficient but unless the batteries are rechargeable you will spend that savings on replacing batteries. LED lighting is directional too so they produce more of a spotlight effect than total illumination. But having LED lights instead of regular bulbs will cut down on how often you will have to replace them.

A third option is solar umbrella lights. This kind of umbrella has a solar panel fitted to the top of the finial to store power for nighttime usage. The light itself is battery powered. This is the ultimate in energy efficiency. The cost of the solar panel will be far cheaper than replacing batteries or burning electricity constantly. The sun charges the battery during the day and stores about eight hours of power for use during evening hours.

Whether you are environmentally conscious or not all of these patio umbrella lights are energy efficient to a degree. The small lights don't require much power at all. Shop around and see what style fits your budget best. Below is a cool little video that demonstrates the power of solar umbrella lights. Enjoy.