In Part 1 we began the installation of our new solar LED powered outdoor Christmas lights from Canadian Tire on our backyard deck. Today we complete the installation.
Now, the question I had for this new product was how secure would the connection be between the solar panel unit and the string of LED lights.
Pretty secure.
Above you can see that the end of the string of lights and the wire coming out of the solar panel unit come delivered with their own protective covering (which we plan on keeping and using when we take down the lights and solar panel once the holiday season is over.
Now the male end from the string of lights fits very snugly into the solar panel unit wire; in fact there is a very small notch in the solar panel unit wire that forces the male end from the light string to only enter one way.
Once the two parts are together, the cover from the string of lights screws on top to cover the connection preventing snow, ice, water from entering the connection. It’s that easy!
So, how do they perform? Well, the LED string of lights goes on at dusk and stay on for 6 hours per the packaging. All you have to do is to remember to turn the solar panel unit on once, when you set this up. How do you do that? On the back of the solar panel unit is a white switch; simply turn it to the left to turn the unit on.
Next is a picture of the string of lights on our deck hand-rail. Nothing special about this; rather, this is to give you the view during daylight of where we placed them.
Now here is a picture just after dusk with the lights on. Please keep in mind that I only have a 7 year old digital camera, so the pictures are not the best. I guess I need more people to click on our advertiser graphics so I can make a little money to buy a better camera, eh? 
What surprised me was this. I installed the lights around 1 pm in the afternoon on a very overcast day. Yet, the first night these lights were on! The packaging says that a single full sunny day can charge the lithium-ion battery sufficient for three nights in a row, 6 hours per night.
Very impressive. If you have not yet purchased your outdoor Christmas lights, consider solar powered LED Christmas lights. It will cost you a little more than regular LED outdoor holiday lights but it will cost you nothing in operating costs. And, the outside of the box says they come with a 5 year limited warranty.
Tomorrow, in the last article in our series, we will show you other solar powered outdoor Christmas lights from Canadian Tire; some similar to the set above with others very, very different.
To continue to the next article in this short series, simply select this link to Part 3.
21 responses so far ↓
1 elizabeth clarke // Dec 9, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I cannot find the lights you speak of on the website. I would like to buy them this week.
2 Dan // Dec 9, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Hi Elizabeth,
to find the lights, you simply click on the Canadian Tire ad around the middle of the article and then enter Noma Solar Lights in the search field on the vendor’s web site (near the upper left area).
I hope that helps,
Dan
PS. Of course, if you are near a Canadian Tire store you can purchase them there as well.
3 A Cole // Dec 9, 2008 at 7:43 pm
I bopught a set of sola light at Canadian Tire and we can not get them to work . We have done everything it tells use can you tell use what we can do to get the to work . Also the battery is 3.2 v does Canadian Tire care them or if not were do I get them in the St.Catharines area.
Thank you for your help
4 Dan // Dec 10, 2008 at 12:15 am
Hi ‘A’,
For us, we have noticed that after a couple of cloudy days the lights would not work very long or bright. However, that is the nature of solar panels. Just like after a snow storm you need to push the snow off of the solar panels otherwise the sun would not charge the battery.
As far as the battery inside the solar panel casing, I believe, but not 100%, that if you cannot purchase the replacement battery should you need to that you should be able to order it from the manufacturer, Noma, or at least they would be able to tell you where you could purchase it in your town.
I hope that helps,
Dan
5 Dan // Dec 10, 2008 at 12:34 am
‘A’,
I almost forgot. I know this is a silly Q but, did you remember to turn the lights ‘on’? Loot at the pictures above and you will see that white coloured switch on the back of the solar panel casement that needs to be turn to the left.
I know, I know….but I just thought I would mention it since you indicate that your lights have never turned on at night.
Dan
6 A Cole // Dec 16, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Dan
I have tryed everthing and I did have the light turn on . I finally tock them back to Canadian Tire and the lady their said some of them well work and some well not work that is the chance I had to take .I gave up on them . A
7 Dan // Dec 16, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Hi A,
Thanks for this.
It would be interesting indeed to have statistics on different products returned for different retailer’s return desk, espcially when the products are new.
Dan
8 Paul // Dec 17, 2008 at 6:46 pm
For myself, I found that there just isn’t enough light during the day to fully charge the battery, so I have to turn the lights off when I get home at night, otherwise they’ll run out of power before the 6 hour limit. This set is best for people who have a completely unrestricted view of the sky. These people will get the best benefit from these lights. I imagine that longer cords require even more charging. I’m not sure if using artificial light would help. If Noma reads this, please work on increasing the efficiency of the solar panel, or include a larger one. Also, please make the plug a normal plug so that if there is not enough light, I have the option of plugging it into a normal outlet, or provide a way to charge the battery with a regular outlet. Overall, this set is probably good for spring or summer time when there is more sunlight to power it, but the winter days are just too short to fully charge it.
9 Dan // Dec 17, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Hey Paul,
Thanks for sharing your experiences with this.
We have noticed that yes, the battery is charged on cloudy days with the indirect sun’s rayes. However, yes, with the frequent cloudy days that have been the norm where I live the past 5 weeks or so, I can tell a large difference in both the brightness and the duration of the lights being on when we have had the odd sunny day.
Dan
10 trev larock // Dec 19, 2008 at 1:38 am
I wouldn\’t recommend them, unless you can put them with southern sun exposure. In Ottawa on north side of house no charge
11 Dan // Dec 19, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Thanks, Trev.
That seems to be consistent with what Paul said above.
It’s great that we have so much feedback for the folks at Noma. I just hope they actually read articles like these.
Dan
12 linda // Dec 26, 2008 at 1:23 am
we bought the noma solar lights from canadian tire and we only had them for a couple weeks and they are crap. out of the two weeks they worked maybe 4 days here and there i dont recomend you buy them til they get the bugs out
13 Dan // Dec 26, 2008 at 1:37 am
Hi Linda,
From your’s and other’s comments here, it seems to be the opinion that they are not truly made for ‘Canadian winters’. Ours in the back continue to work fine. The one’s in the front work fine when the solar panel’s are not covered by snow, especially the specialty lights like the snow flake ones that we also have. the solar panels are attached to the stem about 18 inches … perhaps 24 inches off the ground and in the past 10 days they have been pretty much covered by all the snow we have received.
Dan
14 Robin Gransch // Jun 23, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I bought 3 sets of the LED solar, multicolor 50 lite strings in Nov 2008 #051-2840-6-ADO127/4278 UPC56233-06545. The connections snapped off in our -30 temp and half the time they were never lit. I tried to contact Trileaf Dist in Tor on the advice of my Cdn Tire where I purchased and have had no luck. I WOULD NOT BUY these lites as no one stands behind them
15 Dan // Jun 23, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Hi Robin,
Thanks for this.
I’m curious why you did not simply return them to Canadian Tire where you purchased them, as most folks who had issues said they did?
Thanks,
Dan
16 Wendy // Jun 30, 2009 at 6:41 pm
The LED solar lights are a waste of money. One set will turn on during the day rain or shine and not at night and the other set has one light that never comes on unless you sqeeze the sides and then it is only on for about 10 seconds. The rest of the string fads in and out.
17 Dan // Jun 30, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Hi Wendy,
Thanks for this input. It seems a lot of people have had issues with this product. I wonder if it is climate related, i.e. if this product sold south of the 49th Parallel
if there would be the same amount of complaints.
Our individual snow flake lights and coloured strings worked well. The clear string of lights were 50-50, i.e. one of them still works and the other does not. We have both up on the top of the deck’s arm rail out back since last December and still have them up as it looks very nice in the darkness (for the one that works).
Dan
18 teresa // Jul 16, 2009 at 7:03 pm
We have two sets of the lights. We also have two sets and have used them for winter and summer. One set still works and works extremely well on both sunny and overcast days. However, the second worked only for a the winter season and then died out. I thought it was the battery, however cannot get a replacement battery to check that remedy out. From reading info on line I get the impression that there replacement batte/ries are non existent
19 Dan // Jul 16, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Hi Teresa,
I have the exact same situation, in that the white light string that worked since we installed in December just stopped working last week.
I haven’t had time yet (out of town) to see if it was the battery. I’ll let you (and everyone else) know what I have gone that route and what I encountered.
Dan
20 kenneth saltman // Nov 26, 2009 at 9:21 pm
where can i buy a 3.2 lithium ion battery for my solar powered lights
ken saltman
21 Dan // Nov 26, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Hi Kenneth,
I don’t sell the product so I don’t know for sure.
However, you might want to try the store where you purchased your solar powered lights.
Or, failing that, you might contact the Customer Service department of the manufacturer of your lights and ask them.
I hope that helps,
Dan
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