In winter it is dark by five, and the walk from the car to the back door is done by phone torch. Same for the trip down to the shed to put the mower away, or the gate at the end of the driveway when someone is coming over. The reason none of it is lit is always the same: there is no power out there, and running a cable to it means a trench, an electrician and a weekend. This bolts to the wall, charges itself off its own panel, and turns 504 LEDs on the moment anything moves.

Why It Stands Out

• 504 LEDs across twelve reflector bowls — a wide spread rather than one hot spot, which is what lights a whole yard instead of a circle on the driveway.
• Three modes, not one — off until someone comes, a low glow that lifts to full on movement, or a steady low light all night. The second is the one most people settle on.
• A remote — change mode or switch it off from the back step, which matters on a fitting mounted four metres up where nobody is climbing a ladder to press a button.
• Three 18650 cells at 4500 mAh — enough to run it on motion sensing through a full night.
• An adjustable bracket — the head tilts on the arm, so you aim the light at the ground you actually use rather than at the sky or the neighbour.
• No wiring of any kind — panel, battery, sensor and light in one housing. A screw pack is in the box and that is the entire installation.
• Its own switch as well — there is a physical on/off on the unit, so it can be shut down completely over a wet month without the remote.

Where to Mount It

• On the shed or the workshop — the building at the back of the block that has never had power run to it and never will.
• Over the carport or the garage door — so the walk from the car with your arms full is lit before you get there.
• At the top of the driveway — on acreage or a long block, where the gate is a hundred metres from the house.
• Across the back yard — mounted high on the house and angled down, a solar flood light covers the lawn, the line and the bins in one go.
• On the stable, the yards or the feed shed — the places you end up at after dark in winter with a torch in your teeth.
• Beside the side gate or the back path — the pinch points everybody uses and nobody lights.
• At a holiday house or a block you are not living on yet — where there is no power connected at all.

How It Works

1. The panel charges the batteries through the day — the whole top face of the housing is the solar panel, so there is nothing separate to mount and no lead to run.
2. A light sensor wakes it at dusk — it arms itself as the daylight goes and shuts down at dawn. Nothing to set.
3. The motion sensor decides what happens next — in mode one it sits dark and comes on full when something moves, then holds briefly and drops off again. In mode two it idles at a low level and lifts to full. Mode three simply stays low all night.
4. The bracket aims it — the head pivots on the arm so the beam goes where you want it after the fitting is up.

How to Set It Up

1. Charge it before you mount it — a full day face-up in open sun with the switch on. Climbing a ladder to fit a flat unit, then climbing back up when it does nothing, is the usual first experience of these.
2. Mount high, around three metres — height is what turns a flood light into area light instead of a glare in someone's eyes. It also puts the sensor above head level where it reads movement cleanly.
3. Face the panel north — the housing tilts, so set the body for the sun first and the beam second. In Australia north is what fills the battery.
4. Angle the head down and inward — toward your own ground, not across the fence. A fitting this bright pointed at a boundary is a conversation with a neighbour you do not want to have.
5. Set mode two and leave it a week — low all night, full on movement. Most people try mode three, find it flat by ten o'clock, and never work out why.
Tip: mount it on the side of the house or shed that faces the sun, and let the bracket do the aiming. Everybody picks the spot by where they want the light and then wonders why it is dim by August. The panel decides how well this works; the bracket means the panel and the beam do not have to point the same way.

NB: the two headline runtimes are both real and they are not the same thing. On motion sensing it runs through the night, because it is dark most of the time and only draws hard when something moves. Held on constantly at full brightness it gives you about two hours, which is why mode three runs at a low level rather than full. Pick the mode to match the job and it does what you want; set it to full constant and expect a long night and it will disappoint you. Give the panel open northerly sky, keep it clean, and through the short days of winter — when this thing is working its longest hours — it will still see you through.

Care and Maintenance

• Wipe the panel every few weeks. It is the top surface of the housing, so dust, leaf litter and bird mess land directly on it.
• Clear the sensor face. A cobweb across the dome is the most common reason one of these stops triggering.
• Check the bracket bolts each season. It is 1.17 kg on an arm, and wind works at anything mounted high.
• Switch it off at the unit if the place is empty for months. The switch is there for exactly that.

Specifications

What's Included

• 1 × Solar flood light
• 1 × Remote control
• 1 × Screw pack