The Ring Pathlight is a good option for those looking for a reliable solar-powered outdoor lighting solution.
Under normal conditions, Ring path light batteries are forged to last around 365 days depending on the settings, usage of the device, and weather conditions.
With the decline in battery health, the brightness of light also decreases.
There are two different types of ring path lights currently being sold; battery operated version and a solar version.
Ring Pathlight Battery Life
The battery-operated version takes 4 D batteries, whereas the solar version comes with a single rechargeable battery that utilizes solar energy to charge its battery.
- Ring Smart Solar Path lights
The smart solar path lights consist of high-efficiency LED lights that can last thousands of hours before they burn out.
The wireless devices are easy to install and quite economical to keep your property beautifully lit up and maintain a top-notch security system.
The solar path lights can detect movement up to a few feet away and automatically turn on their bright white light.
The lights can be controlled through the Ring app, allowing you to adjust brightness and motion sensitivity levels and set schedules for when the lights should turn on and off.
- How are the Ring Smart Solar Path lights Powered
The single rechargeable battery inside the solar path light device comprises a 3.7V 18650 top button Lithium-ion.
As the name indicates, the battery recharges using direct solar energy; however, on a day when it’s cloudy, the sun doesn’t shine bright.
Or, in extremely cold weather, when the battery can not automatically recharge by solar energy, you can charge it with an integrated 0.5W solar panel or micro USB cable that comes in the complete kit.
- Battery Powered Ring Path lights
The battery-powered version of the ring path lights consists of 4 D cell Batteries for each path light which are non-rechargeable.
The approximate battery life of these ring path lights is also 12 months; on average, light activation is 8-10 times per day for 30 seconds.
However, the battery life of these ring path lights, like the battery of smart solar lights, depends on the device settings, usage, and weather conditions.
Factors That Affects the Battery Life
- Light scheduling
The built-in light scheduling system in ring path lights lets you control when your path lights turn on and off.
You can set them to turn on at dusk, an hour before or after dusk, or at any custom time, and similarly schedule them to turn off at dawn, an hour before and after dawn, or at any custom time.
Though the custom schedule can be set for up to 24 hours, anything greater than 12 hours negatively affects battery health.
In general, a 10-hour schedule depletes around 2.5% battery of ring path lights.
- Activating lights during daytime
Since the path lights have motion sensors that, on movement detection, illuminate the morning, you can set up Ring App to let the movement trigger the pathologist to turn on even during the day.
This, however, is not recommended as it would not allow the solar-operated batteries enough storage to be used later when it gets dark.
At the same time, it actively consumes energy during the daytime when it should store it.
The battery life of battery-powered path lights will also be reduced if they are turned on during the day.
You will be required to replace the batteries more often than usual, eventually costing you more money and depriving you of the sole purpose of having them.
Conclusion
The ring path lights constituting the motion sensors give you a perfectly lit pathway while you walk or drive through it.
Both the light path types, whether the solar-powered version or the battery-powered version, has a battery life of up to 1 year, depending on the device settings, weather, and usage.
The solo battery inside the smart solar path light is rechargeable directly by the sunlight or even by the USB cable when the sun is not out in particularly cloudy weather.
The 4 D batteries of the battery-operated ring path light are non-rechargeable, if used normally and scheduled properly, they’ll last a year before you’d need them replaced.
Considering this, if the batteries are stressed beyond normal, they would evidently require more frequent replacing and recharging, making the whole thing more inconvenient and costly for you.