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After weeks shopping for solar LED lights for our patio garden, lights which were designed to hang and focus their light downward, I came across the LiteFuze in green. Sadly, the reviews only go back as far as March 2011, so I took a chance and ordered 3 of them. Wouldn't you know, when I opened the package, 2 of the 3 LED tops were not fastened to the globes, and the 3rd soon let go. It appears they were held together with an adhesive that might be sensitive to Arizona temperatures. If they are going to let go in the summer heat, I prefer they do so before I hang them. I had read a review saying the hanger did not seem to be secure and that the writer used wire to secure it to the globe. I agree that he has the right idea.
Before I wired mine together with stainless steel safety wire, none of them worked, but tapping them caused them to turn on and off erratically. Closer examination revealed that the positive battery contact was, ever so slightly, recessed too deeply in the plastic housing to make a firm connection with the AA cell's terminal. Moving the AA cell ever so gently confirmed this was the weak point. Solution: I placed a small piece of copper foil between the AA cell and the terminal to fill up the space. The down side is that now the AA cell can be bumped out of position, but our lamps will be hanging where they will not be bumped. So now I have 3 LiteFuzes lamps, held solidly together with a strand of safety wire, and a piece of copper foil making for a firm electrical connection.
As for their performance, my wife and I are pleased with the soft green light her plants receive from above, and the pleasant view of the textured glass globes. It is too soon to tell how well and long they will last. I will revisit this review if further comments are warranted. Would I recommend buying them? Well, I am ordering more with fingers crossed. At least I am prepared with more safety wire and copper foil. Too bad that it is that way. They seem to have had more artistic thought put into them than technical engineering and craftsmanship.
UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 19, 2011
After writing this review, we ordered an additional 9 lights. The subsequent orders all arrived in excellent condition with the globes firmly attached to their tops and no electrical problems as happened with the original order of 3. After performing the above safety wire and battery servicing, I can say that we are very satisfied. They come on within a couple minutes of each other at sunset and originally produced sufficient light for 4 hours to make for a pleasant evening's garden view. After 4 hours they began dimming at different rates so I replaced all the AA cells with ones from the Home Depot and, since then, they are fairly uniformly bright until about 6 hours. I have experienced a 25% failure rate when one had to be exchanged after it decided to stay on all day and not recharge, and two others totally quit a few weeks later. So far, exchanges have gone smoothly, but they have a very short exchange period. Keeping our garden lighted might become too expensive.
UPDATE: FEBRUARY 2013
Last summer we experienced some erratic behavior with some of the lights. Replacing AA cells did not solve their recharging problems. SO, all the lights had their rechargeable cells replaced with alkaline AA cells. I know, you are not supposed to do that, but we were desperate for ideas. Wow! All the lights come on at nearly the same time, are bright the whole night long, and go off at sunrise. I was expecting to replace the alkaline cells at least twice a month, but they last 6 months! Go figure? If more problems develop, we will wire them all up to a central battery/charging unit. They are just too pleasing to give up.
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We ordered two of these (blue and green) based on the photo in the advertisement and were not disappointed. The light was even better than the pictures. After experimenting with a LOT of different solar garden lights, we have come to know which ones are really worthwhile and a good value for the money vs. the overpriced/cheaply made ones. The item is roughly the size of a small melon, glass and open at the bottom. We have it sitting on a table, but plan to hang it on a decorative hook. The hanger at the top may be its weak spot as it doesn't look as well made as the rest of the item, but should be adequate. As to long term functioning, time will tell, but I expect it to hold up nicely. All in all, highly recommended.
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