I was flipping through the Canadian Tire advertising flyer this weekend and I noticed a number of solar powered LED Christmas light options. For example, here is a 200 light solar outdoor LED light kit. At first glance, it looks like the prices are a little steep for what you get. The Multi-coloured set (linked above) is $60 for 200 lights for a total length of 86 feet (two 43 foot strands).
I poked around on the Canadian Tire website just now and found the Noma 100 LED light set for $25. This strand is about 33 feet long. Two strands would be $50 and about 66 feet in total. It would seem that the lights are spaced out more on the solar LED light kits.
For only $10 more, you do get solar powered lights. Now, at the minimal cost of running LED lights, you’d probably never pay off the $10 difference in electricity consumption alone. Just think of the decorating possibilities though! You don’t need an extension cord to reach your trees outside that you want to put lights on. That’s a good savings of $10-$15 right there so maybe it is worth it to buy the Noma outdoor solar LED lights.
The biggest question I have is in the middle of December, how much daylight do you need to charge the batteries? It would really suck to get these and find out that a typical Canadian winter day doesn’t have enough daylight to charge the batteries. I’d hope to get 6 hours out of a charge too. With the sun going down around 4:30PM these days It would be nice to have the lights stay on until around 10PM.
Well, I likely won’t be buying any of these solar LED lights but at the rate my blue spruce has been growing this summer, I’ll be buying a couple more sets of the “regular” Noma LED Christmas lights for outside.
I bought two sets of “decorative” (7 inch plastic snowflakes) that are solar powered. There’s only 7 lights to each string. They change colour randomly.
I have to say that they look great hanging from the low branches of our 50 foot maple tree. They charge up through the day, with the panel facing south and glow at least 6 hours…. One thing I discovered is that you have to clear snow from the solar panel, or the lights don’t come on at night!
For my tree, I think these are great, but they’re a little expensive-I got mine on sale half price. At full price, you would need really deep pockets ($89. each set of 7 lights.)
Bought a set for my trailer (was delighted at the concept). They lasted ONLY 5 WEEKS and then they DIED….CTIRE had better replace them due to 5 year warranty. Not impressed at all and yes I have tried charging using the suppiied charger to no avail.
Hey Tjeep, could it have been the rechargeable “AA” batteries. Maybe you need new batteries? Did you charge them up fully before the first use? I had bought a set of the 43′ 2 strand set a few weeks ago. Even on grey days, I still get some light out of them. These were the 51-3160-8 model, with 5 year warranty.
bought the solar lights to hang off my evestrough. Took 2 days for them to charge and then the lights came on very faint not bright at all – very disappointed in the product and the cost – thought they would be great and just like the ones advertised on TV – NOT – Once they are lite they are only on for an hr or two thn die out – not what you would call a good product (although I do have regular solar lights that work great)and doesn’t do what they say – looks like I got jipped on this one – A note is going to Noma re this and Canadian – they don’t care – they return policy is only 7 days – so good luck to anyone else buying these!
@Sue Ralph: I haven’t bought any of the solar LED lights (I don’t feel that there is any payback given the cost and the lifespan of the regular LED lights) so I can’t comment specifically on the performance.
The only thing I would ask is how bright are the lights vs regular LED lights? Are they close at all?
I’m not sure if the product comes with any information but I’d guess that you should probably leave your solar LED lights inside for a few days under a bright light. This would ensure that you fully charge the batteries before putting them outside. It might make a difference in their performance.
Solar LED Christmas lights are a bit of a crap shoot in my neck of the woods as we only get about 9 hours of sunlight a day during the Christmas period.
I bought 3 sets of solar “Christmas ” style lights and only 1 works. I am having a huge problem finding replacement batteries as they are such a weird size ( Cdn Tire doesn’t sell them) I have no problem with getting enough sun to charge the things just in getting them to hold a charge
Did the lights work when you bought them or have they just “worn out”? Rechargeable batteries only have so many charge cycles before they will no longer work. I’d hope that they would last a few seasons though before that happened.
What size battery do the lights take? My understanding was that most of the lights just use regular AA rechargeable batteries.
1 set of lights worked the other 2 didn’t until I took them apart and found that the battery had been put in wrong NOW that one works and the other 2 don’t The battery is a lithium-ion 3.2v 1200 mah Its about 1&1/2 size larger than a AA
If you haven’t found anything online yet, check out Wikipedia: List of battery sizes. You might have a CR123A.
I’ve found that in our local Canadian Tire, if you need any of the non-standard size batteries, you need to look in some obscure location or ask at the customer service counter. We went searching for some button (watch) batteries once and there was a little (locked) display at the end of one of the rows. It wasn’t really anywhere near where all of the other batteries were.
Oh, if you’ve recently bought the lights and they don’t work, take them back and exchange them. You’ll most likely need your receipt though. Depending on the brand, the lights might also have an extended warranty. Again, you’ll need your receipt.
Good luck!
have the solar LED xmas lights, worked one whole season, but left them out and forgot to turn off – battery died
check out the website http://www.onlybatteries.com
they sell the battery # 18650 which is a rechargeable 1200mAh, 3.2v
received mine today and the solar lights are back up and running
note: bring solar panel in during summer and turn off!!
Thanks for your comment, I just ordered the 3.2V batteries as per your suggestion.
where did you buy the 3.2V battery?
Canadian tire sells that size battery it’s usually with the Christmas stuff
Mr wife bought a set of your Noma Outdoor LED Solar powered Christmas lights with a 5 year limited warranty. Imagine her surprise on opening the box there was a sheet of white paper indicating that there is only a one year limited warranty. This product is distributed by Trileaf Distribution, Toronto. Since this product is sold under the Noma banner I feel that you should be aware of this warranty claim. This is false advertising. I await your reply or my second step will be consumer protection.
Disgrunteled Customer.
Harry,
You’ll have to talk to Canadian Tire about your purchase and warranty concerns. I’m just a consumer like yourself. That might not have been obvious though as it looks like something happened to the content of my original post. I’ve fixed it up now and you should be able to read it (at the top of the page).
Thanks for letting other consumer know about your discovery though. Maybe it will help others vote with their money!
Jeff
Pingback: Jeff Ivany (jivany) 's status on Tuesday, 03-Nov-09 15:52:44 UTC - Identi.ca
Hi there,
I bought 4 sets of NOMA Solar powered outdoor christmas lights last year….I can’t get any of them to work. Do these things actually work or did I get ripped off? They are brand new out of the box.
Model: 051-2841-4 Color: Warm White
They are from Canadian Tire with the 5 year warranty on the box and a 1 year warranty in the box.
So far I am extremely disappointed.
Bee
Bee,
If you have your receipt, take them back. I don’t have any experience with the Noma solar LED lights so I can’t really offer much help. The only thing I can think of is to let them sit in direct sunlight for a couple days. Make the solar panel face directly towards the sun to maximize the amount of light hitting it. If all else fails, you might be able to replace the rechargeable batteries as maybe they are bad.
Just bought two sets of 50 Led’s and two snowflake stakes. I am letting them charges for 2 days, and then we will see. I live out in the country and have always wanted to get sloar Christmas lights, as it is impossible to run cords for everything. Let you now what happens with them, if they don’t work for Christmas to well they will make great summer lights….
Fantastic! Please let us know how it goes.
VERY disappointing product. Lights are not reliable and often come with dead batteries. This odd size battery is hard to find. Canadian tire will only exchange with a reciept…am I the only person who throws away the receipt anticipating that SOLAR lights will work? And yes, the warranty in the box is one year limited…NOT five years…
DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY AND TIME.
called the company that makes the solar lights…. they’re in Texas… and sorry but if you don’t have a receipt they can’t send you a free replacement battery . But you can buy
4 for 18.00 us plus 30.00 us shipping. Told them they had a crappy product and why would I pay 50.00 for a poduct that I already paid 29.99 for at Cdn Tire. They actually hung up on me lol and I wasn’t even being rude.
I bought 2 boxes of Noma Outdoor Solar-Powered Lights at Canadian Tire. There are 4 teardrop lights in each box. Of the 8 lights only 4 work. Should I replace the batteries in these new lights, return the 4 and ask for replacements, or give them a while to recharge. The good lights worked as soon as I pulled off the strip to start the battery even though I was still inside the house.
I really don’t want to give up yet as there lights look like a great way to have lights when I have no outdoor electrical outlet or an out for the evening.
I bought one set of these solar powered lights at Canadian Tire and I’m glad I didn’t by more. The first day the son shone on the panel and they worked for maybe 4-5 hours. Since then it has been cloudy – who would have thought being the coast and all – and the lights have not been charging well. The panel, when mounted, is at much to high an angle for our latititude and there is no way to adjust this on the mount. The sensor also turns the lights on when is barely dark enought to tell they are on. As a result, for the last week, they barely stay on until 7, a mere 3 hours after dark, not 6 like advertised on the box. Back they go to CT.
I wish I would have read some of these reviews before I bought the solar lights. I also have little luck (if any) with them. I was hoping to use them in my sunroom, south facing, and sunlight should not have been a problem. I agree with statements made about them barely glowing and not at all after about 2-3 hrs. At that, the blue and green ones die even earlier. Very disappointed and will try to get somebody to give me my money back. This being after Christmas I am not sure how much luck I will have. Not impressed.
I purchased a golden lab dog with a hanging solor latern from its mouth but unfortunatly i
broke it will i was unpacking it . my question is can i purchase the lamp to replace the one i broke .
Thanking you in advance
Don
Three years ago, I purchased and installed a large number of 10 W Noma Landscape Spotlights. I need to replace some but can only find 35W Spotlights and Transformers at Canadian Tire. Where can I find the 10 W products?
Is Canadian Tire the only supplier
Yes, I believe that Canadian Tire is the only Canadian supplier of Noma solar led lights. I’ve searched a few times online to see if I could find anyone else but it seems that the Noma brand in Canada may be Canadian Tire specific.
I purchased 6 sets of the Noma solar led lights (200 lights per box). Installed them all and they worked for the first 3 hours and now have been up 3 days and none work. Very disappointed that now will have to take them all down and return them. Even tried covering the solar panel with a bag at night so it doesn’t get the light from the street light but to no avail…So this is why they call it crappy tire!!!
Hi Lynn.
It sounds like the batteries aren’t charging. The first thing to check is to see if the little piece of plastic has been removed completely from the battery box. Most solar devices use this plastic piece to keep the panels from charging the battery until it’s ready for use. I’ve had a few solar lights where the plastic strip broke and the panel couldn’t charge the lights.
The next thing is to make sure that the solar panel is getting full and direct sunlight. If it doesn’t get full direct sunlight for a good portion of the day, it will never get enough of a charge on the batteries.
Hope some of this helps.
I was just reading the comments on solar lights, I also have the same problem, no lights
Also they are definately no good in Northern Ontario, Canada. The very cold temperatures and winds… the wires have broken and they just do not light up at all. I have purchased 7 50 light sets and had been fortunate enough to be able to return all but 2 sets because the receipt has been lost, but the sets don’t work. Needless to say, I “will not” be purchaseing this type of “solar” lights again either, they are not worth the $30.00 or $40.00 that I paid for each set, and I’m stuck with broken solar lights.More research tech might improve them in the next few years, but, not much good as they are
I purchased 4 sets of Noma Icicle Lights, at Christmas, and one strand has already crapped out. Canadian Tire can not replace them at this time (March) and that I have to wait until next Christmas season when they bring them out again. Im ticked because I wanted to use them as patio lights for a special event coming up. So I thought I would contact Noma and see if they could help. In the old days Noma was a good old Canadian company. Was surprised to find out that they went broke many, many years ago. All Noma is now is just a name stuck on boxes of crap that are imported from China, there really is no Noma company anymore. Silly me, I thought buying Noma meant I was paying more for a better quality product, not the same old junk from China that I could buy under a different name at a dollar store!! No more Noma for me!!
Last fall I purchased a set of outdoor solar lights. Model 052 – 0170-0. The intent was to light an outside stairway for safety and security purposes. Ther is a switch that supposidly provides an option between six and 10 hour operation. From day 1, they have never operated more than 2 – 3 hours. They are far from satisfactory. Unfortunately, I had to pay a person $45.00 to get up on a ladder to install these lights and they are still there.
Has anyone tried to contact the manufature that makes these Noma solar lights, we all tend to blame Crappy tire but they are only the sales outlet, and they do give you a refund.in way of a gift card, and thats good if you have the reciepts, no reciept, no refund. But I will advertize by word of mouth, these noma lights are genuine “garbage” I now have puschased “7” sets and have none that work or the wires have broke in the cold.”NOMA IS THE POOREST QUALITY SOLAR LIGHTS”
Linda,
I believe that Trileaf Distribution now owns the rights to the Noma brand in Canada. You would have to try to find them to determine what company they are actually purchasing the lights from.
Jeff
NOMA IS JUNK !! canadian tire sells lots from noma,had many lights fail from NOMA JUNK !
Very funny and secretly, you can not find their company on the internet to complain,They know they sell JUNK ! they dont want to hear from customers.Heard several people that purchased ropoe lights from NOMA that are junk as well.
I have a set of numa outdoor solar lighting and would like to purchase an additional light for it. The group product code is 052-6784-4. The part that I would like to acquire is 052-6785-2. I am having difficulty contacting someone to make this purchase. Can you help me? My postal code is J0P 1R0 (Riviere Beaudette, QC). Thank you for your considered attention.
George
yeah iu got your led lites they r the shity lite had 4 one summer i got 4 pak man they r crap i will never buy ur shit sek other led lites shame on noma
I purchased a set of the Noma Landscape Spotlights with solar panel and they at first worked for about 1 hour and after two weeks have never worked.
It would appear that Noma is a ghost Co. The only true Noma Lite Co is in the UK. It would appear that all the lights ,Xmas & CFL’s sold by Can Tire are manufactured in China and didstibuted bt Trileaf Didtributors in Toronto. Only the rights to the Noma name is legally owner, there is NO Noma manufacturing company in North America.
So maybre the thing to do is stop buying Noma named products unless it comes from the UK.
I purchased several sets of Noma low-voltage landscaping lighting less than 2 years ago. Several lites no longer work, the bulbs are expensive ($5.00/ea) and the ground stakes rot off in the ground. Complete garbage. The lites were $20/ea and I am completely disgusted with the quality. I thought that by buying Noma, I was buying quality. Obviously I was wrong!
I have a set of Noma outdoor solar lights # 051-2841-4, but the solar panel is not in the box…Does anyone know where I can get just the panel?
I bought 5 sets of solar Christmas light but after two years they don’t work no more I thing the battery are finish inside de solar panal where can I get them
I wish I had read these before I purchased NOMA Solar lights. We installed them, they worked the first night and have not worked since. total crap.