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So I have this wooden sign at the end of my driveway with my address on it. During the day it looked fine. Nice wood sign whatever. But at night nobody could see it. Like people would drive by and not even know where my house was because the sign was invisible in the dark.
My wife kept complaining that people couldn’t find us when they came over. Package delivery guys couldn’t find the address. I was like well what do you want me to do, run electric lines to the sign? That’s stupid and expensive. Then one day I was at Home Depot just wandering around looking at stuff and I saw these solar spot lights. Little things you can stick in the ground and point at stuff. I was like oh maybe that would work on the sign. Bought a set for like thirty bucks. Four little solar lights. Came home and stuck them around the base of my sign pointing up at it and turned the light sensor thing on. That night it was actually pretty cool. The sign lit up. You could read it. Not like daylight brightness but you could definitely read the numbers. My wife was happy which is rare so I counted it as a win.
It’s been like a year and those lights still work fine. Delivery people find the house now. People coming over can actually see the sign. Super simple solution honestly. Here’s what I know about this stuff now.
Sign boards are invisible at night without lights which sucks
If your sign is just sitting there in the dark nobody sees it. At all. It could say anything. People wouldn’t know.nDoesn’t matter if you spent a bunch of money on a nice sign. Doesn’t matter if it looks good during the day. Night time it’s gone basically.
If you have a business sign this is bad. People can’t find your business. You’re losing customers because they can’t see your sign at night.
If you have an address sign people can’t find your house. Delivery drivers get lost. Guests get confused. Uber drivers can’t find you.
So basically you need lights on that thing or you’re wasting the money you spent on the sign.
Solar lights are the easy answer nobody thinks about
Most people assume you need electric lines run to the sign which is true if you want bright lights. But that’s expensive and annoying.
Solar lights just sit there and charge during the day and glow at night. Super simple. No wiring. No electrician. No running electric lines. They’re cheap too. Like twenty to fifty bucks for a whole setup. Not a big deal. And they actually work. Not as bright as electric lights but bright enough to read a sign or see an address.
If you’re trying to light up a sign and don’t want to deal with electric this is the answer.
You need to pick the right type of solar light for a sign
There’s different kinds of solar lights and some work better than others for signs.
Solar stake lights are the most common. You stick them in the ground around the sign. Point them up at it. They work fine. Solar spot lights are adjustable. You can angle them exactly where you need them. They’re better for precision but cost more. Solar flood lights are bigger and brighter. Good if you have a big sign that needs more light. Solar string lights work if you want to hang them on the sign or nearby. Works but harder to angle right. For most signs solar stake lights or spot lights work best. Easy to position. Cheap. Do the job.
Warm white light is the only way to light a sign board
Use warm white. Always. Every time.
Bright white light makes signs look harsh and weird. Cold looking. Not appealing. Warm white looks natural. Makes the sign readable without looking bad. Makes everything look better basically. I see some people use bright white on signs and it looks terrible. Like a gas station or something. Not good for a nice sign. Colored lights are stupid for sign boards. Nobody wants a red address sign or a blue business sign. Looks weird.
Go warm white every single time. Trust me.
Position the lights to actually point at the sign duh
This seems obvious but people mess it up. Don’t just put lights randomly around the sign.
Put them at the base of the sign pointing up at it. Or angle them from the side pointing at it. The goal is to shine light on the sign so people can read it. Not to light up the area around it. If your lights are pointing at the ground behind the sign that’s useless. If they’re pointing at trees that’s useless. Point them at the actual sign. At the letters or numbers or whatever is on it.
Test it out at night. See if the light hits the sign. Adjust til it’s right.
You need enough lights to actually show the sign
One light might work if your sign is tiny. But most signs need at least two lights. Two lights is usually good. One on each side. Lights up the whole sign evenly. Big signs might need four lights. One on each side. Don’t put lights too far away from the sign or the light spreads out and gets weak. Put them close enough that the light actually hits the sign good. I use four lights on mine and it’s plenty bright. Maybe could do with two but four is nice.
The solar panel needs sun during the day obviously
If you put lights in shade they won’t charge and won’t work at night. Make sure your sign gets sun during the day. Not partial shade. Real sun.
If your sign is in a shaded spot you need to move the lights to a sunny spot or just use electric lights. My sign is in a pretty sunny spot so the lights charge up great. Never have problems with them being dim.
Installation is literally just putting them in the ground
Seriously it’s stupid easy. Takes like twenty minutes for a whole setup.
- Grab the lights. Stick them in the ground around your sign. Angle them at the sign.
- Make sure they’re secure. They shouldn’t wobble or tip over in wind.
- Turn the light sensor thing on and you’re done.
- That’s it. No wiring. No digging trenches. No calling an electrician. Just stick them in the ground.
- Takes longer to unbox them than to install them basically.
Clean them sometimes or they get dim
Dust and pollen pile up on the solar panels like with all solar lights. Makes them dimmer. Every couple months I wipe mine with a soft cloth. Takes like five minutes. Gentle wipe. Warm water and tiny bit of dish soap if they’re really gross. That’s it. Keeps them bright. Worth doing.
If you ignore them for like six months they get pretty dirty and the brightness suffers. Just wipe them sometimes.
They work in rain but might not charge as well
Solar lights work in rain. Won’t electrocute anybody or break or anything. But they don’t charge as well on cloudy or rainy days. Makes sense. Less sun.
So on rainy weeks they might be a bit dimmer at night. Not a huge deal but worth knowing.
If you live somewhere that rains constantly maybe think about this. Might not get as bright as you want. But they still work fine. Just might not be perfect brightness every night.
Battery dies eventually like everything else
These lights have batteries inside that recharge every day. They last like three to five years usually. Then the battery gets old and doesn’t hold a charge anymore and the light doesn’t get bright. When that happens you buy new lights. Usually like thirty to fifty bucks for a set.
Some people replace just the battery but honestly at that price point just get new lights. Cold winters are hard on batteries so if you live somewhere really cold you might get less life out of them. Mine are like a year old and still working fine so I’m not worried yet.
This works great for business signs too honestly
If you have a small business and need your sign lit up at night, solar lights work. Nobody’s gonna see your sign if it’s dark. People won’t know where to find you. Solar lights fix that. Cheap and easy.
For a storefront or office sign this is a solid solution that costs like forty bucks. Way better than assuming people will find you in the dark.
Address signs are the perfect use for this
Most people don’t light their address signs and it’s weird because people can’t find their houses at night. Delivery drivers struggle. Guests get lost. It’s annoying. Solar lights on your address sign fix this completely. People can find you. Drivers know where to go. Takes like twenty minutes to set up. Costs thirty bucks. Problem solved. I don’t understand why more people don’t do this honestly. It’s so simple and works so well.
You can move them around if you want to try different spots
Solar lights aren’t permanent. You can pull them out and move them if the spot doesn’t work. Try different angles. Different distances. See what looks best. If they’re not bright enough move them closer. If the angle is wrong adjust them. Takes like two minutes to move one. No big deal. Once you get them right just leave them there.
Some signs look better lit than others
- Wooden signs look really good lit. Warm wood color shows up nice.
- Metal signs look good lit too. Especially if they’re painted colors.
- Plastic signs look okay lit. Fine basically. Not as nice as wood or metal.
- Big signs look better lit obviously because there’s more surface to light up.
- Small address signs still look good lit. People can read them which is the point.
Just depends on your sign but whatever you got will look better lit than not lit.
Don’t cheap out but don’t spend crazy money
- Twenty dollar solar lights are rough. Kind of dim. Cheap feeling.
- Thirty to fifty dollar lights are good. Brighter. Better quality. Better solar panels.
- A hundred dollar lights are nice but honestly probably overkill for a sign board.
- Get something in the thirty to fifty range. You’ll be happy with it.
Read reviews because some brands suck. People will tell you which ones work.
This is one of those things that seems complicated but is actually simple
Before I did this I thought lighting a sign would be hard. Thought I’d need an electrician or something. Turns out you just stick some lights in the ground and point them at the sign. Done. Twenty minutes. Thirty bucks. Problem solved. One of those things where the solution is way simpler than you think it’s gonna be. Just do it. Your sign will be visible at night. People will find you. Everyone’s happy.
Summary
Put solar lights on your sign board and people can actually read it at night. Way cheaper than electric signs. Takes like twenty minutes to install. Warm white looks best. Don’t expect it to be bright as a neon sign but people will see it. Works great for business signs and address signs basically.
