Battery Outdoor Lights

Cordless, not wireless

These lights carry their own rechargeable battery, so they have no cable to the house and can go wherever there is a flat surface: a garden table, a step, a balcony rail or the edge of a deck. Charge the lamp indoors, bring it out for the evening and take it back in to charge again. The product page gives the charging method and the run time for each lamp, which varies with the brightness setting.

Table lamps for outside

Most of this range is table lamps, which is where a cordless light is most useful: on an outdoor dining table there is rarely a socket within reach, and a lamp in the middle of the table gives the soft, low light that candles used to, without the wind blowing it out. A pair on a side table or a low wall lights a seating area without lighting the whole garden. A few floor-standing and portable lights sit alongside them for a corner or a path.

Weather ratings

Every light here is rated for outdoor use, most of them IP54, which keeps out dust and splashing rain from any direction. That covers a shower during dinner and a damp evening, but a cordless lamp is not a permanent fitting: bring it in when it is not in use, and always to charge it, since the charging point is the one part not sealed against the weather.

Warm white LED

Nearly every lamp here has integrated LEDs, most of them warm white, the colour that suits a table and a face in the evening. An LED draws very little power, which is what lets a battery last a whole evening, and it does not get hot, so the lamp is safe to touch and to carry. Warm white also draws fewer insects than a bluer light, which matters on a summer evening with food on the table, and it keeps the garden beyond the terrace dark enough to see the sky.

Looking after the battery

A rechargeable battery lasts longest when it is kept charged. Top it up after each use rather than running it flat, and over the winter charge it every few weeks rather than leaving it empty in a shed. Store the lamp somewhere dry and frost free when the evenings are too cold to sit outside.

Choosing one for the table

On a dining table, a low lamp lights the table and the faces around it without shining into anyone's eyes, and one in the middle of a long table is usually enough for four or six people. A taller lamp throws its light further and suits a side table beside a sofa or a pair of chairs. For a balcony or a small terrace with no outdoor socket, a cordless lamp is often the only practical light, and it can come back inside at the end of the evening as a reading lamp. Unlike a solar light, which needs a sunny spot to charge, a rechargeable lamp works in any corner, however shaded.