The Best Solar Flagpole Light for Flag Illumination – Reviews and Ratings and the Top Rated Residential and Commercial Solar Powered Flag Lights

Did you know that the U.S. flag code requires all United States flags to be illuminated at night if they’re being flown 24 hours a day?

While there are many who prefer not to fly their flags 24/7, some folks want to show off their patriotic pride all the time by keeping their flag up all day and all night.

Of course, sometimes convenience, mobility issues, forgetfulness, and working odd hours may give you the need to keep your flag up – and therefore lit – at all times, as well.

If you find yourself in the position that requires you to keep your flag up 24/7, you should consider getting the best solar flagpole light so that you don’t have to worry about these issues or the electricity bills that accompany that need.

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How Do Solar Flagpole Lights Work?

Solar powered flagpole lights work the same way that basic solar powered lights work.

Think about those lights that light the pathway. They have small photovoltaic cells – i.e. the solar power cells – that capture direct sunlight and convert it into energy that the system can use to power the lights.

The flagpoles have the full wiring/system within the pole and light setup, which are sold as a single unit. They have to be placed in direct sunlight to capture enough light to power things.

What are the Benefits of Using a Solar Light for Flagpoles?

There are several strong benefits of using a solar powered flagpole light. Let’s take a quick look at a few.

Go Green

First off, with a solar powered flagpole light, you’re being good to the environment.

Instead of using electricity from a power plant or generator, you’re harnessing the already available, renewable energy of the sun. You’re not wasting anything, and you’re not causing damage to anything with it.

Save Money

Next, you’re not using any energy from the power company, so you’re saving money. These solar flagpole lights are comparable in price to non-solar powered lights, too, so for the most part, you don’t even have much of an upfront cost.

Keep Your Flag Lit Automatically

Finally, many of the solar powered lights keep your flag lit automatically once you’ve positioned the switch to “on” during installation. Low-key, low-maintenance is always so much better.

How to Choose the Right Flagpole Light

As I’ve looked through the various options for solar powered flagpole lights, I’ve discovered that these factors are the most important aspects of choosing a light.

Cell Strength

Obviously, the amount of sun exposure your light gets will determine how bright your light is and how long it lights your flag.

But the size, strength, and design of the photovoltaic cells – i.e. solar panels – will also play a big role in this. Look at the wattage listed to understand the strength level of your flagpole light.

Size of Your Flag

This is an easy thing to overlook but be sure that the pole light you choose is designed for the size flag you have. The number of bulbs, the wattage, and the size of the radius of the lights all affect how well your flag will be lit.

Ways to Mount

You’ll want to make sure you’ve got the right mounting brackets or options for your home or business setup.

Some lights are designed for spotlighting your flag from the ground, while others are designed for mounting to the flagpole itself. Check carefully to make sure you’re getting what you want.

Automatic or Not

Not all solar powered flagpole lights are automatic. Check the settings options available. These should usually be listed with the light on the website. If you can’t find the info on the web listing, and automated lights are important to you, you’ll probably want to choose a different option.

Brightness

It’s important to understand how bright the light is.

Low-wattage lights will offer low light for your flag, like ambient lighting does in a cozy restaurant.

Standard light will be comfortable amount of light that you can see by, but probably won’t keep you awake.

High powered lights, however, need to be positioned appropriately or they may hinder sleep for the whole household, or even the neighbors. High-powered lights are best suited to non-close residential situations.

Charge Time

When you look at the specs for a solar powered flagpole, check the charge time for the average daylight standards. If you live someplace sunnier than average, you’ll have better charge time than the listed time, but if you have low-light, it’ll take longer than the listed charge time.

Reviews of the Best Solar Flagpole Lights

Below you’ll find my collection of solar flagpole light reviews. I’ve included the best upward facing, versatile, downward facing, pole mounted, and even the best commercial solar flagpole light for that monster flag you’ve got at the office.

How We Chose the Best Flag Pole Solar Lighting

To make sure I am recommending the best of the best in solar powered flag lighting, I wanted to do more than just recommend the lights I’m most familiar with. I’ve used some and seen many others at work at friends’ homes.

I started with the ones I knew, then I looked through the best solar flag pole light reviews. From here, I eliminated any that I didn’t feel strongly about from the start. After culling those from the ranks, I looked into ones that were highly-rated, but I didn’t know about personally. This brought my list down to about twenty options.

From these twenty, I knocked out any that didn’t have high ratings from real life users who had verified purchases of the products I wanted to look at.

We don’t base much of our reviews on other people’s ratings, since we want to provide you with the best, most in-depth reviews possible, but they’re a good indicator for things like quality in particular. If most people say they don’t work, they’re probably not great.

This brought the list down to about twelve to look through for the best suggestions possible.

I took a much more in-depth look into these twelve and reviewed them for myself. From those I checked out, I dropped the list to just those I felt truly are the best. That list of five is below.

A Quick Note about Flagpole Lights

Flagpole lights are supplements to your flagpole. They do not come with a pole or flag unless specified – which is rare – so plan your purchases accordingly.

#1. Alpha 180X Solar Flagpole Light (EDITOR’S CHOICE)

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The Alpha 180X is our top choice for solar lights for flagpoles.

The main reason: there are three light settings that adjust the lighting for your specific needs. This is a rare feature and for someone who has issues with bright lights at night, this is important.

Here’s the breakdown of features:

• Automatic: No, but this allows you to adjust light settings
• Battery: Built-in lithium rechargeable
• Hours of light: 6 to 12 hours
• Wattage: 3 watts
• Recharge time: 10 to 12 hours
• Flag size: 15 to 25-foot flag
• Mount type: post mount for upward or downward facing light

Positives of the Alpha 180X

As we already mentioned, the Alpha 180X has three light levels, high, normal, and low, to make the brightness the perfect fit for your home and yard.

I love this because I can go with low for my sleeping hours, but I can choose normal or high for times when the family is in the yard, we’re hosting a party, or otherwise want the lights brighter.

To make this high light setting feasible, the Alpha 180X has 35 solar led flagpole lights that produce a neutral white light at a 60-degree angle. This gives optimum coverage for the area, not only lighting up your flag but your yard or nearby porch as well.

Another thing I love about this light is that you can position it to be upward facing or downward facing, giving it the most versatility for positioning possible.

The fixture and bracket for the light are extremely durable, as is the solar panel. And the whole thing is set up to handle heat dissipation so that you know everything’s safe.

The solar light itself is made of a cast iron-fixture, industrial grade, high-efficiency solar cells, anodized aluminum frame, and tempered glass. I feel safer knowing this is the light that’s illuminating my flag.

Finally, the Alpha 180X is available for a great price. It’s the best, and only slightly higher in price than a lot of the much lower quality competition.

This light is not only great for flagpoles, but it lights up the underside of your picnic umbrella on the patio – after charging in the sun – or the posts on the deck for a safer, better lit yard all around.

Negatives of the Alpha 180X

There are a couple of things I don’t love about this light.  The main one is that it’s not an automatic light. That means I need to remember to click it on at night. This isn’t terribly surprising since it’s got three light power settings, but I’m still not loving that.

The other main problem that could arise with this light is that you’ll have to carefully position it to make sure it absorbs enough sunlight to power the light overnight. You might need to experiment a little bit to make sure you get just the right angle.

Our Verdict on the Alpha 180X

Overall, we love the Alpha 180X because of the high-quality materials used to make it, the versatility, the ease-of-installation, and the brightness. It’s also our top choice because it works really well for other situations if you need to add some light to a deck post or umbrella stand for safety.

The adjustability of the light settings is honestly what really sells me. Sometimes I need a high brightness, but other times I need low to basic lighting. And this is the only one of high-quality materials and make that I can find that allows for this.

The Alpha 180X is also, apart from commercial grade lights, the sturdiest model I can find. My household is kind of rough and tumble, so that’s important. People bump into things, and so does the weather. I know this will survive all of us.

>> Tap Here to Read More Reviews and See Today’s Price on Amazon.com <<

#2. Deneve Standard Solar Flag Pole Light

Overall Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars

The Deneve Standard is one of the most highly-rated solar lights for flagpoles on the market. Nearly every list I checked had this one as the number one or number two slot holder.

Here’s the breakdown of features:

• Automatic: Yes
• Battery: 3 rechargeable AAs, included
• Hours of light: up to 18 hours
• Wattage: unknown
• Recharge time: most of the day
• Flag size: 15 to 25 foot
• Mount type: top of pole

Positives of the Deneve Standard Solar Flagpole Light

The Deneve has 20 LED lights that put out a whopping 1300 lumens, meaning you’ve got a well-lit flag. Just remember to position it away from bedroom windows for better sleep.

Solar panels power the rechargeable AA batteries that are included with the Deneve, adding value to the setup. And since they’re quality batteries, it will be a long time before you need to replace them.

The Deneve is also extremely easy to install. You just lower your pole, remove the ball shaft and nut off the pole, and center the light over the hole. Re-attach the ball shaft and nut – after turning the switch to on – and you’re good to go.

I also love that Deneve is from a startup from a California garage. The family company gives back to the community and works to create products that won’t hurt the environment with a zero-landfill policy for all unused or damaged components, including the electronics.

Negatives of the Deneve Standard Solar Flagpole Light

The Deneve doesn’t have many negatives, but one that may or may not apply to your situation is the size pole it will fit. It can only work with poles up to 0.5-inches thick. For a lot, this isn’t an issue, but for many folks who’ve reviewed, I’ve noticed this is a complaint. They may not have measured properly before purchasing, or just assumed it would fit, however.

The other downside is that the position of the on/off switch means that you have to disassemble the whole thing to be able to turn it off. Most of the time this isn’t an issue, but if you wind up with circumstances in which you need the light off, well, you’ll have to bring the pole down.

Our Verdict on the Deneve Standard Solar Flagpole Light

We definitely understand why so many other sites have this as one of their top two choices. We love it for the whopping 1300 lumens that the 20 lightbulbs put out.

The company itself also sells us on the light. They are a zero-landfill company that uses and reuses every part. And half the reason – or more – for using solar power is to save the environment. We love that they do this on more than one front.

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#3. TOTOBAY 30 LED Solar Power Flag Pole Light

Overall Rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars

This model is incredibly bright. It’s a uniquely 100% solar light for flagpoles, so you don’t have to replace – or recharge – AAs or AAAs like many other models require. It’s easy to install, and really durable. Plus, it comes in either cream or white, if you want to match your pole a little more closely.

Here’s the breakdown of features:

• Automatic: Yes
• Battery: Built-in, rechargeable 2200mAh
• Hours of light: 10 hours
• Wattage: 0.5 watts
• Recharge time: 10 hours
• Flag size: 15 to 25 foot
• Mount type: Top of pole

Positives of the Totobay 30 LED Solar Power Flag Pole Light

The Totobay 30 is an extremely brightly lit flagpole light. It has an 11-piece solar panel system for fast charging and provides up to 10 hours of incredibly bright illumination for your flag. Those 30 LED lights make it one of the brightest available, so it’s perfect for a front lawn flagpole.

The flagpole light has automatic daytime sensors, so it turns off when the sun comes up, recharges while the sun’s out, and turns the lights back on when the sunlight dims. That means you don’t have to worry about turning it on or off.

This light is a downward light, as well, so it’s got more direct lighting on the flag than upward or side lights provide. And the built-in battery is rechargeable, so that means it will last and last over the years.

The Totobay flagpole light is weather resistant, waterproof, and really sturdy, so you’re not going to have to replace it any time soon. Since it’s reasonably priced — especially for such a high-powered light – you’ll really get a bargain with it.

Finally, the positioning of the solar cells is perfect for capturing as much light as possible and converting it into energy for lighting up your flag.

Negatives of the Totobay 30 LED Light

Unfortunately, there are a few drawbacks to this light. The biggest one for me is that it doesn’t have any way of adjusting the brightness. Since it’s incredibly bright, that makes it unsuitable for a lot of places where something that bright isn’t permitted.

Also, you’re going to need to purchase a sturdy, long bolt for installation.

The other issue I’ve seen is that the sizing is fairly exact. If the specifications on the size of the pole aren’t precisely in line with it, the Totobay likely won’t mount properly.

Our Verdict on the Totobay 30 LED Flagpole Light

The Totobay 30 is one of the brightest solar flagpole lights available. If you’re looking for a powerful light that’s easy to use, this is it. It’s a multi-directional light, so you can light your flag however you need – from above or below.

And the sturdiness of the product means you won’t need to replace it anytime soon. Plus, it’s got daylight sensors, so it’s really a no-fuss kind of light.

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#4. Vont Solar Flagpole Light

Overall Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars

The Vont solar powered flagpole light is one of our absolute favorites for a number of reasons. It’s powerful, it’s easy to use, it comes with high-quality rechargeable batteries powered by multiple solar panels, and it’s automatic.

Here’s the breakdown of features:

• Automatic: Yes
• Battery: 3 rechargeable AA batteries, included
• Hours of light: 10 to 14
• Voltage: 5V
• Lumens: 200+
• Recharge time: 10 to 12 hours
• Flag size: 15 to 25 foot
• Mount type: Top of pole

Positives of the Vont Solar Powered Flagpole Light

First off, I love the number of lights on this thing. There are 20 high-powered LED lights, which means it’s going to be brighter than a lot of other models. While I wouldn’t want this right outside my bedroom window, it would be great for a front lawn flag pole that I want visible to the whole neighborhood – without being obnoxious about it.

Another thing I love about this one is the automatic daylight sensor. That means the cells will charge but not light the pole at the same time, wasting the charge during daylight hours. I’ve seen this happen with other lights. Not a very good use of the power!

Also, this one is super easy to install, so it’s perfect for anyone who’s not so great with handyman tasks. Plus, easier is faster. You just install it at the top of the pole, put in the batteries, and you’re good to go.

Plus, the batteries that come with the Vont are long-lasting, rechargeable AAs.

Finally, there’s a one-year money-back guarantee that if you’re dissatisfied for some reason, you get your cash back.

Negatives of the Vont Solar Powered Flagpole Light

The only real issue we’ve found with this light is that it doesn’t come with an installation guide. Since it’s easy-to-install this isn’t too much of an issue for most of us, but for a few it could make it a little trickier to figure things out.

Our Verdict on the Vont Solar Powered Flagpole Light

The Vont was the first model I looked at. It immediately struck me as a fantastic option and only trickled its way down to number four because it doesn’t have quite as many of the features I love as some others. After all, my only complaint was a lack of manual for installation.

The number of lights – and their power – is perfect for the average flag at someone’s home. They’re bright enough to make everything visible, but not so bright they’ll blind the neighborhood. Plus, it has that necessary daylight sensor so you don’t have to figure out when to turn the light on and off each day. All-in-all, it’s a winner.

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#5. PolePalUSA Xtreme Commercial Solar Flagpole Light Cree Light

Overall Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars

The PolePal USA Xtreme is by far the brightest solar flagpole light on our list. It’s commercial grade, so that’s not terribly surprising.

Here’s the breakdown of features:

• Automatic: No
• Battery: unknown
• Hours of light: minimum of 8 hours in winter, more in summer
• Wattage: unknown
• Recharge time: 10 to 12 hours
• Flag size: 6-inch to 12-inch pole
• Mount type: pole mount

Positives of the PolePal USA Xtreme Commercial Solar Cree Light

First off, what I love about the PolePal USA Xtreme is that it’s easy to mount. A lot of commercial grade items of any kind are obnoxiously and unnecessarily difficult to position and set up as you need. The PolePal is easily adjusted once in place, too, which makes it all the better.

The PolePal also has three flexible light stems that allow you to position your solar flag pole light exactly how you want them to shine.

They’re commercial grade, so they’re pretty strong, so be sure to position in such a way that the lights won’t be directed towards any windows in taller houses or buildings where folks work at night.

Each light head is a powerful 200 to 600 LUX, depending on how you adjust them.

Of course, it’s a powerful flag pole light. You don’t get up to 1800 LUX without some power behind the bulbs. And it goes from spotlight to floodlight as needed. The light has a CREE magnifying head and ultra-powerful CREE chip inside the light head.

The PolePal is incredibly durable, flexible, and versatile, and can handle just about anything the weather tosses at it. Plus, it’s easy to mount and adjust as needed.

Negatives of the PolePal USA Xtreme Commercial Solar Cree Light

My main issue with this one is that it’s a bit pricey. Of course, it’s a commercial light, so the price is always going to be higher. The durability, high-wattage, et cetera always require tougher materials which tend to run more costly than the average homeowner would use.

The manufacturer site is my other issue. While some of their products have clear descriptions, specifications, and facts listed, some of them – like the Xtreme Cree – are lacking in the details I’d prefer to know before 100% solidly recommending a product. Despite this, though, the reviews from others, and my own knowledge make this my top choice for commercial pole lights anyway.

Our Verdict of the PolePal USA Xtreme

Overall, the PolePal USA Xtreme Light Cree Light is definitely the best commercial grade solar flagpole light we could find.

It has all the power you need for a massive flag. It has the flexibility you need to make sure the lights are directed to the correct place. It’s easy to install – even for people who don’t really know much about solar power or electronics – and it’s versatile enough that you can use it for a flag or something else if need be.

>> Tap Here to Read More Reviews and See Today’s Price on Amazon.com <<

The Best Solar Flagpole Light is Right Here

The absolute best solar lights for flag illumination are going to have multiple LED bulbs, use rechargeable batteries, and light your flag directly. However, there are times when a spotlight type flag pole light is best. Check out a few options and think about your preferred style before choosing.

Whichever kind(s) you purchase, your flag will remain well-lit and within U.S. flag code with the right solar flag light.

FAQs on Solar Lights for Flagpoles

How often do I need to change the batteries?

This will depend on the quality and type of batteries you use for your light. Typically, a set of AA batteries is designed to work for about 200 to 500 deep discharges – i.e. nights. This drastically changes from brand to brand, however, so we’d recommend purchasing rechargeable batteries or high-quality brands from well-trusted manufacturers.

Other solar lights use built-in batteries that you don’t change. These are rechargeable completely by solar power. If these have issues, you’ll need to do a thorough cleaning of the photovoltaic cells and lens to verify if they work or not. If they do not after this thorough cleaning, you’re likely to need to replace the solar powered flag pole lighting at this stage.

Are solar flagpole lights as bright as regular lights?

LED lights are not as bright as incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. This means your flagpole light will not be as bright as most interior house lights or traditional outdoor spotlights.

If you’re looking for the brightest light possible, choose a model that can use other outdoor safe lights beside LEDs. Be aware that these will not stay lit as long because of the limitations of solar power.

How often will I need to change my LED light bulbs?

Typically, if an LED light bulb of the nature you find in a flagpole light is not designed to be replaced and should last up to three years of regular use. If you have a spotlight flagpole light that’s an LED, you may be able to replace these, depending on the model.

How long do solar lights stay lit?

Your typical solar powered flagpole light will remain lit between 6 and 12 hours. This wide range is due to the amount of direct sunlight your light’s solar cells receive. For the longest light hours, position your pole where it will receive the most direct sunlight all day long for recharging.

Also note, some solar cells are better positioned to pull in and convert light to solar energy. Those with sloped panels are more likely to receive the best light if properly positioned with the slant geared toward the longest hours of daylight.

How do I maintain my light?

The only maintenance required for your solar powered light is cleaning off the solar cells and lens. This keeps the unit absorbing sunlight and producing the light.