Even as the days get longer as summer approaches, you are still very much at the mercy of the night sky with regards to how long you choose to stay outside doing things with friends and family or spending time with that special someone.
So you’ve purchased and installed your new solar pathway lights, but soon you’ll learn that they don’t give you enough light around your seating areas, patios or the backyard – so what now?
As is the way with things these days though, it would be very easy to choose the best patio umbrella light, if there was only one kind available. Don’t worry, we can help.
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Our Top 5 Picks for the Best LED Umbrella Lights
Adding some LED deck step lights to your backyard or decking area will make your yard look a lot nicer, but we want to go the extra mile and make your yard look the best it can with these umbrella lights.
Here are our top 5 Best Patio Umbrella Lights available to buy online, and then we’re also going to discuss some of the important things you need to consider when choosing the right one for you.
Pssst, If you’re going all out on your garden this year, check out our big post of garden lighting inspiration.
1. Lightsea 8 Mode Patio Umbrella Lights (2 Color Choices)
These Amazon Choice umbrella lights are absolutely stunning and available in 2 different color options, warm white & ice blue.
Simply use the provided connectors to attach the string lights down each rib of your umbrella and you’re good to go, no need to remove them after each use as the umbrella closes safely with them attached.
They are not as bright as the hockey puck designs, but if cozy atmosphere is what you’re looking for, these are the ones for you.
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These lights are battery-powered, so you will need to have a steady supply of ideally rechargeable batteries to hand.
With the supplied remote you can adjust the lighting mode, as well as the brightness.
It’s worth noting that these lights are not ultra-bright, but rather a more subtle variety of illumination for a romantic dinner or playing cards under the stars.
2. Totobay Rechargeable Outdoor Umbrella Lights
This is a very very well made piece of kit with sturdy construction that emits a bright enough light for large parties and BBQs.
This patio umbrella light is a disc-style design that has a series of lights spaced equally apart on the underside. At full power, you have at your disposal the light from 28 LEDs, which can kick out a lot of light when on full power but can also be dimmed for more relaxed evenings.
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It’s also incredibly easy to install by simply clipping around your patio umbrellas central pole, which means it’s also extremely easy to remove when you don’t want to use it anymore.
It features a lithium-ion rechargeable battery that will last up to 54 hours if you use it on the dim light setting – Which should be plenty as long as you remember to recharge it before every weekend!
3. Yescom LED Solar Powered Umbrella String Lights (Warm White)
The Yescom with 40 LED bulbs is another set of string lights, although this time it is powered by a solar panel that charges an internal battery and is energy saving.
So, you keep it up through the day charging away and then when the sun goes down, the lights start to shine – Perfect and not just for when you are at home, due to the fact it is solar power and no power supply is required it’s great for camping as well!
Just attach them to your tent, a tree or just the umbrella poles, the effect is amazing.
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This particular model consists of 40 individual LEDs that produce a very warm and calming white light – perfect for solar lights for patio umbrella and more for those subdued evenings with your significant other or when you just want to sit and enjoy a book as the day draws to a close.
It is relatively simple to install although not particularly feature-packed, the fact it’s solar powered makes it a big winner for us.
4. Multi Colored Patio Dimmable LED Umbrella Lights
By far the best on our interesting list looking at the curious and good in umbrella patio lights is these solar-powered, multi-color LED umbrella lights.
They come with a handy remote that allows you to choose from 12 different colors, along with 10 different brightness options.
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Thanks to the handy solar panel, you don’t need to constantly change the batteries or worry about running an extension cord outside, simply install, wait for some sunlight and you’re good to go.
5. FLAME & SHADE Patio Umbrella (Pre-fitted with Lights)
The Flame & Shade umbrella with LED lights combo is a little different from the other garden umbrella lights in our top 5 best umbrella lights list. This product is a full patio umbrella complete with pre-fitted LED lights.
Whilst more expensive than simply purchasing a LED light system you can attach yourself, when you invest in this patio umbrella with lights you’re getting a high-quality, long-lasting powder-coated umbrella that comes with some nice features.
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It includes a crank handle, allowing you to open and close the umbrella mechanically rather than having to use force to get the umbrella up. It also features a tilt feature, allowing you to angle the umbrella depending on the angle the sun is coming from. This is an extremely handy feature and one not often found in cheap patio umbrellas.
The other added benefit is it comes complete with the LED’s pre-fitted, which includes both a rechargeable battery pack and a solar panel that will charge the battery during the day.
This saves you the hassle of trying to string your own LED lights up or getting them tangled when you open and close your umbrella that wasn’t designed to include lights.
Best Patio Umbrella Lights Buying Guide
- Battery Powered
- Amazon's Choice
- 2 Color Option
- Remote Controlled
- Amazon's Choice
- Rechargeable Battery
- 54 Hours Per Charge
- Bright White
- Umbrella Incl.
- High Quality Build
- Solar Panel Included
- Rechargeable Battery
Now that we have taken you briefly through the list of what we believe are the best on the market, it is time to give you some further help. We found this useful blog post on how to set up patio umbrella lights which may also come in handy as well as our buying guide!
Here we look at some of the most important aspects you need to take into consideration when deciding which outdoor umbrella lights are best for you.
We will look at factors including:
- Type of lighting required
- Lighting styles
- Lighting Power Sources
Type Of Lighting Required
It makes a lot of sense before actually deciding to buy one of the LED umbrella lights mentioned above or another on the market, to sit down and think about what you need the lighting for in the first place.
Are you looking to just provide some accent lighting for your patio or create a calming and relaxing warm glow as the sun goes down and the moon comes up? If so, string style lights may be the best for you.
However, if you are looking for lighting that will help you to complete tasks even when the natural light in the sky goes out, disc-style lights may be a better solution. This will provide a brighter more intense illumination.
Best LED Lighting Styles
Primarily, as we are sure you realize from a quick browse of what’s available online and what we have listed in our top 5, that there are two main styles of patio umbrella lighting. These two styles are:
- Strand Lights
- Umbrella Disc Lights
Both have their advantages and disadvantages, as you will see as we look at them individually.
Strand Lights
Strand lights are very similar to, well, exactly the same as, Christmas-tree style lights.
They also work the same way, with a trunk line that often, depending on the model and manufacturer of a particular set of string lights, goes through the actual shaft, and then spreads out into the ribs on the umbrella. Therefore, spreading the light across the entire umbrella.
Strand lights are best suited to providing accent lighting and are generally quite relaxing, but will not help you to do anything such as serving food and read.
If you like to go camping then the solar power or battery operated options are perfect for that little extra ambiance around the campfire.
LED Umbrella Light Setup
To successfully set up a strand light system, there are some things you need to consider concerning the umbrella you have:
- Umbrella Style – If you have a market or standard patio umbrella, most strand light systems will be compatible. However, if you have an offset or cantilever design, you will need to find a strand lighting system that has been designed with these styles in mind.
- Ribs – You need to count how many ribs you have. Normally there are 8 ribs on patio umbrellas, but there are numerous variations, some of which have 9, 6 or a different amount. As strand lights come in various numbers of strands, you need to choose the one that has the same amount of strands as your umbrella.
- Diameter – The diameter of your umbrella is essential information for choosing the right strand lights, as you need to figure out how long each strand will be. Take the diameter and divide it by 2 to calculate the umbrella’s radius and this is the maximum length any light strand can be.
Disc Light Design
Resembling a miniature spacecraft or hockey puck, disc lights are specially designed to connect to the umbrella shaft and emit light downwards from the top. As the light is obviously more focused and brighter around the umbrella shaft, it can be used to better illuminate anything directly underneath.
These usually work best as lighting for specific tasks and very practical, but suffer from not being the best looking lighting solutions in the world. However, if you are looking to read as the night draws in or want to continue eating or doing other tasks, this is an ideal solution to the problem of the sky getting dark at night.
There is only one parameter you need to factor into your decision as to which is the best disc light and that is the diameter of the shaft – pole.
Usually, these fall between the 1.5 and 2 inches mark, and just about all of the disc lights available can be adjusted to fit whatever the diameter of your shaft is. It is important to note though, if your umbrella has an unusually large or awkwardly shaped shaft, you may need to look for a disc light with a more specialist design.
LED Lighting Power Sources
The final aspect of choosing is the lighting power source. At present, there are four primary light power sources for this kind of lighting and these are:
- Solar-powered umbrella lights
- Batteries (Rechargeable)
- Batteries (Standard)
- Electric – Mains
We will discuss each of these lighting power sources individually, helping you to understand their benefits and downsides.
Solar Powered LEDs
Solar is a nice and green power source for your patio umbrella lights Normally, there is a miniature solar cell attached at the top of your umbrella that absorbs the sunlight during daylight hours. Then when darkness falls, the lights switch-on automatically and they provide a relaxing glow for numerous hours until they gently dim as the power fades.
Although solar is a great way to harness power from the sun to provide the necessary power to your lights. However, if you live in an area where there are more cloudy than sunny days or are looking for a long-lasting type of illumination, you might be better looking elsewhere.
Solar lights are great when the brightness of the light isn’t extremely important, such as in solar LED path or landscape lights but it can be a pain if you have to rely on it for a BBQ.
Furthermore, if you often use a cover with your umbrella, you may run into issues as to whether solar lights are compatible with it or not.
Batteries (Solar Rechargeable)
Rechargeable batteries are not only a very cost-effective and energy-efficient way but a very functional way to provide the power your lights need. While some utilize traditional AA rechargeable batteries, other models feature built-in batteries that can be charged via solar power, a plug, power bank or USB cable.
This type of power source obviously has its environmental benefits, as well as being fairly cost-effective over a long period of time too.
Another major advantage of rechargeable batteries is even if you are using an umbrella cover, you can still charge your lights.
Batteries (Standard)
By far the best thing about standard batteries is that they are easy and the majority of people are familiar with them. However, their convenience is about the only good thing about them, as they are not really environmentally-friendly or economically friendly either.
If that is the case, you would probably be better opting for solar powered umbrella lighting
Electric – Mains Powered
You may have noticed that some of the options listed further up the page were powered by a standard electric plug connected to the mains electricity supply.
What this basically means is that you will always have a power cord running from your socket tom the shaft of your umbrella, not only presenting you with a trip hazard but an unattractive line of wiring running from your home to your patio umbrella.
While they are normally the least expensive lighting solution, they are not nearly the best overall.
Frequently Asked Questions:
We hope that you have found this article useful and informative. Below we will answer some of the questions that we here at LED Light Guide get asked the most, we hope this will aid you further in your quest for the perfect patio umbrella for you.
How do you put lights on a patio umbrella?
You can put lights on your patio umbrella in various ways.
- With the aid of some mini clips, you can string them around the outside edge. Doing it this way will give you light both underneath and around the perimeter of the umbrella.
- Wind them around the umbrella pole up to the center top. This will give you more light underneath and light a table or area underneath.
- As long as your light string is long enough, you can run the light string up and down the spokes. This spreads the light more evenly for ambient lighting.
Does a patio umbrella need a base?
Most patio umbrellas need a base or you risk losing not only the umbrella but your table and everything on it with the first gust of wind. However, there are designs out there such as the Cantilever design that will already have a base.
The size, shape, and weight of the base will depend totally on the size of your umbrella canopy and where the umbrella is to be used.
Can you use a patio umbrella without a table?
If you want to use a patio umbrella without a table, i.e. as a free standing umbrella, you will need a heavier stand. A 100+ lbs stand would be required and the wider the base the better it will be. If you are in a windy area or have a tilt umbrella then even heavier would be recommended.
Umbrella Light Review Summary
There you have it folks, our rundown of the top 5 best patio umbrella lights and a helpful buying guide. We hope that this post has been and is helpful to you on your search for the best lighting solution for your patio umbrella set up.
By using the buying guide and the list above, you should have the very best lights for your specific needs and requirements in no time – so that you are able to enjoy the benefits of staying outside in the fresh air, whether it is with family or relaxing on your own after the sky’s lights go out! If you’re not sure what you should know before buying a patio umbrella, this guide will help.
