*This post may contain affiliate links for which I earn commissions.*
Multi-colored solar lights work by combining red, green, and blue to create other colors. Here’s why some color choices can drain the batteries more quickly.
No matter how many LED bulbs are inside the light, not all of them are used for each color.
Here’s a closeup picture of the tiny LEDs inside my JSOT color-changing lights:
There are a total of eight LEDs with two in the center and the remaining six laid out in a circle around the other two.
What’s very hard to tell in that image is that there are two red LEDs, two green ones, and two blue ones. The two in the center are white.
I’ve placed a colored dot next to each LED in the image below to differentiate them:
This set of lights has seven color options:
When red, green, blue or white are selected, only two LEDs come on.
(I know it looks like there are four LEDs turned on in the blue light but the center white ones are actually off – they’re just picking up some reflection.)
(Note the brightness of the two white LEDs!)
However, the remaining colors are all made up of a combination of two colors so a total of four LEDs are engaged for each.
When purple is selected, the red and blue LEDs are turned on:
The red and green LEDs create yellow:
Green and blue LEDs are used to create cyan:
When a color requires more LEDs to create than another, more energy will be used to create that light and the battery drains faster.
This explains why your lights might stay on longer some nights and turn off sooner on others.
What would cause a color changing solar light that has only green, red, blue and clear lights to not show the blue when the button on the top is pressed for having that issue? The green, red and clear all work fine but not the blue. Should I open the back of the top to check the LED’s for issues? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
It does sound like there’s an issue specifically with the LEDs used to create the blue light. Opening it may be the only way to fix it although doing so may also ruin the light if you can’t get it back together properly. Do so at your own risk understanding that may be the end of the light but that’s what I’d do if it were me. 😉