A Guide to Solar Skylights: What you need to know

Natural light has the power to transform a space, making it feel bigger, brighter and more inviting. But sometimes the layout of your home or office can prevent rooms getting enough sunlight. That’s where skylights come in.

Whether you’re in the market for a traditional skylight or solar skylights, we have the information to help you make a choice.

What’s a Solar Powered Skylight?

You know that traditional skylights that harness the sun’s light through your roof and deliver it down into your home. But you might be asking, what exactly is a solar skylight?

Solar skylights are an alternative option for when traditional skylights are not structurally possible. Using a solar panel on the roof, a diffuser kit with quality LEDs mounted to your ceiling and a wire to connect them, a solar skylight is powered by the sun, giving you free lighting during the day.

Traditional or Solar? Which Skylight is right for me?

Traditional skylights are designed to let natural light into a building. They capture light from the roof and transfer it into your home where the light is diffused, brightening up your space.

There are several types of traditional skylights, each with their own advantages:

• Fixed skylights are like a flat window that sits sleekly on your roof, providing direct sunlight,
• Vented skylights are like windows that can be opened and have the added advantage of providing ventilation to dark interior rooms, and
• Tubular skylights use a dome and a reflective tube to brighten up a room.

While we understand the importance of natural sunlight, sometimes cutting a hole in your roof for a skylight isn’t feasible, other time you may not want a dome on the front of your house. Some skylight enthusiasts are loudly opposed to the use of solar skylights. But here at SolarBright, we embrace this new technology that allows people to use the sun’s energy to directly power a light, wherever you need it.

The Benefits of Solar Powered Skylights

Solar powered skylights come with a range of benefits

• They’re a great option when it’s structurally not possible to install a traditional skylight.
• The long cable on the Solar Panel means you do not have to install it above the diffuser, it can be hidden away from the street or put on the roof that has the most amount of sunlight
• Cost effective: they’re very economical compared to traditional skylights.
• Easy to install: with easier installation, they are a DIY project.
• Flexible: With the use of a panel, wire and diffuser kit, the installation is extremely flexible and great for multistorey homes.
• Space saving: they’re ideal for tight roof spaces.
• No heat transfer: they don’t let in heat or UV light that will warm up your space.
• Leak proof: with no structural penetration to your roof you have less chance of a leak.
• No running costs: Once installed, you’re getting free light powered by the sun.

In addition to all of that, solar powered skylights are perfect for lighting up the following often dark rooms:

• Laundry
• Walk-in / Butler’s Pantry
• Walk in Robe
• Hallways
• Garages
• Attic and roof conversion spaces
• If you are building you could even run a cable down to a lower level in a multistory house.

Solar Powered Skylights from SolarBright

If you’ve decided on solar skylights for your home or office, the MaxLED is a smart choice. With two options and multiple sizes, the MaxLED skylight offers a range of advantages and customisations.

The MaxLED Solar Skylight Standard comes with a roof mountable 30W solar panel and an LED light diffuser. A 10m cable connects the panel on the roof to the diffuser in your room, making it extremely flexible on how and where you use it.

The MaxLED24 has a few extra features. It has a roof mountable 60W solar panel connected to a diffuser in your room and connected by a cable. However, the panel has an integrated and rechargeable lithium 6.4ah battery which stores electricity and powers your skylight at night or on cloudy days. The MaxLED24 solar skylight comes with a movement sensor that turns lights on when you enter a room and off 10 minutes after you’ve walked out, as well as a remote control for added ease of use.

The movement sensor and remote can also be added to the MaxLED as part of an optional accessories pack. You also have your choice of round or square LED light diffusers, depending on your aesthetics and needs.

For more information on how solar skylights work or any of our MaxLED skylights call SolarBright and talk to one of our consultants.