Frequently Asked Questions

Please check below for answers to some of your commonly asked questions

General Questions:

Q: If I order on a Friday can I get my lamps delivered on Saturday?

A: Usually, yes. However, Royal Mail do not garantee a 'Next Working Day' delivery on Saturday. Orders placed during the week will of course be delivered 'Next Working Day'

Q: What is next working day delivery exactly?

A: If you place your order on a weekday either by telephone or via our website before 1pm on a we can normally get your order to you the next working day. The only exception here is when ordering on a Friday where Royal Mail will still try to delivery your order on Saturday but it is NOT guaranteed. The charge for this service is set at £5.60 and covers most orders up to 2 kilo's for regular inland UK delivery. If you have a large order or offshore / remote delivery destination, we may contact you to inform you of the potentially amended delivery routine or charges.

Q: OnSolar lamps have regular B22 Bayonet Cap or E27 Edison Screw base fitting but does that mean they'll fit into the popular equivalent AC light fittings?

A: Yes! All you have to do is remove the standard three (or two pin) AC plug and connect to your 12V DC power supply. N.B: Light fittings with built in dimmer circuits will not work. We recomend fitting a suitably rated fuse for protection in case of short circuit or overload. If you are unsure about undertaking such a conversion please ask a local electrician for some guidance.

Q: What kind of battery should I use and does it have to be 12V?

A: Yes, your battery or supply will need to be nominally rated at 12V (or 24v as the case may be). The size of the battery is not so critical but will determine the 'run time' you will get before potentially running out of power. As a rough guide one of our 11W CFL lamps uses just under 1 amp so a 10 amp (Ah / amp hour) battery would give about 10 hours before being completely flat! Guide: Batteries store their power as 'watt hours'. A 12v, 10 amp battery will have around 120 watt hours available assuming it is in as new condition. The 120 watt hours can be drawn by a 10 watt bulb for 12 hours. This simple example give a process by which you can attempt to calculate how your battery will last with the lamps you intend to use.

Q: Obviously light bulbs are quite fragile items - can I be sure they'll get to me in one piece?

A: Yes. We always use quality packaging to ensure all items are safe during transit.

Q: If I recieve my item and it doesent work or has been damaged during shipping, can I get a refund or replacement?

A: We appreciate being informed of any problems as soon as possible. Please test your lamps as soon as you recieve them and let us know right away if you have a problem. Please bear in mind lamp polarity before reporting a defective lamp.

Q: Can I buy wholesale / trade?

A: YES. Contact us with your official company details and requirements and we will be happy to consider you. Start form as little as just 30 units to gain our trade discount (5 units for floodlights). Sorry, no eBay.

Q: For a more information and interesting stuff, please visit our Blog!

A: If you have employed our OnSolar 12V lamps in your project and fancy telling others about it, perhaps how you installed your circuits, how you use solar PV to charge your battery, what light fittings you used, etc; we would be very happy for you to send us the details. Quality information received via email with pictorial content and informational text may be rewarded with posting to our Blog. Exceptional submissions may be eligible for a refund of the original lamp order value or alternatively some new lamps! No need to write a book, simple and concise will suffice.