Dummy alarm case with LED- solar or battery?

[Ltnman]

Thinking about upgrading my 20 year old dummy alarm case with one with twin flashing LED's.

Some cases come with a solar panel built into the top but as rechargeable batteries only last around 500 cycles of discharge / recharge maybe 1000 times in ideal conditions is it worth going for this type of box?

I have seen some non solar boxes advertised with a 10 year battery life. Even if it was only a year or two it would still be comparable with rechargeable battery life.

 

[musszzy]

Battery - I still have a module flashing after 8 years sitting on the shelf in my shed!

 

[Sally2000]

If* the charging arrangement is properly arranged, the battery will not be fully discharged every night. It will be topped up in the morning and float charged for the rest of the day. With a lithium battery installed it should certainly last several years.

*that's the important word here. Something bought cheap off ebay may not be.

 

[Ltnman]

Thanks everyone who took the time to reply. I have gone for the 10 year battery solution. I have marked the date on the inside of the case as a reminder.

The LED's give a really narrow flash beam, which is fine when looking directly at the case from the same height but next to no flash from below. The fix was easy as all I did was the remove the LED's from the case fixing and then I shaped the leads to point down in the free space behind the blue lens cover.