You Can Clean Dirty Solar Lights With Bug Spray. But Here's Why You Shouldn't

You need outdoor solar lights for your yard. Illuminating dark paths for safe stepping is crucial for home safety, and solar lights are inexpensive, easy to install, and save you electricity while getting the job done. With that being said, however, solar lights are only good if their panels are absorbing the sun's rays. If your outdoor lighting is looking dim and the panels are ultra-grungy, you can bring back their power with a simple clean.

Bug spray is a trending quick-fix that restores solar light panels to nearly mint condition. No, it won't keep bugs away from your porch lights, but it will revive the solar panels. There are plenty of ways to give the panels a refresh, but lots of them involve scrubbing and mess. For this method, just give the panel a spritz and a wipe with a lint-free cloth, and your solar lights will be ready to soak in the sun again. What's making this stuff work so well to clean up the solar panels? Although there's not much official data to back this up, the DEET in bug spray is supposedly responsible for these miraculous transformations.

Despite the hype, there's cause for concern when using bug spray on plastic. This isn't bug spray's only side hustle — people commonly use it to clean their cars' cloudy headlights. However, automotive restoration professionals share that DEET actually cleans the polycarbonate headlight surfaces by melting off a layer of the plastic. This can cause costly damage to your car. Solar lights are often made in part with polycarbonate, so it's possible that bug spray's quick clean-up for solar lights is due to the same reaction. 

Solar lights are a much lower-stakes investment. Since they cost a tiny fraction of a car or even auto repairs, the minor damage to the plastic surface might be worth getting better-functioning lights. If the thought of even a little damage to your investment has you putting the Off back on the shelf, however, you can safely keep your solar lights clean and efficient with WD-40 Specialist Cleaner and Degreaser. This should cut through gunk and grime just as efficiently, but it won't damage the plastic, glass, or metal your lights are made of.