How to Choose The Best Solar Street Light
Nowadays, solar street lights are applied to a variety of areas. They come with numerous benefits over conventional street lights. More and more customers would like to install solar street light for they are environmentally-friendly and also cost-effective.
Choosing a solar street light can be very difficult especially if you are not well informed about what to expect when buying it. Besides, there are a number of types of solar street light available in the market and the level of the solar street light industry is uneven, so there may be some problems of solar street lights such as short life, low brightness, short backup days, and high maintenance costs. So, how do we choose the best solar street light in the complex market?
The components of solar street lights
A solar street light is one type of light source that is fully powered by solar energy. It consists of an LED street light, solar panel, battery, controller and other components.
(1)Solar Panel
Solar panel is one of the most important parts of a solar street light. It collects energy from the sun during daytime and then converts these energy into electricity that the light can use.
(2)LED Street Light
LED features energy-saving. LED fixtures are also less prone to failures with an average number of 50,000 working hours, while the traditional street lights range from 5,000 to 8,000 working hours with the much higher failure rate. Therefore, LED street light is used as the primary light source of solar street light.
(3)Storage Battery
Battery is used to store the electricity from the solar panel during the day, and provide energy for the LED street light at night. The capacity of battery affects the backup days of the lights, and the life cycle of the battery is important to the lifespan of the light.
(4)Solar Charge Controller
Solar charge controller is the brain of the solar street light. It is a regulator that decides when to turn on or off the lighting and when to charge the battery. When the battery is nearly full, the controller will tapper off the charging current to maintain the required voltage to fully charge the battery and keep it topped off. It protects the battery from both overcharging and undercharging.
Application areas for solar street light
Outdoor solar lighting has gained immense popularity lately. The solar lighting LED uses solar energy which is available in abundance in open areas. Therefore, the solar lighting lamps, solar lighting bulbs and solar lighting poles can last up to 10-12 hours after being fully charged.
Solar street lights have proved to be a lifesaver for many when outdoor lighting has disappointed many by not being available. Solar street light is used to streets, highways, gardens, parks and to secure boundary walls of a factory and school. Solar street light is also a boon for some remote areas. It offers a solution for the illumination of streets and crossroads that are not connected to the power grid.
What should you consider when choosing a solar street light
The type of solar panel
Before you buy a solar panel, you should make sure that you have carried out a proper investigation of the area you would want the solar panel to be in. Check if it is the type that you can mount on the top of your roof.
The warranty given by the manufacturer
When you are buying a solar panel or the kits, ask questions about the warranty of the product from the manufacturers. If the warranty is for a long period, such as 20-25 years, then the solar panel is trustworthy and reliable.
The solar street light price
The reason for comparing the prices of solar street lights is to be able to determine how good the quality of the solar street light would be. Products with low prices are usually ones with low quality but products with high prices are usually products with amazing quality. This means you must be careful so that you don’t fall in the hands of people selling fake products or low-quality products. These products won’t last and would cost you extra money every time.
The conclusion
Choosing the best solar street light is not a easy task. With all the information above, it will be clear for you to decide on what solar street light model you would like to buy.