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Are solar street lights Bright Enough? Light measurement for solar street lighting systems

October 26, 2022/in blog/by samwill

Light measurement for solar street lighting systems

There are two important indicators of the brightness of the solar street light, Lux and Lumens.
Lux and lumens are both units of measurement for brightness. They are used to tell us the amount of illumination output and intensity from a light source.

Lumens equals light output.
Lux (represented as lx) stands for luminous flux per unit area.

Relationship between lumens and lux：One lux is equal to one lumen per square meter (lm/m2).
In this post, we will explore the Lux standards of street lights and why they are important. If you want to learn about lumens you can check out this article:UNDERSTANDING WATTS AND LUMENS: HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT BRIGHTNESS LIGHT FIXTURE FOR YOUR PROJECT

What is Lux and why is it important?

Lux is a measurement of luminous flux that falls on a surface. Lux is an SI unit of photometry, which is a way to measure the brightness of the light. Luminous flux is the amount of light given off by a source. So, Lux is a measure of the brightness of light at a given point in space. Lux is used to specify the brightness of light or illumination. It is a standard light measurement in all types of lighting, such as a home light, office light, car headlight, or street light. On the other hand, Lumen is a unit of measure for light output.

If you want to buy solar street lights, the first question you should ask yourself is how bright do you want the solar street lights to be? This is important because high-brightness lights may need to be more energy efficient. The brightness of a light is measured in Lux, a unit of measurement used for light intensity. In simple terms, the brightness of any solar street light is determined by its lux output. The lux output varies from model to model, so you must be careful while purchasing solar street lights. If you know the lux output of different solar street lights, it would be easier for you to choose the right brightness.

Why Lux Level Make Sense than Lumen

A lumen is a measure of light output from an individual light source. The lumen measurement is calculated by multiplying the light source’s wattage by the light source’s lumens per watt rating. Lux is the SI unit of illumination. Illumination is the amount of light on a surface. This can be measured in foot candles or the brightness of light after it travels a certain distance. Since the Lumen rating is used to measure the brightness of indoor lights (like bulbs), it is the wrong way to measure the brightness of outdoor lights. The Lux level is the correct way to measure the brightness of solar street lights because the levels are calculated in meters. Now, when you have a solar street light bulb that produces 1000 lumens, it would be a different brightness if it was placed 10 meters away. Therefore, altering the place of the bulb would change the brightness at different Lux levels. Lumen measures how much light a bulb produces; Lux measures how far the light travels.

Different Road lighting Lux Level Standard

Lux standard is calculated by taking account of the width of the road, the height of the light poles and the span or spacing of the poles. Below is a brief overview of the different Lux standards depending on the type of road.

Walkways exclusively for pedestrians

For walkways exclusive to pedestrians, the lux standard should be an illuminance of 5 for a luminous intensity of 0.5 per meter and a uniformity of 0.2. This means the solar street light should have a lux measurement of 5 per o.5 feet. This is not too bright as these lights are designed for walkways and pedestrian use.

Residential traffic areas for slowly moving vehicles (</ 10 Km/h)

These lights should have a luminous intensity of 10 per 1 foot and a uniformity of 0.2. These lights are designed for use in the home and estate driveways. These are areas where vehicles move at less than 10 kilometers per hour.

Regular vehicle traffic (< 40 km/h)

These lights have a luminous intensity of 15-20 per 1.5 to 2 feet. They are lights designed to be installed in intersections or highways with a speed limit of less than 40 km per hour. These lights are brighter than the previous ones, but they are not too bright.

Main urban streets

These lights have a luminous intensity of 20 per 2.0 feet. These are lights designed to be used in urban streets like towns and cities. They provide lights for better visibility at night and security.

Urban roads

These street lights have a luminous intensity of 2 to 5 per 2 to 0.5 feet depending on the city and the road. These lights are designed for use in highways that pass through major towns and cities. They provide light for truckers and night drivers for better visibility at night.

Rural Path and roads

These are street lights meant for use in rural areas without towns or cities. These lights are brighter than other lights because they are the only source of light on the road. They have a luminous intensity of 2 to 5 per 0.2 to 0.5 meters.

Pedestrian passages, vehicle turning, loading and unloading points

These are the brightest of all the streets. They have a luminous intensity of 50 per 2 to 5 feet. These lights are used to light pedestrian passages for maximum security and visibility. They are also used for vehicle turning points, loading and unloading points. They offer the biggest amount of light for clear visibility at night.

If Solar Street light can meet the Lux Level Standard

If you want to install solar street lights, you will be required to install a solar luminaire designed to provide a minimum of 5 Lux on the ground surface. On average, a standard solar luminaire can produce around 4-5 Lux. Since solar luminaires are highly dependent on weather conditions, the brightness level may fluctuate slightly. However, you can purchase a street light with an integrated lighting control system (LDC) that detects the amount of light falling on the surface and automatically regulates the brightness level accordingly. So, now you know that the standard brightness is not just measured in Lumen but also in Lux. Therefore, before you purchase a solar street light, you should check the Lux rating of the luminaire to ensure that it is designed to provide sufficient brightness.

The first-generation solar streetlights were built with a Lux rating of 2 Lux. With the advancement of solar street light technology, the manufacturers are now producing lights with a Lux rating of about 5 to 50 Lux. That is enough for roads and streets because the standard street light standards are between 10 and 50 Lux. Modern street lights are designed to meet the Lux standards.

Conclusion

Solar street lights are a great way to add security to the streets, save on electricity bills and be eco-friendly. They are designed to produce a certain amount of light, so make sure you choose one that is powerful enough to light your walkway. To ensure accurate information, it is important to have a clear idea about the basics of solar street lights. It will help you know what to look for in a solar street light and how to decide which one is the best fit for your needs. If you want to add solar street lights to your property, you can use them to illuminate your walkways, gardens, driveways, and more. Solar lights are a great choice for any outdoor space because they are eco-friendly and cost-effective.

What is the best solar light battery

June 15, 2021/in blog/by samwill

In recent years, due to the advantages of green energy, easy installation, and wide application, which can be installed in remote areas without connecting power grid, solar street lights are waiting for more and more installation and use. How to choose the right solar light battery for your project? LUXMAN summarizes many years of experience and makes the following analysis for you:

GEL battery

suitable for split solar street lights. The earlier split solar street lights are mainly composed of solar panels + GEL batteries + LED lamps. Among them, the solar panel needs to be equipped with a fixed bracket, and the GEL battery needs to be packed in the battery box and buried underground or hung on a light pole. The configured LED lamps generally require a certain length of wiring. It is inconvenient to install, and the product cost and labor cost are high.

Lithium battery

At present, more split solar street lights use lithium battery box technology, that is, pack a lithium battery pack and controller into a box, usually placed on the back of the solar panel, and some are placed on the bottom of the LED lamp, using an intelligent control system.

Lithium battery pack, there are currently three commonly used lithium batteries of 18650, 26650, and 32650. Relatively speaking, 18650 is usually a ternary lithium battery, no matter the service life and cost performance are not high. Currently, the commonly used LiFePO4 battery specifications are 26650 and 32650. 26650 means diameter D=26mm, length L=65mm; 32650 means diameter D=32mm, length L=65mm. Due to cell size limitations, the battery capacity of the 26650 is not as high as that of the 32650, and the number of batteries using the 32650 to achieve the same configuration is less than that of the 26650.

For example, an 80W integrated solar street light needs a 12.8V 72AH LIFEPO4 battery. The 26650 cell capacity is 4000mah, and the 32650 cell capacity is 6000mah. If 26650 is used for 12.8V 72AH battery pack, 4S18P 72pcs cells are needed, and 32650 is 4S12P 48pcs cells. With the same configuration, the number of batteries using 32650 will be 24pcs less than that of 26650. In terms of price, the current price of 26650 battery 1AH is about RMB 20.00, and the price of 32650 battery 1AH is about RMB 14.00. In this case, if a 26650 battery is used, the battery composition costs 72*20=RMB1440.00, and the cost of using a 32650 battery 72*14=RMB1008.00, the cost gap is obvious. Therefore, the 32650 is cost-effective.

In summary, the battery of solar street lights must first be configured according to the technical requirements of the project, but the cost of the product must also be considered.

The use of LiFePO4 large-capacity batteries is a trend. The cost of solar street lights will be lower and lower, but the quality depends on the factory’s production technology and the ability to control raw materials.

For products with the same appearance, the lower the price, the more you need to be cautious, because regular manufacturers use high-quality raw materials, and the price of high-quality raw materials will not be too cheap. LUXMAN solar street lights use high-quality raw materials, and our quality has been affirmed by customers in the past few years.
Related article:

https://luxmanlight.com/how-to-choose-the-best-solar-street-light-factory-in-china//

How to Make a Solar Street Light Model?

February 22, 2021/in blog/by samwill

There is an objective of every project and when we talk about solar street lights, the objective is to be a greener alternative to traditional street lights. In order to maximize the efficiency of a solar street light, each component needs to work at maximum energy utilization with minimal losses. Thinking about the solar street lights model might bring a lot of different designs and structures to your mind. While the basic design remains the same, it is only the aesthetics that are different in different variants of solar street lights. Let’s discuss how to make a simple model of solar street lights.

There are usually seven main parts that make a complete package of solar street light model:

Solar Panel, also known as solar photovoltaic cell – used to convert sun energy to electric power
Solar charge controller – used to control or regulate the flow of electric charge from PV module to the battery
Pack of battery – used to store electric charge for use at night
Street Lamp – a source of light
Poles – for connectivity between different parts and installation on elevated surfaces
Remote controller – to help control, manage and maintain the solar street light model

Depending on the manufacturer, the component type may vary.

Designing a solar street light model

First, calculate the amount of light required to illuminate the area. The bulb used will help you know the wattage. Use this wattage and the duration of illumination to calculate the watt-hours of the battery and any component that will be consuming the power. The wattage-hour will help you choose the PV module that is capable of producing that amount of energy. Do keep the energy losses in your mind and always choose a PV panel that is able to produce more energy than is needed to compensate losses. The angle and watt peak is dependent on the location of installation, so do a checkup about that.

To find out what size of the battery to use, the watt-hours needed for lights can help you in knowing that. Using some basic electrical formula, you can find out the depth of charge, nominal charge, and the capacity of the battery in amp-hours.

The size of the charge controller depends on the power requirement of the panel and your choice of energy storage. The basic rule is to use a charge controller that is capable of handling the current from the panel.

Assembling the Solar Panel

The solar panels are made of semiconductors; a substance that is able to conduct electricity under some conditions. The material usually used is silicon but there are other materials as well such as gallium arsenide, indium phosphide, and copper indium selenide. To make a solar cell, it needs trillions of silicon atoms in the form of a wafer layer. Each silicon atom contains extremely small and tiny things called electrons. These tiny electrons carry an electric charge. When sunlight hits the cells, the photons present in the sunlight will let the electrons loose from their atoms, and as the electrons flow through the cell, they produce electricity.

The solar panel is attached to the pole and with other components of the solar lighting system through cables. Brackets and frames are used to hold the solar panel. These brackets are usually made from aluminum to keep them lightweight and weather resistant.

Assembling the Battery

The battery assembly is done using the wires that permit it to connect with the PV module and with the LED lamp. The battery is designed efficiently to sustain continuous currents for longer periods of time. The battery assembly is usually kept inside an aluminum housing with open vents to keep the ventilation in order to dissipate heat produced by the batteries.

LED fixture

The LED fixture is attached to the pole through brackets and the height of the LED fixture is adjusted to have proper levels of lights. There are many designs of LED fixture available and is different for different variants of solar lights

Making the system more efficient

In order to optimize the whole system, there are certain components that need to be chosen carefully. The first thing is that instead of the fluorescent bulb, use LED lights to reduce energy consumption.

Use the best storage technology for the battery pack. In most cases, Li-Ion batteries are commonly recommended for use in solar systems. There are also some other technologies like Lead-acid, gel cell batteries, etc.

Use monocrystalline PV module as this is considered more efficient as compared to polycrystalline.

Minimize the energy losses in your system by choosing efficient wiring connections. The controller you use should be able to turn on and off the system efficiently.

Use of smart sensors

The solar lighting system can be equipped with the following smart controllers and a couple of sensors to increase its efficiency. A passive infrared sensor, which is used to detect motion and to control the levels of lighting. Using solar lights that have a motion sensor installed is an effective way to detect any activity outside of your home as it instantly shines a light on the person or object. There are other motion sensors as well such as microwave motion sensors, dual technology sensors, etc.

Battery Monitoring

This is helpful in order to prevent damages to the battery. When the battery senses an overcharge, it simply reduces the flow of energy and when a voltage drop happens due to a decrease in the intensity of the sunlight or because of an increase in sudden electrical usage, it allows to maintain proper voltage regulation.

Solar LED Street Lights Application Analysis

October 18, 2019/in blog/by samwill

When Greta Thunberg, a Swedish environmental teenager, chose to sail the Atlantic for two weeks before arriving in New York for the United Nations’ youth climate summit, Luxmanlight employees were actively promoting the use of Integrated Solar LED Street Lights around the world. Different views on the same event just represent our different ideas on environmental protection.

The all in one solar LED street light is the product of modern science and technology development. It directly uses solar energy for power supply, environment-friendly, and energy-saving. With the characteristics of once investment and long-term return, traditional street lamps and an LED street lamp is gradually replaced. The solar street light with an automatic lighting system is generally used for street lighting of urban and rural roads. The intelligent street lighting system can realize the intelligent monitoring and management of street lights and reduce the operation and maintenance cost of the system. Thanks to its stable performance, easy management and no need for electricity connection, it is becoming more and more popular. Solar LED street lamps are used in parks, communities, squares, and parking lots from remote rural areas to cities. According to our customer’s experience, now we summarize the main installation locations of solar street lamps.

Application location of solar LED street lamps

Rural road lighting

The rural natural environment is harsher, not suitable for laying cable. Solar lamp installation is simple, long service life. Moreover, rural roads are narrow and small, and the requirements for LED light sources are not high, which is suitable for installing stand-alone solar LED street lights.

Monitoring and lighting of farms, barns, doorways, and courtyards

House installation of solar street lights not only very convenient night lighting, but also can be equipped with a camera monitoring function. In the meantime, installation is simple, still can save a lot of electricity bills. Current standard configuration with light control, will according to illumination (brightness) automatically turn on-off the light, auto-off in the day, auto-on light at night, very simple and convenient.

Homestay, resort, and hotel outdoor lighting

Lighting safety, environmental protection, and energy-saving are the pursuit of the concept of homestay and hotel, so the solar street lamp is the right choice.

Mining area, remote power shortage place lighting

Mining areas are usually quite remote, so the cost of installing street lamps by cable is very high. Therefore, it is appropriate to choose a solar street lamp. Luxman solar LED street light works 12 hours a night and can support 5-7 rainy days. The road may still be rough, but it is no longer dark and safe to travel.

Island lighting

There is no doubt that islands are short of electricity, especially the remote, smaller islands, which are 100% short of electricity. Diesel power doesn’t work 24/7 and there are always dark hours, but solar lighting will keep your nights dark no matter how windy or rainy.

Monitoring and lighting of the home town villa

Many young people like to live in the city, where the house is only for old people and children or no one lives. Therefore, a kind of solar street light with a camera that can be illuminated and monitored is very suitable for use. like Luxman S3C Series solar street light with a camera for residential areas.

The lighting of urban roads and secondary trunk road

Energy-saving and emission reduction can be achieved not only by using AC Powered LED lighting, but also by using more advanced solar-powered street lighting without electricity bill, which can be invested once and be effective for a long time.

Square, parking lot, playground lighting

There’s a lot of traffic in public places, but it’s usually only in the early hours of the night. The intelligent solar street lamp can do induction mode(PIR), time control mode, and can also do induction + time control hybrid mode, so it can meet the lighting use in public places.

Schools, hospitals and museums outdoor lighting

Environmental protection is everyone’s business. The low-carbon concept must be promoted from schools to hospitals, exhibitions, museums, and another outdoor lighting. Integrated solar street lamps not only meet the lighting needs but also have a prominent environmental protection demonstration effect.

Park and green space lighting

In general, the lighting of parks and green Spaces does not require high illumination on the ground (compared with outdoor stadium lighting). Intelligent solar street lamps are the best choice for lighting in these public areas.

Community road lighting

The lighting of community roads and garden roads in the community has changed from traditional lamps to LED lamps and then to solar street lamps, which is the trend of the times.

Industrial zone, science, and technology park, road lighting

In industrial areas, science and technology parks or innovation incubators park, no matter traditional lighting or LED lighting which used for public electricity, it is not as cost-effective as solar street lamps after cost accounting.

13.Outdoor camping lighting

The installation of LED solar street lamps in some of the best places for camping not only solves the main problem of campers but also ensures their safety to some extent.

In the future, more than 70% of roads and lighting are expected to use solar street lamps, compared with less than 5% today. At present, the price of a solar street lamp is mainly set according to the level of parameter configuration, and the service life is closely related to the configuration. The solar street light manufacturer offers a five-year warranty, which is favored by many customers.

Possibly-related posts:

https://luxmanlight.com/how-to-choose-the-best-solar-street-light-factory-in-china//

What Is Solar Powered Street Lights?-LUXMAN Light

August 27, 2019/in Uncategorized, blog/by samwill

With global warming, green energy has become a trend. Solar-powered street lights with 100% green energy come into being, so what is solar-powered street lights? Solar street lamps are mainly composed of solar panels, controllers, LED light sources and batteries.
During the day, solar panels absorb energy from the sun and convert it into power, which is stored in solar batteries by the controller, and provide lighting power for an LED light source at night. This is the working principle of solar street lamps work.

Solar Street Light Advantages:

* Installation anywhere

* Maintenance-free

* No underground or overhead service

* No electricity bill

* Different styles available

* Mobile phone remote control

This article is originally created by LUXMAN LIGHT. Do not reprint it without permission.

Recent updates:

<>How long do solar-powered street light last-LUXMAN Light

<>5 Kinds of Solar Street Light Applications

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