Choosing a suitable solar led street light for outdoor lighting projects is quite challenging, especially if there are too many solar street lamp styles in the market. Other than that, these solar street lights range from tens of dollars to hundreds of dollars or are even more expensive. The cheap types are sometimes for household use, while the high-quality ones are for engineering use. You aim to choose a solar street light suitable to your project and budget. But how do you do that? Don’t worry. We got your back. Through this article, we will help you choose the best solar street light for your solar street light project without spending beyond your budget.
Outdoor Solar Street Lights Classifications
In appearance, we can divide solar street lights into integrated solar street lights, all in two solar street lights and split solar street lights.
All-in-one street lights are also called all-in-one solar street lights, meaning all components are made in one shell. The advantage of the integrated solar light is easy to install. Semi-split solar lights are solar panels installed separately, and other accessories are all in one shell.
According to the quality, the solar lighting system can also be divided into low-voltage (3v) and high-voltage (12/24V). 3v solar lights are usually used in cheap low-wattage retail solar lamps. High-quality solar street light projects usually require a 12/24V system.
Outdoor Solar Street Lights Classifications
In appearance, we can divide solar street lights into integrated solar street lights, all in two solar street lights and split solar street lights.
All-in-one solar street lights are recognized as the new generation of integrated solar LED street lights, meaning all components are made in one shell. Its advantage is it is easy to install and ship. Due to the size limitation, the best power of integrated solar lamps is under 80W.
Semi-split solar lights are solar panels installed separately, and other accessories are all in one shell. This kind of solar light has adjustable solar panels. Additionally, we can install semi-split solar lamps with higher power outputs than integrated solar lights, such as 100W.
Split solar street lights mean the solar panel, battery, and LED light fixtures are all installed separately. We can install the biggest solar panel to get the brightness of solar street lights, 150W 28000lm, for example.
(Click here to check more popular solar road lamps in 2022.)
3V, 12V 24V Solar-Powered Street Lights
According to the quality, the solar lighting system can also be divided into low-voltage (3v) and high-voltage (12/24V). Usually, 3v solar lights are used in cheap low-wattage retail solar lamps. On the other hand, high-quality solar street light projects usually require a 12/24V system.
Four Mains Solar Light Components
The picture above is the circuit diagram of all solar lights. As you can see, all solar lights must contain four components: solar panels, batteries, controllers, and LED lights. Let’s take a quick overview of each important component of solar light.
The solar charge controller controls the coordinated operation of these components: solar panel, battery, LED, and other accessories. It is generally divided into PWM controllers and MPPT controllers. In rainy weather, the MPPT controller’s efficiency is higher than the PWM controller. For more information about solar light controllers, click here.
The battery is the energy storage component of the solar lamp system. At present, most solar light batteries are lithium batteries. Lithium batteries can be divided into LiFePO4 and LiMn2O4. We can say that battery is the most important part of solar lights. For engineering projects specifically, the cost of the battery takes part nearly ¼ to ⅓ the cost of the whole solar lights. To learn more about solar light batteries, click here.
Solar panels are components for generating electricity. Most solar street lights have monocrystalline solar panels. For further information about the solar panel, click here.
LED lights are now known as the third-generation LED light source. LEDs have high luminous efficiency, making solar street lighting much less expensive. At present, specifically in 2022, the luminous efficiency of LED chips can be as high as 200 lumens per watt. To learn more about outdoor solar light design and proposal, click here.
How to Choose the Best Solar Street Lights
To make choosing the best solar street lights easier, we have listed several popular outdoor street lights and evaluated them from different aspects, including brightness, lighting time, and lifespan. These are the following:
Cheap Price Solar Road Lamps
- Price: $30-$100
- Lighting time: 3/10
- Lighting Span: 3/10
- Brightness: 3/10
In the market, these types of solar lights are labeled 100W to 400W. However, the real lead power ranges from 5 to 25W. Additionally, all solar lighting parts are cheap and last only two years. This kind of lamp uses a 3V low-voltage system. It is popular among home/house lighting, community, and country road. Typically, these lamps are sold in Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America.
- Price: $10-$30
- Lighting time: 3/10
- Lighting Span: 3/10
- Brightness: 2/10
In the market, these types of solar lights are labeled 30W to 200W. But the real LED power ranges from 3W to 10W. The application place and target countries of this type of solar lamp are similar.
High-Quality Solar-LED Street Lamps for Engineering Projects
- Price: $50-$500
- Lighting time: 8/10
- Lighting Span: 8/10
- Brightness: 8/10
This is the most popular solar street light called the “all-in-one solar street light“. The real lead power of this type can be 5W to 100W. Additionally, the application place of this type can be government solar street lighting projects and parking lot lighting. We did projects in the USA, Australia, Dubai, and Spain.
- Price: $50-$500
- Lighting time: 8/10
- Lighting Span: 8/10
- Brightness: 8/10
These lamps are also used in high-quality solar lighting systems. Regardless of cost, it is similar to integrated solar streetlights in brightness, lighting duration, and lifespan. As a matter of fact, our customers in Europe and North America also prefer this kind of solar light design.
How to Customize the Design of Solar-LED Street Lights
So, how do we design and customize Solar-LED Street Lights? If you want to know the answer, read the following:
The picture above is a sample of a solar street light project we made according to customer needs in Texas, USA. (Click here to see more of our custom solar light projects)
If it is a customized solar street light design, we will first consider the installation location. For example, in small roads or communities with little traffic, the lighting time and brightness requirements do not need to be too high. The main road with large traffic flow requires strict lighting brightness and lighting time (To learn how to improve the lighting time of solar street lights, click here).
Secondly, we will determine the LED light’s lumen value according to the street light pole’s height and brightness requirements. Note that this is in lumens, not watts. Because the direct parameter that determines brightness is lumen value, not wattage. And we will use LEDs with high lumen efficiency as much as possible to save the cost of solar panels and batteries. If the project requires, we will provide the Dialux Simulation (To view more of our lighting design drawing service, click here).
Road lighting Dialux simulation
In the third step, we will determine the size of the solar panel and battery according to the power and lighting time of the led street light. The battery generally uses a lithium battery, which is small in size and light in weight. Lithium batteries and solar panels are also the two most expensive components of solar lamps.