As a solar contractor, you must supply them with the right products. However, choosing the right solar parking lot lights in 2022 is challenging. You have to look around and compare prices from different manufacturers. Some companies offer a good deal, while others deliver poor-quality materials. The bad thing about this is that you don’t know which ones provide good deals until the process is halfway done.
Aside from choosing the right solar parking lot lights, you must know how to design them. But “how do we design solar outdoor led lights to win the project when the customer inquires about the solar parking lot lights project?” The answer is quite simple if you know all the factors. Such factors are the type of solar lamp, the height of light poles, the types of parking lots, and other parameters. In this article, ADN will unravel all the secrets of solar parking lot lights, so they work perfectly.
Tips on Choosing & Designing Solar Parking Lot Lights in 2022
Designing and installing solar parking lot lights correctly is crucial if you want them to last long. Keep on reading to be guided.
Optical Part Design
- Pole height: Solar parking lot lights’ poles usually range from 4 to 8 meters. But there are a few that are between 8 and 10 meters tall. In most cases, LED power needs to increase with pole height.
- Light distribution types: For different pole heights and spacings, choosing various lighting distribution lamps is necessary. It is done to ensure that the lighting is uniform as much as possible. Below are the following pictures of different types of light distribution diagrams:
- Brightness: Usually, the average brightness of the main road needs to reach more than 18lux to ensure the safety of the vehicles. Vehicles on the main road travel fast, and the traffic flow is large, so it needs a certain amount of lighting. But in terms of parking lots, the average brightness is only 10lux because the vehicle travels slowly in the parking lot. In addition, it only needs to see the surrounding roads, vehicles, and boundary lines to move the car.
- Recommended dimming method: The dimming methods of solar lamps generally include human body induction dimming, radar induction dimming, and time-controlled dimming.
For parking lot lighting, ADN recommends the radar sensor dimming method. Here’s why:
- The radar sensing distance is farther than the PIRhuman body sensing distance. The distance of radar sensing can reach 20-25 meters, while the sensing distance of Pir motion is only about 8-10 meters.
- Radar sensing is more suitable for sensing vehicles.
- The sensing angle of radar sense is larger than that of PIR motion.
- The parking lot has a minimal traffic flow, so induction dimming will be more energy-saving and practical than time-controlled dimming.
- Dialux Simulation: If you want to professionally display the lighting effect of the designed lamps in a real venue, you can do a DIALUX simulation. The premise is that the selected luminaire must have an IES file. The size details of the actual venue had to be entered into the DIALUX software as well. The following picture is the rendering made by DIALUX:
Design of Solar Lighting System
For the detailed design of this section, please see the outdoor solar streetlights design page. On that page, we have a detailed introduction to solar lamps’ design principles and formulas. We gathered the information from our 10 years of experience handling solar lighting projects. With this design experience, we have helped our clients (lighting and solar energy companies) win over 100 solar outdoor lighting projects in the past 2 decades.
- Use LED chips with the highest light efficiency: The overall cost of high-power solar lights depends on the solar panels and batteries. Generally, the higher the LED light efficiency, the lower the LED power reaches a certain lumen value. On the other hand, the lower the solar panel power and battery capacity, the lower the overall solar lighting system cost.
- Solar panel power and battery capacity should be set reasonably. Too big and too expensive. Too low, and the lighting time is too short. Different dimming methods, solar panel power, and battery capacity design are others. It is also necessary to design different solar panel power and battery capacity according to the temperature and lighting time of the installation site.
- Check the solar panel size and battery’s weight: If the solar panel is too large and the battery is heavy, you must check the firmness of the hardware accessories. You must always check this when installing the solar panel and battery.
- Hyber on-grid types: Make sure your solar parking lot light never strikes. When the battery has energy storage, the system first uses the energy in the battery. If the battery power runs out, the grid will take over the system to ensure continuous illumination of the LED lights. (Click to view a project in TX, USA).
- Installation of solar parking lot lights: The structure of solar lamps is also a key point that affects the normal lighting of solar lamps. Click here to see how to properly install a solar light.
Types of Solar Parking Lot Lamps Review
4m-5M Pole
Usually, this pole-height parking lot is in the community or backyard of the home. They typically do not follow strict requirements on brightness and uniformity. The required brightness of the solar light is just enough to distinguish the surrounding objects and the dividing line.
We recommend 10-20 watts and set 30% body-sensing dimming. Diversified designs can also win customers’ favor, such as UFO solar lights, Apple solar lights, and so on. In addition, you can opt for a smaller solar panel power capacity and battery size since there is almost no traffic in the middle of the night. It will also reduce overall costs. For example, for Solar apple lights, the ex-factory price of 15w ADN is about $60.
6-8M or Higher Height Pole
If the height of the light pole is 6 meters or more, you need higher-power LED lights to secure enough brightness. Correspondingly, the solar panel’s power and the battery’s capacity should also be increased. We can make the following classification of solar parking lot lights based on their appearance.
- All-in-one Solar Light
It has a compact structure, a simple and beautiful appearance, plus easy to install. Since it’s an all-in-one, it is handy, so you can easily transport it. The only downside is its led power and solar panel power are limited. The solar panel installation angle is also not suitable for large-scale tilt.
- Semi-split Solar Light
It has a beautiful appearance. The solar panels are installed separately, which allows solar energy to adjust the inclination according to different installation sites. LED power and solar panel power can be further enlarged.
- Split solar light
Installation is a little more complicated. You can also maximize its LED power and solar panel power. It is suitable for high brightness and high power solar lamps (15000lm 100W solar parking lot lights, for example).
Leave your comment about your questions about “solar & lights”. ADNLITE would like to share the answers with our 10 years of experience in the solar and lighting industry.