Finding an excellent solar light manufacturer takes care of half of your business. This is because you can obtain the best quality product at the lowest cost in the market, giving you a competitive edge over your rivals. Aside from that, some manufacturers can cooperate with you to develop new products to suffice consumers’ increasing demand. They also have the latest production process and quality inspection process. That said, you can assure that your solar light products have the utmost performance and quality.
However, if you are unfortunate and find a junk solar factory, you will likely waste money and time. I bet you don’t want to get a poor response from the manufacturer after receiving your orders. Getting a product with bad quality material can also damage your business. Sure thing, receiving a large proportion of customer complaints and no after-sales service are the worst things to happen. So, ADN decided to decipher this problem through this article to avoid these bad suppliers. Choosing the right and reliable solar lights manufacturer should never be like opening a blind box.
Supply Chain Area
We all know that China is a big country with 34 provinces. But not all provinces produce solar lamps.
Guangdong Province, Zhejiang Province, and Jiangsu Province are the main locations for solar lamp production. Solar lamp manufacturers in Guangdong Province concentrate mainly in Guangdong, Shenzhen, Dongguan, and Zhongshan. Meanwhile, solar lamp manufacturers in Zhejiang Province are primarily concentrated in Ningbo, Jiaxing, and Yiwu. Lastly, Jiangsu Province’s solar light manufacturers focus on Changzhou, Yangzhou, and Jiangsu City.
On the other hand, suppliers of solar panels, batteries, aluminum shells, and other materials for solar lights are commonly found in several places. For this reason, the solar lamp factory can conveniently and quickly produce solar lamps at the lowest cost.
It is also necessary to note that many special styles and designs are concentrated in a certain supply chain region. In other words, there is a cost advantage in producing a certain type of solar street light in some production areas. For example, the most advantageous production area for solar street lights is Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province. The main reason is the accessories suppliers for these solar streetlights are mainly established in and around Zhongshan City. ( Click here for All types of solar street lights 2022)
Online Method
With the use of modern technology, everything seems possible today. Even without directly visiting the factory, you can order online through their solar company sites. One of the main sites to get the best solar LED light manufacturers are Alibaba, Madeinchia, DH, and Google. All you have to do is go straight to your computer desk and search for some manufacturers. But, just a friendly reminder, learn to inspect the manufacturers you found online first. We’re not saying they are unreliable, but we’re only reminding you to be extra careful.
Basic Information on Several Suppliers
When choosing a solar light supplier, understand the following information about the supplier.
You may look at the time when the supplier was established and its population size. To a certain extent, the length of the supplier’s establishment time can explain the market’s recognition of the company. Also, we can assume that the bigger the supplier is, the bigger the after-sale scale it can undertake. Not only the bigger the company but also, the better. However, larger solar companies usually offer higher prices because they have higher operating costs. But in terms of production time and customization, large companies are generally lower than small companies.
The supplier’s product range is also an important point. Usually, when the product range is too broad, the supplier is not competitive enough for a certain product. Of course, this conclusion is not absolute. All are subject to quotation and product quality.
Another thing is the service of the salesman, which you can see directly. An excellent salesman can respond to your information promptly and efficiently. They will share useful market information with you and avoid many risks in the production and design process. For example, they can point out weaknesses in your solar light design, popular models in your market, etc.
Professional & Detailed Inquiry
Contact with suppliers usually starts with an inquiry and quotation. When confirming the details with the supplier, the more professional the requirements listed, the more seriously the supplier will take your inquiry. After gathering information from different suppliers, you can also comprehensively compare and evaluate.
Below, we introduce the details of solar light inquiry in detail. Our expertise is based on our 10 years of experience in solar lamp production. Especially the details of the main materials of solar lamps. Many suppliers will not list such information in the quotation.
LED
- Led Chip Series: 2835, 3030, 5050, for example
- Lumens efficacy: lumens per watt
- Led Quantity
- CCT: Range from 3000k to 6500k. Higher CCT, higher luminous efficacy
- CIR: Special for projects using solar streetlights
LM-80 certification for the led chip is also requested for more serious solar lighting projects.
Battery
( Click for More details about solar lights battery)
Battery types: LiFePO4 / LiMn2O4, Square / Cylinder
Battery voltage: 3V / 12V
Battery cell Certification: UN38.3 MSDS is needed
Battery cell brand
Battery capacity
Solar Panel
( Click for More details about solar panels guide)
Solar panel size
Solar panel power
Solar cell type: Mono / Poly
Solar cell series: 183*183mm 163*163mm, for example
Controllers:
Types: MPPT / PMT
Life Span: 2 years / 3 years / 5 years
Fixture
Fixture size
Fixture weight
Material: PCB / Aluminium apply
Function
Motion dim: Motion range and distance
Auto time-control dim
Remote controller
If you can ask for such details in the communication process with the supplier, you can also have enough confidence to confirm the most suitable supplier.
The Cooperation Process
The safest process for us to select a supplier is a gradual cooperation process.
Weigh the supplier company’s situation, feedback, and quotation, and select several alternative suppliers. You can also take samples from these suppliers for testing. From the suppliers who have passed the samples, place small batch orders to test the quality, production time, after-sales, service, etc. Finally, 1 or 2 suppliers are selected for long-term cooperation.
Quality Control of Solar Lights
After selecting the supplier, wait for the supplier’s shipment notification. Maybe we can do something more positive to make the production of orders more controllable.
Quality Inspection of Materials
You can confirm with the supplier the date each material is ready. You may also request from them a photo of the material when it is ready to inspect everything.
After the material arrives at the factory, the material is tested, and the quantity is counted before production. Check whether the internal wire length is up to standard, there are serious defects in the casing, or the LEDs are desoldered. Sometimes, the solar panels might also get damaged during transportation, so always check on that. Among them, the quality of batteries and controllers can be checked during production.
Quality Inspection During Production
The quality inspection in the production process includes the proper connection of each wire, LED aging, and the waterproof glue at the LED wire connection. You should check if the screw is not loose, the solar panel is fixed firmly or the sensor head is fixed firmly, etc.
Warm reminder, don’t forget to ask the supplier for pictures of the production process.
Finished Products Inspection
Finally, these are the things you should do in a finished product quality inspection:
(1) whether the solar light can be lit (also tested the discharge function of the controller and battery)
(2) whether the solar light can be charged (also tested the charging function of the solar light system)
(3) wiping the casing
If the design, material selection, quality inspection, and quality inspection in production are all done in place, this inspection will not consume a lot of time.
Package
The inspection of the packaging includes:
(1) checking whether the internal foam and the carton size match
(2) whether there is a gap between the product and the carton box
(3) and whether the carton hardness is sufficient.
Shipping
Solar light contains lithium batteries, dangerous goods, so you should handle and ship them properly. International express delivery such as DHL, FEDEX, etc., particularly for high-power solar lights, will limit the lithium battery’s energy to no more than 120WH. Usually, due to its shipping complexity, the shipping cost of dangerous goods is much higher than that of ordinary items.
When shipping solar lights by air or express, it is necessary to inform the freight forwarder about the battery’s presence and size. Also, suppliers usually have long-term cooperative freight forwarders for transporting dangerous goods and provide freight quotations with competitive prices.
Aftersales
If there are no problems in the order from materials, production, quality inspection, etc., the defective rate of solar lamps can be less than 1%.
LEDs are typically the least prone to damage, and you can almost ignore their damage rate. Also, normal circumstances cannot easily damage the solar panel. You only need to pack them firmly enough, and their damage rate can also be at one thousandth. So we suggest attaching 1/1000th solar panel and LED in mass production order.
The battery and controller have a failure rate of 2/1000 to 3/1000 during use. So we suggest attaching 2/1000th battery and controller in mass production order.
Choose the Matching Supplier & Grow with the Supplier
Here, ADN is trying to say that A-level suppliers like the ones we said earlier are not too hard to find. But choosing a supplier that matches your current business scale is our goal.
A sizable factory A makes orders for big buyers like Walmart. They can produce what you need for a year in a few days. You will surely be happy to work with them and share your business plan and current product orders with them. Also, they easily give their MOQ, so you will know if it suits your material needs to customize your product. For a large company, they can usually produce goods for 3-4 weeks. Then they will complete your order after one month.
On the other side, let’s assume that the B factory has only been established for 2 to 3 years, and its production scale is not large. However, the salesperson you connect with is very professional and answers all your questions promptly. Also, they will always fulfill your order as fast as possible. There may be a low defective rate. However, because of their in-time after-sales, the bad rate of each order is constantly decreasing.
Yes, finding a supplier that matches your business scale and is willing to cooperate with you is your best supplier. If the supplier can grow with your company, so much the better.