4 Crucial Things to Look at When Buying Solar Flood Lights

When you’re in the market for solar flood lights, you need to look at more than just the price. Expensive doesn’t mean better, and cheap doesn’t automatically equate with poor quality. Solar security lights consist of several parts, including solar panels, sensors, fixtures and casings. When you want to buy solar flood light, look at what the manufacturer uses in its design and what kind of lumens output it generates. 

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Qianyun.

How to Choose LED Solar Flood Lights

Solar Light Panels Type, Wattage, and Size

A considerable aspect of solar flood lights is the solar panel, as it collects the solar energy, changes it into electricity and stores that energy in the battery. When it becomes dusk, or the sky becomes really dark, it gives the light the power it needs to turn on. There are three things to look for in the solar panels – type, wattage and size.

Type

• There are three kinds of solar panels you can use:

• Amorphous solar panels – These panels have the lowest efficiency levels, around 10%, and are used mainly to change low-power electronics (cell phones, for example). The panels are found in inexpensive, lower-power solar lights. 
• Monocrystalline solar panels – These are the most effective solar panels, with an efficiency range of 15% to 21%. However, they are very costly. Powerful solar lights tend to use monocrystalline solar panels. 
• Polycrystalline solar panels – These have a 16% cell efficiency and are less expensive to make. What makes these panels different from other panels is that the solar panels come in a dark blue color. The monocrystalline and polycrystalline panels are installed on commercial buildings and houses where large solar systems are desired. These panels have a high cell efficiency and are seen with powerful solar lights. 

Wattage 

• The wattage is the most important solar panel measurement. It demonstrates the amount of power the panel generates when the conditions are right. For instance, a 10W solar panel will produce 10 watt-hours of electricity each hour. The more powerful the light is, the higher the wattage panel needs to be to produce the light. A 1.5-watt solar panel can generate several hundred light lumens; bigger lights need 10 to 20-watt solar panels. 

Size 

• A solar panel’s size is dependent on the amount of power the light has and the panel’s material. Monocrystalline solar panels of a thin-film solar panel design generate the same power amount as it does from the smaller panel. Before you buy solar lights, consider the area it’ll be installed in and if it’ll get enough sunlight. Will there be enough area for the solar panel to be installed if you want a high-power floodlight?

Solar Flood Light Fixture and Casings 

Outdoor floodlights are exposed to the elements – wind, rain, snow, ice, etc. Therefore, you must make sure that the lighting is covered in a weatherproof casing. 

Build Materials 

• Casings – Casings of floodlights comprise primarily two materials – aluminum and plastic. Most high-power floodlights are made with aluminum casings to give the parts inside the best possible protection from the outside elements. Cheaper floodlights use plastic but don’t always have the quality protection aluminum does. Manufacturers use durable plastic for their housing to ensure water damage and extreme temperatures. Be sure to do your homework. Even if a manufacturer uses aluminum, it doesn’t matter if it will not withstand the elements. 

• IP Ratings – An important element to keep in mind when looking at a fixture’s durability is its IP rating. The rating shows the amount of protection a fixture has from water and dust. For outdoor solar lights, you want rating protection of IP65.

• Mounting Hardware – There are several kinds of solar flood lights, such as pole-mounted lights and ground-mounted lights. See what kind of mount is warranted for your area of installation. Some manufacturers offer an option to buy different kinds of mounting hardware. 

• Cable Length – You also want to consider a fixture’s cable length – the cable that attaches the fixture to the solar security light. You also need to consider the length of the area the lighting will be installed. If a cord is not long enough, you can buy extension cords. However, the longer the cable is, the more it affects the solar floodlights.

Solar Flood Light Brightness and Power 

Lumens and Watts

Lumens measure a fixture’s light output and indicate how bright the fixture will be. Watts measures the amount of work the electricity does in a second. For instance, 100W of energy can light 100W for 60 minutes. 

When looking at the brightness of a solar flood light, look more at the lumen rating, not the wattage. Each type of bulb produces different lumens. LEDs are three times more efficient but consume a similar amount of energy that Halogen bulbs produce. 

Special equipment is necessary to get the lamp’s right lumen measurement. However, many manufacturers do not use the tool to get their lumen rating, so the ratings they list aren’t always accurate. For not-so-reliable brands, this is particularly important. In most cases, this is what you can expect for lumens in certain products:

• Smaller, all-in-one fixture lights – 100 lumens
• Motion-activated solar flood lights – 300 to 600 lumens
• High-power outdoor solar flood lights – 1,000 to 3,000 lumens

The average solar-powered floodlight will have a lumen of 300 to 800.

Color Temperature – This relates to the color appearance a lamp produces; or the light of color the lamp generates. This measurement is in Kelvins. Solar security lights should have a kelvin rating of 5,000K to 6,500K.

LED Solar Floodlight Sensors

Sensors play an integral role in solar lighting products because they help in battery conservation and turning on the light when it’s time. The two important sensors are motion sensors and photosensors. What do they do?

Motion Sensors 

• As the name implies, the light will turn on when the sensors detect movement around a certain area. There are three typical types of motion detectors – active sensors, passive infrared sensors, and combined sensors. The PIR sensor is usually manufactured in the motion-activated solar light and won’t pick up random movements such as windblown objects or tree branches.  

Photosensors

• A prudent feature of a solar floodlight is the photosensor (or the dusk-to-dawn sensor). This sensor detects when the light is fading, and dark is imminent, turning the light on automatically when it reaches the set level of darkness. When the morning comes, the light will turn off, saving energy and battery. If a solar floodlight does not have this sensor, you will have to turn on and off the light automatically. When looking for solar flood light with this sensor, you must do your homework and read the description. If the manufacturer claims it’s a dusk-to-dawn light, you can feel assured it’s got a photosensor.  

Do not buy any solar flood light without a photosensor or motion sensor, as this wastes the energy that’s been stored. Manually turning it on and off defeats the goal of solar lighting. 

We know that lighting is particularly expensive, especially when it comes to commercial lighting. Those massive poles and huge lighting fixtures aren't cheap upfront or over time.

But we're just like you. We know you want the best bang for the buck.

So how can you save money on outdoor lighting? We're glad you asked. Read further, because only 5 minutes of your time can possibly save you thousands.

Here's How to Save Money on Outdoor Lighting

As before, public lighting isn't cheap. There's the cost of materials, the labor involved for installation, trenching and wiring, and then the monthly bills of drawing power. Bills add up!

We've seen projects that skyrocket into literally millions of dollars. That's quite the price tag for just being able to see properly at night. The reason for such a high price tag is oftentimes outdoor lighting requires permits, trenching, hidden fees, and plenty of other tacked-on prices that can complicate bills quickly.

But we've got a trade secret to reduce your overall installation bill by a lovely 20%. Here's how:

You can save money on lighting by purchasing outdoor solar parking lights! These lights save on installation, trenching, wiring, and energy bills. Traditional forms of lighting, like high-pressure sodium lights, are often more expensive when you consider the costs of installation and trenching.

If you want to learn more, please visit our website Led Solar Flood Lights.

You might be wondering, how much can I save per light, then?

The average costs for trenching and wiring just one light can add an additional 3,200 dollars. Multiply this with how many lights are in your project, and you can easily see the extreme expense. 

What else do you save with solar lights?

Perfect question. Along with saving a lot of money on commercial lights outdoors from trenching and wiring, solar lights save money over time because there are no energy bills you'll need to pay.

There's no costs to solar energy. We're a big fan of that and we're sure you are too.

In comparison, only 20 high-pressure sodium lights run at hours per year will cost 3,350 dollars according to the Dark Sky Society Calculator. That's an expensive number just to operate the lights above a parking lot. Over the course of 5 years, those 20 lights will rack up a bill of 16,750 dollars.

Or, once again, you could go with solar and save a lot of money on outdoor lighting instead. Buy yourself a boat for making smart decisions.

Additional Benefits

Along with saving money, here are other benefits you get when choosing solar for your outdoor lighting. You might be surprised at all the benefits solar can offer.

Making Money--Tax Incentives Galore

We're already mentioned how to save money on outdoor lighting. Solar skips a lot of the bills you'd regularly have to pay for traditional lighting, and typically those savings hit on day one.

Would you like to learn how solar can earn you money back, too?

The DSIRE site lists state tax incentives for purchasing solar. Do your research to find what money you can make back--after you've already saved several thousands of dollars on your lighting project.

You can also take advantage of the federal solar tax credit. The total percentage you'll receive back diminishes every year. For , it's 26%. Your investment not only saved you money on outdoor lighting, but it made you money.

True-Color Bulbs

A lot of light technology tends to cast an ugly yellow color on parking lots. We're sure you've seen HPS somewhere in your travels--they used to be very popular until people realized how they could save a lot more money with solar.

A yellow light isn't fantastic for visibility--or for identifying your own car, sometimes. Red tends to show up as black under an HPS light. You can avoid this odd color by getting lighting with a high color rendering index (CRI).

If you want lighting with high CRI, it's important to purchase LED fixtures that produce a much brighter, more natural color to cast on objects and people.

The good news is we happen to use CREE LED fixtures with extremely high CRI, so all subjects underneath the lighting fixture will have a natural look to them.

Environmentally-Friendly Lighting Solutions

Solar is an incredibly green renewable energy source. You've already learned how to save 20% on outdoor lighting, how to make 26% of your purchase back, and how to save money on energy bills. How about saving the environment, too?

Carbon emissions contribute heavily to global warming, which affects our health, damages our environment, and causes a greater energy crisis on the horizon.

Luckily, a lot of cities and businesses have already made the switch to solar. Since solar-powered lighting is more financially viable than fossil fuels already, people are turning on to saving money while protecting the environment.

Get some attention from younger generations and green-energy advocates by purchasing the most environmentally-friendly outdoor lighting on the market.

Solar Lighting in a Nutshell

So, to save money on outdoor lighting, the best option to choose is solar because:

• you save 40% on overall installation costs on day one
• you save more over 5 years because of zero energy bills
• you save on maintenance because solar lights need very little
• you get more natural, brighter lighting because of LED fixtures
• you actually make money back through tax incentives
• you help save the environment, too!

Greenshine New Energy is a solar LED lighting corporation based in Lake Forest, California. We're often lauded as one of the most successful companies in the renewable energy space because of our two goals with our business--save you money and protect the environment. We do both pretty well.

If you'd like to learn more about how to save money on outdoor lighting with our highly-technical solar systems, please request a quote and we'll be in touch soon.

Thanks!

For more information, please visit Wind Solar Hybrid System.