Solar flood light: panel where the sun is, light where the yard is
A solar flood light separates two positions that a street light combines: the panel wants the sun, the head wants the yard. That separation is the whole design, and it is why a split system usually wins on a real site.
Specification
What the sheet states for this build, and what is confirmed per project.
| Topic | What the sheet states |
|---|---|
| Load | Lamp and sensor, with the nightly hours agreed |
| Autonomy | Days of poor weather the site accepts |
| Panel | Rated output, tilt and azimuth, with the cable run |
| Battery | Chemistry and usable capacity, at the agreed depth of discharge |
| Sensing | Motion dimming and the level it drops to |
| Optic | Wide for a yard, narrow for a gateway |
| Mount | Wall, pole or mast, for each part of the system |
| Certification | File per model and market |
| Data sheet | Current revision, naming the delivered model |
A motion sensor changes the arithmetic more than a bigger panel does. Dimming to a low level when the yard is empty can halve the nightly load, which halves the array.
Two positions, one system
The head has to see the yard and the panel has to see the sun. On a wall mounted system those two can conflict: the sunny face of a building is often not the face overlooking the yard. Splitting the system resolves it at the cost of a cable run.
Where the cable run is long, the voltage drop matters. Ask for the run length at the enquiry, because it changes the cable gauge and sometimes the system voltage.
- Both positions: where the head must be, and where the sun is.
- The cable run between them, and who provides it.
- The mounting surfaces, and their condition.
Sensing, and what it is for
A yard light is usually on for security, so the argument for sensing is not to switch it off but to drop it low. A dim level keeps the camera and the perimeter readable, and the sensor brings the full level when something moves.
That behaviour needs to be specified: the dim level, the hold time and the trigger. A sensor set to full off leaves a camera with nothing to see, which defeats the reason the light was bought.
- The dim level, as a proportion of full output.
- The hold time, agreed with whoever watches the site.
- Whether a camera is part of the requirement.
The winter test
Every solar system is comfortable in summer. The test is a week of low sun in the worst month, with the load running as designed. Ask what the system does in that week: hold the level, drop a level, or go dark.
The honest answer is written into the autonomy figure, and it is worth having the conversation before the order rather than in the first January.
- The autonomy days, and what happens beyond them.
- Whether a reduced level is acceptable in the worst week.
- A commissioning test, recorded, in the first winter.
Before the order
- Two positions surveyed before the order, with a photo of each.
- Cable run measured, not estimated, because it changes the gauge.
- Winter behaviour agreed: hold, dim or accept a dark week.
- Build
- Solar flood light
- Line
- Solar lights
- Ask for
- Specification sheet, photometric file, aiming drawing
Send the space, get the sheet.
Build, specification sheet and the option list for each line item, in one reply.