How well do you know about Solar Flood Lights?

What are solar floodlights?

A:a solar powered flood light is a wide beam light designed to flood an area with light and is powered by a solar panel and battery. The solar panel charges the battery during the day and discharges it at night. This enables the light to be fully self sufficient and does not need to be connected to another power source. They come in a wide variety of sizes, features and price points.

Solar flood lights Explained

Floodlights are a unique form of lighting intended at providing artificial light of high amount to a vast area. They are ideal for lighting such areas as stages for concerts, stadiums, sports fields,parking lots and so much more. They light up smaller areas as driveways, swimming pools, gardens or the backyards. They top the list of the best options for enhancement of commercial and residential properties outdoor security. To deter criminal activities from your business place or home, you need bright illumination. Floodlights provide you this sort of illumination. They contain lamps of high intensity for lighting up the desired area continuously for a given time frame. While the conventional floodlights have offered illumination and enhanced visibility sufficiently, they require professional services to install and consume a lot of power.

Both of those are expensive and have usage costs.

These shortcomings led to the invention of the more efficient Solar LED FLood Lights. Solar flood lights have solar panels charged by photovoltaic energy from the sunlight and preserves energy for later use. They are super-bright with zero running costs. Installation is done anywhere in the reach of the sun at 45-degree angle and professional services are not mandatory as power mains access is not needed. The LED lamp in the solar flood lights consumes less energy and have low-maintenance costs.

Types of solar flood lights

There are All-in-one solar flood lights and split solar powered flood lights.

All-in-one LED floodlight (1-piece)

These floodlights put batteries, LED modules, controllers and solar panels integrated in one product. They are more commercial and easy to install offering suitability to the regular end users. They installation do not demand separate installation of the wire and solar panels. Also, they have an appealing and simple appearance.

Split Solar Powered Floodlights (2-piece)

Currently, the market is dominated by the split-type solar floodlights. Controllers and batteries are built into the LED floodlight which is connected to a solar panel. The LED flood lights and solar panels are separate. As such, wiring is needed during installation. It makes the process complex and the outlook less appealing. Also, most of these are DIY type hence demanding some knowledge on solar panels.

Be Warned of the Lack of Certification

With powered lights you have UL and DLC to certify the safety and performance of your lights. In solar its the wild west. We see exaggerations of 4x on lumens and 10x on battery performance. Do not trust what you read. Not all 25w lights are the same, and thus you will see a big price difference. Be wary of the cheap stuff.

Common Features of solar floodlights to know

Motion sensor

It is a popular option with LED solar floodlights. They react through a sensor which detects infrared energy. Humans radiate infrared energy of 9-10 micrometers of wavelength which is within the range detectable by the sensors in the LED solar floodlights (8-12 micrometers). Therefore, the lights switch on when they detect motion. Hence, they save more energy. The solar floodlights with motion sensors are ideal solution for use as garage or house front door light, backyard trails and tracks lights and driveway lights. They offer security by catching burglars off-guard. When a criminal attempts to break into your property, the light turns on suddenly, scaring them off. The market provides different LED motion lights with varying on off time and sensitivity. Others are manually set. However, this is a function you can choose to have or not; they do not have to be motion sensor built.

Dusk to dawn sensor

It is recommended that you get floodlights with day and night sensor. When the sun goes down, they turn on removing the need to manually switching them on. Their activation at night is through 2-ways.

- Photo eye- this is a tiny component with light sensing capacity. At daytime, sufficient sunlight hits the photo eye keeping the solar floodlight off. At the evening, when sunlight disappears, the eye senses the darkness and switches the floodlight on, automatically.

- Voltage sensor- a sensor is in-built into the light circuit. It reads the voltage produced by the solar panel. At daytime, the panel is producing power and the light is turned off. At night, without power generation by the panel, the flood light is automatically turned on by the circuitry.

Remote Controls

High-end solar floodlights have a remote control. These allows you to operate them remotely from a distance of up to 16.4 ft. This allows you to activate the light easily and fast from a distance. It switches to 4 working modes as clients want. E.g., power reduction in various periods and without sensor function. The working mode can be changed to suit the preference of the client. They can be mounted on a pole, post or wall where you can control them with the remote. The lights with a remote control are ideal for outdoor areas application such as the landscaping and yards, for lighting trees and shrubs.

Where to use solar floodlights

Anywhere- the outdoor places and the possibilities where you can use them are nearly limitless. The fixtures having a separate solar cell can be used inside if it is possible to stretch the power cord from the solar cell to the exact floodlight fixture. The following are some of the areas where the solar flood lights can be installed for use.

- for street or parking lot as Solar Street Lights.

- Outside the house for security

- At a shed or remote garage for security

- At entrance for remote buildings as a night light

- Above door stairwells for illumination

- To illuminate signs as Solar Sign Lighting

- In gardens for illumination of plants

- Illumination of garden art object

- Indoor motion light for staircases

- On a porch as a night light

Street flood lights

The solar powered lighting is a modern solution to any application where night illumination of vast spaces is desired. Such an application is in the streets. It could be for private and municipal estates.

How bright do you need it?

The brightness of the LED floodlight is a critical consideration. Some floodlights produce sufficient brightness to illuminate the entire lawn while others only cover the door area. Light energy amount is expressed in lumens. E.g., a 23-watt solar floodlight could generate 1500 lumens with a low-powered one generating 900 lumens. Depending on how bright you need it, you can get solar flood lights generating 5,920 lumens. The higher voltage (7.4 Volts or more) are powered by Lithium-ion batteries while low-voltage (around 6-volts) are typically powered by a couple of Ni-MH batteries. The brightness of the solar light is directly proportional to the lumens produced which is determined by the wattage. An ideal floodlight ought to have a lumen output of 2000 lumen-3200 lumen.