Solar street light installation - tips on parts choosing and installing

The energy of sunlight can be converted into electrical energy storage through solar batteries, which can provide power to equipment when needed. At present, solar street light has become a popular research object in lighting systems and is gradually replacing traditional lighting systems.

If you are interested in solar street light installation, this article will offer you an overall guide.

1. Precautions for solar street light installation

• Solar street light installation should be processed in an unobstructed area with an estimate of possible future occlusions;
• Ensure that shadow-free distance = height x spatial factor;
• Solar street light should meet the use needs of the four seasons, weaken the seasonal influence, and increase the amount of solar radiation energy received. So it is necessary to set an appropriate tilt angle.

2. Components of solar street light

For the proper solar street light installation, each part of solar street light counts.

① Solar batteries

Solar batteries can be divided into two categories: crystalline batteries and amorphous batteries according to their crystalline state. Among them, crystalline batteries are the most widely used solar batteries on the current market, and they can be subdivided into monocrystalline silicon batteries and polycrystalline silicon batteries.

Monocrystalline silicon and polycrystalline silicon solar batteries have been used for a long time, the technology is relatively mature, and the power conversion rate is high. They are widely used in industrial production and large-scale power generation.

However, the manufacturing cost of silicon crystals is high, and the production process is complex, and a large amount of energy is consumed in production, so it has not been promoted to private enterprises.

Low-cost, superior-performance alternatives to crystalline batteries, such as polycrystalline silicon films and amorphous silicon films, have been applied and developed, and are widely used in the solar battery industry. Among them, amorphous silicon thin film batteries have a low conversion rate, but are lower in cost.

They also have an advantage of light weight , which makes them relatively thin and light, and are suitable for industrial production. They have a higher safety level during the production process, are non-toxic, and have greater development potential. Amorphous silicon thin film batteries are mostly used in small lighting or portable power supply equipment and have broad prospects in future development.

Selection and precautions

Currently, there are many types of solar batteries on the market, and special attention needs to be paid to battery selection for solar street light installation. Only batteries with high conversion rates, strong stability, and output power peaks below 0.05 meet the standards.

During operation, the output of solar batteries will be affected by the connecting cables. When applying solar batteries, if you want to maximize the power generation efficiency of solar batteries, you must connect the cables correctly. For the best batteries, you can also check battery stores near me.

② Storage batteries

Features of solar street light storage batteries

• The charging rate is low and the discharge current is small: The battery will remain in a discharged state for a long time. The main reason for this phenomenon is that it has a high frequency and a long discharge time, but over-discharge can still occur.
• Short charging time: When there is sufficient sunlight during the day, the battery's one-time charging time is about 10 hours. It is difficult for the photovoltaic system to complete rapid charging in a short time, and the battery will lose power for a long time.
• Significantly affected by the environment: Many large-scale solar street lights will be set up with special battery storage areas during operation to provide good storage space for batteries; in some small photovoltaic systems like solar street lights, the storage environment is poor and affected by seasonal temperature differences and temperature differences of day and night, so the battery life may be significantly shortened.

Application of solar street light storage batteries

The storage battery is an important part of solar street light and an indispensable energy component in the entire system. The 12v battery can continuously supply power when there is insufficient light (such as cloudy days and nights), store electrical energy during the day when there is sufficient sunlight, and is usually charged using a cycle working method. During an AC power outage, the battery needs to play a leading role.

Under normal circumstances, when solar power generation drops significantly, the battery can act as a buffer to maintain voltage stability. Commonly used batteries include LFP battery and hydrogen fuel battery. The appropriate battery needs to be selected based on actual needs.

(1) If you want the battery and solar array to enter working status at the same time, you need to set the basic load in a targeted manner according to weather conditions. When designing solar arrays, the number of arrays should not be calculated based on periods of lower than average weather. This will increase the number of solar arrays, exceed the demand, and increase the investment.

(2) Solar radiation intensity is a decisive factor in the operation of the battery. If the solar radiation intensity is too low, the battery will automatically identify and supply power to the load. The energy of the solar array is higher than the average solar radiation intensity, so that the battery can obtain electrical energy and realize automatic charging.

(3) If you want to reduce the impact of bad weather on the battery storage time, you should apply a hybrid system during solar street light installation. When the battery storage requirements cannot be met in bad weather or winter, a backup generator can be used to provide sufficient power for the battery. In summer, you can stop the backup generator.

(4) The size of the independent system matrix is calculated based on the lighting in the worst lighting season of the year. This can meet the storage requirements of the battery, while extending the service life of the entire system, reducing maintenance costs, and improving economic benefits.

(5) The amount of electric energy stored in the battery needs to be calculated based on its own capacity. When using a parallel battery pack pair, the number of batteries should be controlled and should not exceed 4.

(6) Charging:

At the beginning of charging, if a large current is used to charge the battery, the battery voltage will rise sharply in a short period of time, increasing the risk of the battery, and the charged power cannot be fully stored. Under the influence of battery resistance, the battery temperature will gradually rise, increasing the risk of safety accidents caused by battery heating. Therefore, small current charging should be used when charging.

After charging for a period, the voltage becomes stable and larger current can be used to achieve fast charging. When the power is about to be saturated and close to the overcharge point, excessive current will cause battery damage. At this time, the current should be reduced until it reaches the rated variable. The general duration is 10 minutes to 3 hours. When the control system is in the detection stage, it means that the battery has completed charging.

(7) The researchers found through experiments that if another pulse occurs immediately after the end of charging, the electrolyte will have a buffer time, the bubbles in the electrodes can be removed, and the battery life can be extended. So by combining negative pulse charging and pulse charging, the battery can be fully charged in a short time, thus solves the problems of long charging time and excessive battery temperature during charging.
​

③ Light source

Green light sources with higher luminous efficiency, longer life and no flicker are the best choice for solar street light installation. The main characteristics of common light sources are shown in the table below:

According to the table above, LED light sources, as well as induction lamps and fluorescent lamps are appropriate options for solar street lights. From the perspective of sustainable development, LED light sources have greater development potential and will become the mainstream light source in future development.

④ Cable

Choosing the right cable is an important step in solar street light installation. A variety of factors should be considered to select the right cable. Cables with a cable loss not higher than 0.05 should be selected through the calculation formula as below. Cable loss = current × circuit bus length × cable voltage factor

⑤ Inverter

The direct output of solar energy is generally 12VDC, 24VDC, or 48VDC. In order to provide power to 220VAC electrical appliances, the DC power generated by the solar street light system needs to be converted into AC power, so a DC-AC inverter is required. For further information of inverters of different parameters, you can check top 10 solar inverters or refer to the links below:

	500w	1000w	2000w	3000w
Product image
Price & Discount	$49.9(-29%)	$98.99(-29%)	$199.90(-20%)	$229.00(-23%)
Rated Input Voltage	12VDC	12VDC	12VDC	12VDC
Continuous Power	500w	1000w	2000w	3000w
Peak Power	1000w	2000w	4000w	6000w
More information	Click 500w inverter  to get the details	Click  1000w inverter to get the details	Click  2000w inverter  to get the details	Click  3000w inverter  to get the details

⑥ Bracket

The bracket used in solar street light should meet the following requirements:

• Has high strength and can withstand wind force of 200km/h, and the bracket for solar street light installation should be able to keep it standing in harsh environments;
• The bracket should be light in weight. You can choose aluminum alloy profiles as supports and galvanized steel on the surface of the feet;
• The bracket should be flexible and can rotate within a certain range;
• The bracket should be corrosion-resistant, and the anodizing treatment of the main beam and support beam surface should comply with building standards;
• When installing the bracket, you should choose a location that is easy for solar street light installation.

3. Optimization of solar street light

According to research, the charging efficiency of solar street light is mainly affected by factors such as the current size of the battery, pulse cycle and charging time. To improve the overall technical level for solar street light installation, relevant personnel need to continuously improve and optimize the technology.

To optimize solar street light installation, you can design lightning protection, overload protection, reverse polarity protection according sealing standards, and display the working status through LED or LCD screen.

In addition, the solar street light can be configured with a suitable controller: The controller can control the current according to the amount of charge stored in the battery. If the battery's power is about 90%, the controller will immediately give a corresponding response.

The 4 stages of charging are replenishing, pre-charging, fast and maintenance charging, and the average speed of these 4 charging stages is the speed of the controller. To optimize the application of the controller, it is necessary to achieve staged charging management without generating heat and ensure adjustable settings throughout the process.

If the switch is placed at the charge control set point, the current is immediately cut off by the controller. At this time, the battery's power will reach 60%, and the resistance will also increase. As a result, the battery's electrolyte will be stratified and a large amount of precipitates will appear, which will cause problems with its charging efficiency.

If a pulse width modulation controller is used and the battery is connected in series with the photovoltaic array, the signal pulse width can be modulated as needed, so that the current can be controlled, and the battery voltage can be controlled within a certain range. The pulse width modulation controller can make the battery power reach more than 90%, which can improve the solar energy utilization rate and battery charging efficiency, extending the battery life and reduce replacement costs.

The application of pulse width modulation controller can improve the voltage penetration and reduce the production cost. The gas volume may avoid the formation of bubbles, further optimizing the solar street light technical solution. And also ensure the stability of the solar street light, improving the safety of the battery, and control overshoot and over-discharge within a reasonable range.

Related posts: 12 volt 200ah lithium battery, 12v 6ah deep cycle battery, 18650 battery