4 Misunderstandings You May Have for Solar Street Lights

With the demands of solar street lamps become larger and larger, more and more projects need solar-powered street lights.

Some of the buyers are easily be misled by the below four misunderstandings when communicating with various solar street lights factories.

The 1st Misunderstanding: The lamp with the same appearance or frame, so the lamp is the same.

Solar street lights’ main parts include solar panel, housing, LED, battery, and controller.

So with the same solar panel doesn’t mean the light has the same functions and quality.

The 2nd Misunderstanding: The lamp with the same specifications on the datasheet, so the lamp is the same.

There are many solar street lights factories in China, these factories have different market positioning (Low-end, mid-range, high-end), and they use different materials quality standards.

For example, the battery, specifications on all datasheets are LiFePO4, but some factories use A grade, some use B grade, and others use C or D grade. The controller, both are the smart type, some suppliers use MPPT type, the others use PWM type, and even both controllers are MPPT type, the quality and stability can be different.

On the other hand, there are a few factories list the fake specifications on the datasheets, the products they produce are completely different from what they promised.

So with the same specifications on the datasheet doesn’t mean the lamps are the same.

The 3rd Misunderstanding: The wattages means brightness.

Many customers only pay attention to the power (in wattage) of the lamps during the inquiry. In fact, we should pay more attention to the lumens (brightness) of the lamps.

Different lamp beads and production processes will make the lamps have different light effects. The same 50W lamp, some factories may only have about 4000 lumens, but some factories can reach about 6000 lumens.

Now we use the connected LED lens and high brightness chips, it can reach about 130lm per wattage.

So it is advised to take the Lumens into consideration when purchasing solar-powered LED street lights.

The 4th Misunderstanding: Cheaper prices must mean better cost effective.

Cheaper prices not always mean better cost-effective, usually it means “you get what you pay”.

Market competition is very fierce, most manufacturers offer suitable products at reasonable prices. But there are a few factories just aim at the one-time transaction. They may use very cheap parts for their products, then sell to customers at very low prices. Their solar lamps may work normally for 2 or 3 months, but maybe 5 or 6 months later, the lights will not work anymore. When you require them to deal with the issues, they just disappeared.

The prices are important, but the quality is a top priority. Solar street lamps generally need to work for many years, if the quality is not good, they will often cause problems, leading to high maintenance costs, customers will gradually lose confidence in the product, resulting in reputation losses. In this way, cheaper prices mean the loss of customers.

Advice:

1. Visit the factory

If possible please visit the factory, so that you can see the actual production process; and to see if there is a standardized production management system. You can also get more details about the supplier’s strengths and principles through face-to-face communication.

2. Test samples

By testing samples, you will know the differences in quality, stability, brightness and so on.

3. View warranty policy carefully

If the company believes in the quality of its products, they can provide better warranty terms. And at the same time, they will pay more attention to quality control during the production process.

4. To some certain degree, the reliability of the solar street lights can be judged by checking installation cases of other customers’.