Investing in solar street lights is a great way to light up the street and your parking lots. Solar street lights depend solely on solar energy from the sun, which is abundantly available. 

With solar street lights, you can leverage renewable, sustainable sun’s energy to provide lighting. This affords you complete independence from the grid. Also, solar helps reduce operation and energy costs dramatically. 

One common question about solar street lights is how long a solar street light takes to discharge. 

And honestly, there is no simple answer to this question, as it depends on a few factors. Estimating the discharging time of solar streetlights requires factoring in a few considerations. 

However, since solar street lights produce light from dusk to dawn, most solar street lights have a discharging time of 24 hours, but this depends on solar street light suppliers and other factors. 

This post shows all you need to know about the discharging time of solar street lights:

How Solar Street Lights Work

It is important to know how solar street lights work to have a better understanding of the discharging time. 

A solar street light system consists of a controller that automatically tells the light when to switch on and off. The light goes off at dawn and on at dusk. 

At dawn, the voltage goes above 5V and signals the LED lamp to switch off. The sun is around now, and the battery can recharge. In the evening, when it is dusk, the voltage goes below 5V, and the LED lamp receives a signal that automatically switches it on and lights up the environment. The system repeats this process every day. 

However, it is worth noting that, besides the controller, other components, like the rechargeable battery and solar panel, make a solar street light work effectively and efficiently. 

What is the discharging time of solar street lights?

As mentioned in the introduction, the discharging time of a typical solar panel is 24 hours, but the design parameters of a solar street light can alter this. Here are a few factors that determine the discharging time of solar street lights. 

Battery capacity

The capacity of the battery equipped with a solar street light has a great say in how long it takes to discharge and even charge. A battery with a higher capacity takes longer to discharge than a battery with a lower capacity. 

While the least discharging period of a solar panel is 12 hours, some solar street lights have up to 40 hours of discharging time. This is necessary to sustain lighting during cloudy days, such as winter and rainy seasons. 

Hence, it makes sense to pay attention to your solar light’s battery type when shopping for a street light. The battery must be strong enough to provide lighting for several hours so you can rely on your solar street light during rainy days. 

These ALLTOP Energy Saving Street Light outdoor lights feature LiFePO4 batteries with a discharging time of 30-36 hours and only take 6 to 8 hours to charge. This is quite outstanding. 

Brightness

The brightness of your solar light can determine how long the battery takes to discharge fully. The battery will discharge more rapidly when the brightness is high than when it is low. 

However, solar street light suppliers like ALLTOP now build solar street lights to regulate brightness automatically. While there is a sensor that senses human presence and brightens up the light, brightness can also depend on the time of the night. 

For example, some solar streetlights have 70% brightness from 6 pm to 7 pm, 100% brightness from 8 pm to 10 pm, and just 30% from 11 pm to 5 pm. 

This helps enhance the efficiency of the solar lights and lengthen the discharging time. 

Installation

How well your solar street light is installed greatly contributes to how long it takes to discharge. A well-installed system can optimally collect the sun’s energy through the solar panels and convert it to electrical energy to power your space. On the other hand, where there are defects, such as poor circuit connection, you can expect lower efficiency where your battery quickly discharges. 

This is why you need to hire a professional installer for your system. 

Conclusion

Investing in solar street lights is undoubtedly a great means of lighting up the street and public space using solar energy. Solar lights are cost effective, renewable, and easy to maintain. 

While the battery capacity of your solar street light can tell how long it takes to discharge, the brightness and installation process are other significant determinants of the discharging time of solar street lights. 

Hence, it is important to pay attention to these factors when shopping for a street light and ensure you buy from a reputable solar street light supplier to ensure the best value for money on your light. 

Check the ALLTOP solar street light category for our different specifications of solar street lights with longer discharging times that will meet your requirements.