Solar Street Light

[sunday owen]

I need assistance on how to design solar street light with automatic on and, maybe using relay for switching the lamp.

 

[Audioguru]

Old streetlights used a light dependant resistor that failed when it got old, dirty, or sunburned.
Then they used the solar panel to switch the light on or off.
Today my streetlights have an RF modem switch them. They are not solar because their LEDs draw a small current from cheap electricity.

 

[Externet]

Start with the power in watts of the LED lamp needed to illuminate as much as you want.

Continue checking the size (and price) of a solar panel of double the watts and its mounting harware.

And a battery size to store enough energy to last overnight, and weight, and price, and where to locate it on a pole, and installation costs.

Or buy a hundred+ of these and bundle them; at $1 each, may work :

----> http://www.solartechnology.co.uk/image/cache/data/Garden Lights/Torino - Studio pic-720x540.jpg

Or, get a :
----> http://www.acharyasolarsystem.com/css/images/LED-Street-Light-Solar1.jpg

 

[sunday owen]

lovely.

 

[Audioguru]

The cheap ($1.00) Chinese solar garden lights I bought from Walmart lasted about 2 months because the solar cells were plastic and got sunburned and the Ni-cad batteries rusted away and leaked.

But by golly they improved them. The new solar cells are glass and the new Ni-MH batteries do not rust. I needed to seal around the solar cells. They lasted all summer and are still working today but they cost $1.50 now.

 

[Externet]

The $1 decent garden lights dozen I got at a store named "Dollar General" have behaved well, 2+ years so far. Got lucky.
When they ran out of stock I got the glass Walmart ones, had to seal crevices with hot glue to prevent bugs/moisture, failed shortly.
When the stock was replenished, bought more of the decent ones. Still happy. The ones from "Dollar Tree" store are also the same decent (for the price) brand.

A large bundle of those with the clear lens removed should give some results...

 

[cjdelphi]

If it's a 1 - 1.5v driven then use the qx5252f ic , that way you can select the appropriate values (eg 1ma to say 300ma)

The beauty of the 5252f is that it deals with charging the battery, turning on and off via the solar panel when dark/light

And it's got under voltage protection, when it drops from 1.2v to 1v it cuts out the power to the LED