Vandal resistant and low maintenance lighting kits

Twelve volt off-grid lighting has come a long way since its initial development. Higher quality components, enhanced technologies and an increase in popularity has helped drive off grid lighting to become used in everyday life.

We have developed in conjunction with a quality national off grid solar supplier a simple yet very effective LED lighting kit for the use with outdoor structures. These kits are high quality, vandal resistant and have been tested in remote and high vandal areas within Australia with excellent results. We break down the components and explore the features and benefits of these LED lighting kits.

Features:

The Light is a highly effective 14 watt and low power draw of 1.6 ampere double strip Surface Mounted Device (SMD) Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). They emit a high output brilliant natural white light at 6000 Kelvin temprature, which provides 900 lux at a 1 meter in line distance. The LEDs are fitted into a vandal and shock resistant twin wall polymer base for superior strength, and a high impact opal polycarbonate diffuser to spread the brilliant natural white light evenly. Both parts of the case have rounded edges to provide both strength and on-site safety, and rated to IP65 dust and waterproof.

The Solar Panel is a world class Solarworld^TM panel with over 100,000 modules installed all over the world, and manufactured according to German and US standards in a fully automated ISO 9001 and 14001 certified factory. The panel size we use in the standard kits is a 80 watt poly crystalline solar panel which is hail and to some extend rock resistant, tested to IEC61215 clause 10.17 “25mm diameter ice ball at 23m/sec, directed at 11 impact locations”. This panel has a 25 year expected performance at 81% salt mist certification.

The Battery used in our kits are referred to as the “rolls Royce” of batteries, Sonnenschein^TM is the world leader in high quality Gel battery technology. Gel batteries are low discharge 12 volt and designed to take daily cycling and one of the best for applications around heat. Gel batteries are known as maintenance free, as once installed correctly they tend to give a long service life without having to do anything to the batteries, unlike wet cell batteries that require constant water input. We use a 38 ampere hour gel battery in our single light application and a 70 ampere hour battery in our double light kit, this has been calculated to give 2 days of back up reserve use with no solar input.

The Light Controller is a 12 volt, 10 ampere Morning Star^TM Sunlight microcontroller with 9 light settings in total with internal timer and after sunset, before dawn and dusk till dawn settings. Easily adjusted with a small screw driver this component is the brains of the whole operation and offers twice the industries average operating life for longevity.

The Enclosure used is manufactured from steel with an epoxy powder coat for high strength and durability. It is IP65 rated to keep dust, weather and insects out of the wiring zone. The hidden screw system and twin point key locking is perfect for enhanced anti vandal applications.

Other Components include a 12 volt 6 way blade fuse holder for extended safety, tamper proof screws and high quality copper wire with connectors.

Benefits

Using off grid solar lighting systems with today’s advancements are a real choice to provide lighting for community areas wishing to extended times used at public amenities. Lighting is also used to help with community safety giving people comfort in having an area lit and visible, this is extremely important with restrooms that are in use after hours and one of the CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design) principles to enhance community safety. It can also be used at locations where site access is remote, difficult or existing infrastructure is in the way and moving it would be at a high cost or risk to the community. A few of the main benefits include;

• no connection to mains power lines required – reduces the initial cost
• uses solar energy – no continued power consumption costs
• low maintenance batteries – offsets ongoing replacement costs
• solar panel technology – offsets ongoing replacement costs
• LED light – low power draw, high light output
• controlling light times – can be set to times or dawn to dusk
• community safety – 12 volt power not 240 volt used
• remote use – can be installed almost anywhere
• kit form – easy to install