High Power Solar Lights: How Bright Do You Really Need?

City planners and property owners need to carefully plan out light placement so that key areas of cities are well-lit and safe at night. Not only is visibility required for these areas, like large parking lots and perimeters, but the added security ensures that facilities and pedestrians are safe when outdoor light is low.

Another important factor when planning your lighting system is determining how bright lights need to be to serve their intended purpose. You need to consider just how bright your high-power solar lights must be to achieve optimal outdoor lighting.

Brightness is measured by lumens, which indicate the amount of visible light a source is emitting. Lumens are crucial in understanding which solar power outdoor lights to purchase for city, park, and lot spaces so that there is always adequate light at any time of day.

So, where do you start with high-power solar lights? Here is your guide to planning out the brightness of your outdoor solar lighting system.

How Much Light Do You Need?

There is no universal answer to how much light you need for your given outdoor space. If you are lighting an entire large parking lot, for example, you will need many different light posts — even if you have the brightest solar lights possible on each pole. 

However, your brightness needs for each light will depend on these factors:

• If you need light for security versus visibility purposes

• The hue, or color temperature level of lighting needed

• The number of light posts to be erected for the space

• The overall aesthetic design of the space and your lighting fixtures

• Whether the space is lit by other light sources nearby

• Your budget and organizational goals

These are just a few of the considerations you have to sort through when planning commercial outdoor solar lighting for spaces like city properties, parks, parking lots, and streets. When you figure out the kind of brightness required, the next step is determining the type of lights you need, before diving into lumens.

What Kind of Solar Lights Do You Need?

You also need to plan out brightness based on the type of outdoor light you will be using. Cities require a variety of structures to ensure that spaces are well-lit twenty-four hours per day. Here are a few types of outdoor solar lighting to consider and what their primary purposes are:

• Canopy lighting: Some outdoor spaces may do the best with canopy lighting. These lights are affixed to overhangs, like those found in gas stations or other coverings in parks, parking lots, or transportation stations.

• Flood lights: Flood lights are typically the brightest option available for outdoor lights. They deliver high-intensity beams, which is why they are used for massive outdoor spaces like sports arenas, stadiums, and warehouse exteriors. Sometimes, flood lighting is used outside of homes for added security.

• LED pole lights: These LED lights are affixed to poles and are typically used in outdoor commercial areas like parking lots or roadways. They provide lots of lighting for people walking and driving around these spaces and ensure security at all hours of the day or night. They are typically very bright and are spaced out throughout the area for optimal visibility.

• Low ceiling lights: Low ceiling lights are most often used in facilities for cars, like parking garages. They are attached to ceilings that hang low for greater visibility and are effective in illuminating otherwise dark, low spaces.

LED pole lights are most common in wide-open, outdoor commercial spaces. However, knowing more about these other types of lights, and that flood lights offer the most brightness, will help you nail down exactly what you are looking for before determining the number of lumens required.

How Many Lumens Do You Need for Outdoor Solar Lights? 

Your next consideration is all about high lumens. Instead of being measured in watts, as in the past with light bulbs, light is now often measured in lumens. Lumens indicate the intensity and amount of energy a light source is emitting, whereas watts measure how much electrical power is coming from a light bulb. 

Bulbs with higher wattage do not necessarily give off more light, a common misconception. Lumens are a key concept when designing outdoor solar lighting once you factor in how bright your lights must be.

Several factors will impact how many lumens are needed for outdoor lights, like high-power LED solar street lights. These factors include the purpose of the light and how much light there is in the area already. Typically, you will need at least 50 lumens for lower lighting in the background and sometimes up to 2400 lumens for more intense security lights. There are many options in between.

Here are a few helpful guidelines for lumens necessary for a few different types of outdoor lights:

• Lamp post lights: 120–180 lumens

• Path lights: 100–200 lumens

• Street lights: 5,000–20,000 lumens or more

• Motion sensor lights: 300–700 lumens

• Flood lights: 700–1300 lumens

• Landscape lights: 50–300 lumens

• Step lights: 12–100 lumens

• Pond or pool lights: 200–400 lumens

• Hardscape lights on walls: 50–185 lumens

Using lumens as a measure helps you ensure that you are using less energy to produce more light, which is especially critical in outdoor lighting settings like secure areas, streets, and parking lots. Lumens are a key specification when it comes to solar lighting systems.

How Can You Make Solar Lights Brighter? 

Put simply, lumens measure how bright a light is. The higher the lumens, the brighter your light will be. When you need to increase brightness with outdoor solar lights, first try increasing the lumens based on the guidelines recommended above. 

You may have to undergo a period of trial and error if you’re unsure of the required lumen count. You may also find that you simply need to add another light fixture to get the desired effect.

Additionally, always make sure that the solar panels are clean so that there is no buildup getting in the way of the brightness of your lights. Clean the light casings for your outdoor lights regularly. You may need to replace the covers if you find that brightness has diminished and cleaning them does not solve the issue.

Which Outdoor Solar Lights Have the Most Lumens?

Solar LED lights with higher lumens will give you the brightest outdoor light while you save on energy. LED bulbs consume a lot less power than incandescent or fluorescent bulbs, and when you use LED lights with solar power, you’re saving a significant amount on energy costs. 

Generally, the highest lumen solar lights will be outdoor lighting like flood lights and motion sensor lights. However, LED pole lights also provide bright lighting for outdoor areas that require greater security, including parking lots and parks. All of these brighter outdoor lights are great options for city lights and street lights since they are high-power solar lights.

What Are the Benefits of Going With Outdoor Solar Lighting?

If you are still on the fence about whether to use LED solar lights, there are a few good reasons to do it. Solar lights are generally 45% more affordable than their counterparts when you factor in all the savings you will accrue over 10 years. These savings come from your ability to optimize efficiency, since the best outdoor solar lights:

• Can be installed anywhere that has sunlight

• Reduce your long-term energy costs

• Rely on the sun’s energy to recharge

• Require no trenching for power lines

• Take little time to install

• Use zero fossil fuels

When you also pair solar lighting with LED lights, you save even more — since LED lights are 80% more efficient than other types of lights.

Why Work With Greenshine New Energy?

For the best super bright solar lights, turn to Greenshine.

Greenshine New Energy helps make your brightest solar lights possible. We provide high-end solar lights to give you maximum savings on the brightest solar lighting systems. Our LED lights are the perfect solution for any type of commercial outdoor area, including parks, playgrounds, streets, bike lanes, facility perimeters, parking lots, streets, highways, airports, hospital perimeters, schools, military facilities, Native American Tribe facilities, government agencies, and many more.

We can help you determine your outdoor lighting brightness needs so that your spaces will be well-lit and safe while using the least amount of energy possible. We provide some of the brightest solar lights on the market to help city planners and commercial business owners succeed. Our LED fixtures are also created with hot-dipped, powder-coated, galvanized steel for more reliable lighting that will withstand the harshest weather conditions.

Greenshine provides several solar-powered street light options depending on your budget and your desired appearance of the light poles and fixture styles. Our system is 100% off-grid, requires very low maintenance, and helps you save big money.

Contact Greenshine New Energy today for more information about our solar LED lighting solutions for your outdoor commercial needs.