1. Why we want dimmed street lights?
As energy consumption is an issue of increasing interest, possible energy savings in public street lighting systems are recently discussed from different viewpoints.
We find more and more projects requiring to use dimmed street lights, following are the basic reasons
1.1 The difference of car flow
The daily traffic flow on the road is different. Normally, the traffic flow from 5:00pm to 11:00pm is relatively dense. After 11:00pm, the traffic flow is greatly reduced, so we can use dimmed street lights by then.
1.2 The energy saving
With the shortage of energy, energy conservation and environmental protection have increasingly become the theme of our lives. As the main lighting products for urban lighting and road lighting, if the street lamps can be made dimmable, the electricity consumption can be greatly reduced over the years.
1.3 The cost saving of electricity
With the poor economic situation in the past two years, the budget of the government and local departments is also very limited. Thus with the use of dimmed street lights, it can not only meet the basic need of road lighting colleagues, but also greatly reduce electricity bills.
2. Which kind of street lights can be dimmed?
Basically, most street lights can be dimmed, but the premise is that we must use a dimmable led driver.
All street lights in our company can be dimmed. Customers only need to provide us with your dimming requirements when inquiring, and we will have professional engineers to make the design.
Most drivers in the market are in-built with 1-10V dimming systems. Take Philips drivers for examples, most of their models and watts are inbuilt with dimmed program.
3.What dimmable solutions we can have for street lights?
A dimmable led driver is the premise to get a dimmed street lights, and once equipped with led drivers, we have several dimmed choices.
3.1 Classical dimming with regular led drivers
If we have a definite dimming plan, we can share the dimming plan to the street light manufacturers before purchase.
For example, we need to turn on the lights for 10 hours every night, 3 hours 100% power, 3 hours 60% power, 4 hours 40% power.
Then we only need to share it with the factory, and the led manufacturers will input the dimming programme into the dimming drivers during assembly.
Then we will get the street lights with inbuilt dimmed plan.
Advantage: Very simple and low cost
Disadvantage: It will be very hard to adjust the dimming plan once the street lights are installed on the poles.
3.2 PLC dimming solution
PLC is short for Programmable Logic controller.
Theoretically speaking, PLC is a digital operating electronic apparatus using a programmable memory for internal storage of for accomplishing specific goals such as logic, counting or timing while controlling through digital input/output modules various types of machines or process.
It is a very stable smart light solution for street lights dimming because it uses original power cable for signal transmission.
The PLC system is consisted of four main components, street lights with dimming drivers, light controllers, concentrators and app on phone/computers.
Street lights: Led street lights, sodium street lights and metal halide street lights are all applicative.
LED light controllers: It supports both PWM and 0-10V dimming. It can match with 80% of the dimming drivers include Meanwell, Inventronics, Phillips and ect.
Concentrators: One concentrator can manage at most 500 street lights.
APP: By using App, we can control the on and off of each light, and see all the parameters. We can set different dimming plans for each light. We also can group the lights and control the lights as groups.
PLC Dimming Design
Dimmed street lights with PLC system is still the choice of many people. It is very easy for installation and also very easy to use.
Advantage: Easy for installation, very stable signal transmission
Disadvantage: Not very flexible
LoRaWAN is a low-power, wide area networking protocol with wireless connection of the devices and internet, also manage the communication between them.
3.3 LoRaWAN Dimming Solution
LoRa is widely used in street lights dimming mainly because its affordability and long-range capability.
The devices like sensors and monitors and affordable while can spread the data across a large area which can be very useful for smart lighting system.
The LoRa system is consisted of four main components, street lights with dimming drivers, light controllers, LoRaWAN gateway and app on phone/computers.
Street lights: Led street lights, sodium street lights and metal halide street lights are all applicative.
LED light controllers: It supports both PWM, 0-10V and DALI dimming. It can match with 80% of the dimming drivers include Meanwell, Inventronics, Phillips and ECT.
Concentrators: One concentrator can manage up to 2000pcs street lights with a max transmission 1500m distance.
APP: Through App, the failure of each fixture will be alarmed. The lights can be grouped or be managed individually, which includes the control of lights on&off, and the setting of dimming plans. The app can collect the data also have the pole tilt, GPS, RTC options.
With the popularity of LoRaWAN, more and more people are using this solution when dimming street lights. We believe that in the near future, more LoRaWAN solutions will be developed and we will usher in a new era of intelligent lighting.
Advantage: Easy for installation, simpler to use
Disadvantage: Better not to use where the signal is disturbed.
4.If the street lights are installed on poles, can we make it dimmed?
If the street lights are installed on poles, there is still chance we can make it dimmed, although a little complicated.
First, we need to check whether the drivers of the street lights are in-built the dimming program.( We can check with light manufacturers or we can check the driver model)
If the driver is in-built with dimming plan, then we can use computer soft ware or remotes to make the street lights dimmed.
We have one case in Philippines, the client is using 240W street lights with Phillips Driver Xiatium model. The lights are installed, so we sent him the device and software of Phillips MultiOne, with which they adjusted the watt of installed led lights.
If the street lights are not with dimmed led drivers, then it will be very complicated to make the lights dimmed.
You can contact us about your street light information, and we can help you with your street lights dimmed.
5.What is the classical timing dimming?
Generally speaking, the timing dimming design depends on the road conditions like road grades and car flow.
Our regular dimming plan for city road two lanes to 4 lanes is 100% working for 5 hours, 50% working for 4 hours, and 2 hours for 80% working.
This means, for example, if our lights will be turned on at 6pm, then from 6pm to 11pm, the light will be of 100% brightness. From 11pm to 4am, it will be of 50% brightness. From 4am to 6am, it will be of 80% brightness.
You can share your road condition for us, we can design for you.
6.Summary
Dimmed street lights will be the future trend of the street lighting system. With more improvement of smart lighting and the reduction of the cost for whole system, more and more clients will choose the dimmed lights for energy saving and intelligent monitoring.
In this article, we have summarized can street lights be dimmed and how to get lights dimmed. Even if you hire a third-party contractor, you will still know how dimmed street lights work and what is the difference of dimmed solutions.
Amber Lighting provides high quality street lights with dimmed solutions for all of our street lights models. We also make customized designs with street light details, or with projects or bidding documents provided.
So, what are you waiting for? Get in touch with our 24/7 helpful customer service and get a FREE evaluation of your project NOW.