Solar Street Light at My House?

Yes, you read it right. I now have a fully lit Solar Street Light at my house!
First step of my house on way to becoming a Green House! :)

Hello friends. How is it going!

In addition to the Solar Street Lights (SSL) project we installed recently at the industrial unit in Faridabad (click here to know more about the project), I also installed a 9W Solar Street Light at my house.

Front view of the SSL

Back view of the SSL

Let us quickly go through the steps in installing the house SSL. The steps are the same as those done at the industrial unit which were discussed in the previous blog post (indeed with different photographs!).

Step 1: Preparing the Foundation

The foundation was prepared on the side wall of the gate with the help of the local labor. We had to do some grinding on the marble so as to prepare a solid foundation.

Labor preparing the foundation for SSL

Labor preparing the foundation for SSL

Step 2: Erection of the Poles

On the wet concrete foundation, the poles are erected and supported using bolts.

SSL pole before erection

Expert erecting pole on side wall of the gate

 After the pole was erected, it was left for a day for the concrete foundation to solidify and settle.

Step 3: Installing Street Light Fixtures on the Poles

The next day, we installed the fixtures.

1. Battery Box (to put the battery)
2. Luminary (9W LED light)
3. Solar Panel (40W Solar Panel)
4. Wiring

In order to install the fixtures, we had to bring the pole down from where it was erected. The fixtures will be installed and the pole will be erected once again.

Fixtures installation starts with fixing the battery box to the pole.

Battery Box support fixed to the pole

Battery box fixed to the pole

Next we put the light accessories and the luminary on the pole.

Fixing of the light support on the pole

Expert fixing the luminary on the pole

After fixing the light, we install the solar panels.

Panel fixing on the pole

Home SSL before erection

 Finally we did the wiring connections and we are all set to erect the completed street light on the wall!

Step 4: Mounting of the Pole

Finally the pole is mounted on the side wall of the gate.

Expert erecting the pole on the wall

Once the pole is mounted, the battery is put in the battery box. 

And Voila!

I now have a fully lit and running Solar Street Light at my house!

Lit home SSL front view

Lit home SSL side view

Lit home SSL back view

Lit home SSL back view close-up

And not to mention, the light switches on automatically in the night and switches off automatically in the morning. No need for a power on/off switch. Cool isn't it!

For any questions/queries about Solar technology or installing a Solar Street Light at your house, leave a comment or send us an email at info@sun-photonics.com and we shall get back to you within 24 hours or your query.

Have a good Sunny time!

Regards,

Team Sun Photonics!

Glow of the Solar Street Lights

Hey friends! How are you doing today!

Yesterday our company finished yet another Solar power project - 2 Nos of Solar Street Lights at an Industry situated in the city of Faridabad.

Let us take you through the journey of how the work began and how it finished.

The work on installation of 2 Nos of Solar Street Lights (SSLs) began last Thursday when we received all the necessary material for installation. Actual work on the site began on Friday, 27 June 2014.
This is how the final installed Solar Street Light looks like.

Installed Solar Street Light 

Step 1: Preparing the Foundation

First thing, we got a local Labor to prepare the foundation where the street light pole will be mounted. For the two lights, we did two types of foundations. One was done by digging a hold into the existing wall. The other was done using bricks and laying the foundation on top of the roof without digging into the roof. Within a few hours, the labor did their job and the foundations were ready to erect the poles.

Labor preparing foundation for pole erection

Foundation dug for SSL pole

Step 2: Erection of the Poles

On the concrete foundation, bolts are laid in an inverted direction. The poles are then erected with the base of the poles fixed on the erected bolts.

SSL Pole standing on the ground before erection

Pole erected on one roof with bolting to support

SSL #1 Pole after erection on the door wall

SSL #2 Pole after erection on the side wall

After the poles are erected, they need to be left for a day for the concrete foundation to get settled. So we continued the remaining part of the work on the next day.

Step 3: Installing Street Light Fixtures on the Poles

The next step was to install the street light fixtures on the poles. There following are the fixtures:

1. Battery Box (to put the battery)
2. Luminary (9W LED light)
3. Solar Panel (40W Solar Panel)
4. Wiring 

In order to install the fixtures, we had to bring the pole down from where it was erected. The fixtures will be installed and the pole will be erected once again.

Fixtures start with the Battery Box. This is how a battery box looks like (with all the necessary accessories in it).

Battery box with all necessary accessories

The first step is to fix the battery box on the pole. 

Expert fixing battery box on the pole

Next comes fixing the light accessories and the luminary on the pole.

Light accessory fixed on the pole

 Third item on the list is the putting up the Solar panel.

Expert fixing the structure with the Solar Panel

Panel mounting on the SSL pole

Finally comes the turn of doing the wiring of the pole, connecting the right positives and the right negatives together.

Step 4: Mounting of the Poles

Once we did all the fixtures and wiring on the pole, the final step was to do the mounting of the SSL poles at their right place.

Expert mounting the pole at its right place

One item that still remained to do was putting the battery into the battery box. Since the batteries are heavy, they are put into the battery box only after mounting of the pole.

SSL #1 lit up at main gate of industry

SSL #1 lit up at main gate of industry inside view

SSL #2 lit up at night front view

SSL #2 lit up at night side view

Once all this is done, the Solar Street Light is all set and ready to glow and shine in the night!

Oh and one last thing, the light switches on automatically in the night and switches off automatically in the morning. There is no need for a power on/off switch. Cool isn't it! :)

For any questions/queries about Solar technology or installation, leave a comment or send us an email at info@sun-photonics.com and we shall get back to you within 24 hours of your query.

Watch out for this space for more such Solar installations and procedures.

Until then, have a good Sunny time!

Regards,
Team Sun Photonics!

Anatomy of a Solar Water Heater – Part I

Hello there! Welcome to the very first blog post of our company, Sun Photonics! Interestingly this is also our first Solar Water Heater project!

Let’s begin from the beginning.

Last week we got a project from an Industrialist from Faridabad city having a few manufacturing plants here. The project is for putting up 2 Nos. of Solar Street Lights and shifting a Solar Water Heater from one of his plant premises to the other.

This blog post is about the first half of the shifting of the Solar Water Heater, i.e. dismantling the Solar Water Heater from the roof of the first building. Re-installing the water heater to the roof of the second building will be done in a few days.
We will keep you posted on installation of the Solar Water Heater and also of the Solar Street Lights as we do them in the coming weeks.

Let’s focus on the dismantling of the water heater.

So this is how it looked like before the dismantling process began:

Solar Water Heater as on the roof before dismantling

Solar Water Heater as on the roof before dismantling

As you can see, it belongs to a company called King Sun. After 3 years of installation and not being used much, the material is completely rusted. While this does not usually happens in so short a time, it appears whoever did the installation 3 years ago didn’t quite do the research very well.

Anyway so today afternoon we started dismantling the water heater, one item after the other.
A solar water heater comprises of three major components: 

• The cylindrical tank where the water comes from (the inlet) and from where we take out water to our tap (the outlet).
• The evacuated glass tubes which does the magic of heating the water using sunlight.
• The steel stand which supports the water heater and which also ensures appropriate angle for the water heater.

The dismantling process began with the removing of the Evacuation Tubes from their place. These are glass tubes and hence caution need to be taken while taking them out. The tubes are taken out one-by-one and are put separately as shown below:

Glass evacuation tubes being removed from the Water Heater

Specialist putting glass tubes at a safe place

Evacuation Tubes

These are 15 tubes which are primarily responsible for heating the water in the tank. Check out this space in a few days to know more about the functioning of a Solar Water Heater.

Next comes the turn of the Cylinder. 

Specialist getting ready for dismantling the Cylinder

The Cylinder just before the pipe wrenching

Top side of the Cylinder after removal from stand

Bottom side of the Cylinder after removal from stand. Note the holes for the tubes.

Note that the Cylinder has holes for fixing the evacuation tubes. These are the holes through which the tubes heat the water in the cylinder.

Finally the removal of the stand from its place.

Specialist removing the stand

Stand lying on the wall after removal

Other part of the stand lying on the ground after removal

Removing the stand was a fairly simple task, mainly opening the nuts and bolts.

After removing the entire system from its place, this is how the roof finally looked like:

Roof after dismantling of Solar Water Heater

What we realized was that the stand was too rusted to be used again for re-installation at the other roof. Hence the process had to be finished in the middle.

A new stand is going to be prepared in a few days, after which the re-installation process will resume.

We will most likely do the re-installation in a few days. As that happens, we will keep you updated of the process of re-installing the solar water heater.

Until then, have a good Sunny time!

Regards,

Team Sun Photonics!