Q+A

​Solar cells produce electricity with the diffuse light that is available on overcast days, just not as well. Your system is sized to provide enough energy to ride through periods of low sun and stormy days (based on the history for your location). Power 365 Technology adds extra protection with anti-blackout battery management features.

Fonroche's proposal process considers all aspects of your lighting project to guarantee lighting 365 days a year.

The number of hours of lighting that you can expect from your system is dependent on your location (solar resource), the power package you use to collect and store power and the intensity of the light that you require. Fonroche typically sizes systems to provide lighting all night long, using either peak lighting all night or using a combination of peak and off-peak light levels to manage energy and costs more efficiently. In most locations, you can use peak and off-peak lighting to ensure that you can provide all night lighting, year-round. Your Fonroche representative can recommend a system to meet your performance needs.

In most cases panels need no maintenance at all and some dirt depreciation is assumed in our energy calculations. Some maintenance or a heavy dirt depreciation factor may be required for a project site with no rain at all for extended periods (3-6 months).

This is a "possible" solution, but we do not recommend it. Some of the barriers include: Wire loss (loss of energy to the lights reduces efficiencies), cost of trenching, safety and code issues for higher voltage systems, and added costs for mounting or extra poles.

Your SmartLight System is completely autonomous and operates independent of the electric grid. With multiple layers of protection, you can depend on your SmartLight System to keep providing you with bright, white light, even during power outages.

Fonroche recommends system and equipment grounding, however, "Authorities Having Jurisdiction" (AHJs) have the final say. If the wiring inspector says it's okay to skip the grounding, then it's okay.

System Ground: Battery negative connected to earth

Equipment Ground: All dead-metal that could accidentally become energized connected to earth.

System Grounding: NEC 690 covers all photovoltaic systems and overrides other articles that conflict with the requirements outlined in 690. You can see 690.41 System Grounding, has the same requirement for systems with PV voltages over 50V. Note that the 50V limit mentioned in 690 is in fact the PV voltage not the battery voltage.

The real issue is 690.43, Equipment Grounding. All exposed non-current carrying metal parts of module frames, equipment and conductor enclosures shall be grounded regardless of voltage. According to this article you need a ground-rod or embedded ground-wire so metal parts can be grounded. A grounding lug is provided inside the pole for this purpose.

Solar streetlights are self-sufficient. Unlike traditional street lights, they don't require any connections to utility power at all. Also called photovoltaic or PV streetlights, they’re quick and easy to install, with no earthwork or trenches needed, so the range of possible applications is virtually limitless.

Since they do not rely on centralized utilities and create no emissions, they are the perfect next step toward energy transition.

Advantages of Solar Street Lights include:

• Reduced installation and trenching costs
• Reduced or no soil remediation costs
• Smaller carbon-foot print
• Low Maintenance
• Lighting availability during power outages
• Flood tolerance

Our solar lighting profiles are controlled by the Power 365 controller. The lights will activate in the evening and shut off in the morning based on the energy created by the panel. This means that schedules are maintenance-free and you never need to adjust for events like daylight savings time.

If you have specific time of day scheduling requirements, we recommend using the controller's embedded LoRa module to communicate your preferences through a wireless network. Fonroche Connect allows control of your project and provides feedback on energy performance.