Educational 3 February 2025
When something is cheap and abundant, we rarely think twice about using as much as—or more than—we need. We leave the tap running while we brush our teeth, run the heat when we’re not at home, and idle our cars while we wait to pick up our kids from school.
This mindset often carries over to solar lighting, where customers assume that since the energy comes from the sun at no cost, they can run their lights at full brightness all night. The problem is that while sunlight is free, the equipment needed to capture, store, and convert it to usable nighttime light is not. Larger solar panels, batteries, and poles all come with significant costs, and in many cases, aren’t necessary.
So, when and how much light do you need? We’re here to help you figure that out. By carefully considering your lighting needs and selecting an operating profile to match, you can maximize reliability and cost-effectiveness while providing ample light and safety.
An operating profile is a schedule that controls when and how a solar light operates. It tells the light when to turn on (typically, when a photocell senses that ambient light levels have dropped), when to turn off (when that same photocell detects sunrise), and what to do for all the nighttime hours in between (maintain its output, dim to a lower level, or defer to a motion sensor).
Operating profiles can range from simple to sophisticated. The most basic “dusk-to-dawn” (D2D) profile keeps lights at a consistent brightness all night. A more sophisticated—and economical—profile might run the lights at full brightness during peak evening hours, dim them to 50% or 30% overnight, and boost them back to full power a couple hours before dawn. Some profiles also use motion sensors to trigger the lights when activity is detected.
The primary purpose of an operating profile is to optimize energy consumption. Although solar lights are powered by free, renewable energy, reducing the energy requirement (we call it the ‘load’) means fewer solar panels and batteries can be used, resulting in a smaller, more affordable system.
Operating profiles also help extend solar lighting to places where solar isn’t abundant, like Highland, Indiana, and Port Alberni, Canada. Whereas a solar light in these locations might not have the energy to provide a constant output from dusk to dawn, dimming the light at low-activity times can make it a viable solution.
There are environmental benefits, too. Dimming a light, even for just a few hours, can significantly reduce light pollution, a known disruptor of both animals’ and humans’ natural rhythms. Operating profiles that use dimming and motion detection align with Dark Sky’s Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting by providing illumination that’s purposeful, measured, and controlled.
Now, to answer that most burning question: Which operating profile should you use for your solar lighting project? The answer, unsurprisingly, is: it depends! Factors like project location, application, usage patterns, security concerns, local regulations, and more can all influence your decision.
That said, having advised thousands of customers, we’ve identified some common patterns based on application. Here’s what we recommend.
Parks and pathways
Match light levels to park hours and usage patterns with full brightness during peak evening activities, transitioning to motion-activated lighting overnight. Some parks may benefit from seasonal adjustments, with extended lighting during summer evenings when usage peaks and shorter durations in the winter months.
Tip: Our systems support multiple operating profiles that can be automatically or manually adjusted using a mobile app.
Parking lots and commercial areas
Align lighting with business hours: 100% brightness from dusk until shortly after closing, then reducing to 20-30% overnight. Areas with restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues might maintain higher levels later. Motion sensors can also be used to trigger brighter lighting for late-night patrons (and boosted security).
Streets and roadways
Transportation departments often default to dusk-to-dawn lighting, but they don’t have to. The IES’ RP-8-22 publication contains guidelines on where and how to implement adaptive lighting. It uses road classification and pedestrian activity to determine recommended light levels and endorses temporarily reduced light levels for local, collector, and major streets.
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Choosing the right operating profile is essential to the success of any solar lighting project. Whether you’re lighting a neighborhood park, mall parking lot, or city street, operating profiles help you balance the sometimes-competing demands of performance, cost, and sustainability.
By aligning light levels with actual usage needs—rather than defaulting to constant full-brightness operation—you can build solutions that are both more reliable and more economical.
Contact our team to see how we can help design a solar lighting solution tailored to your needs.
