| 1 | LED efficacy and optical performance | Request a complete luminaire photometric report. A practical project benchmark is 120–180 lm/W for the complete fixture, subject to the operating current, optics, and thermal design. | Higher system efficacy can reduce the required solar-panel and battery capacity, but claimed LED-chip efficacy alone does not represent the performance of the finished flood light. | IES or LM-63 photometric file, integrating-sphere report, LED operating current, beam-angle data, and a sample test at the specified power level. |
| 2 | Solar-panel sizing and energy balance | The supplier should calculate daily energy generation and consumption using local peak-sun-hours data, seasonal variation, system losses, and the selected lighting schedule. | A light that appears bright during testing may fail after several cloudy days if the panel and battery are undersized for the installation location. | Energy-balance worksheet showing panel wattage, battery watt-hours, controller efficiency, lighting hours, dimming profile, autonomy days, and local solar-resource assumptions. |
| 3 | Battery chemistry and usable capacity | LiFePO4 is commonly preferred for outdoor solar lighting because of its thermal stability and cycle-life characteristics. Compare usable watt-hours rather than nominal ampere-hours only. | Battery capacity, operating temperature, depth of discharge, and protection settings strongly affect nighttime runtime and replacement intervals. | Battery datasheet, cell configuration, rated cycle-life conditions, low-temperature charging protection, BMS specifications, and measured capacity report. |
| 4 | Weather and impact protection | IP65 is a common minimum reference for outdoor flood-light enclosures; higher protection may be appropriate for exposed, dusty, coastal, or pressure-washing environments. IK08 or higher can be considered where impact resistance is important. | Water ingress, dust, condensation, and mechanical impact are frequent causes of outdoor lighting failure. | IP and IK test reports from an accredited laboratory, enclosure construction details, gasket material, drainage design, and sample inspection after environmental testing. |
| 5 | Thermal management and LED lifetime | Look for an aluminum heat sink, controlled LED junction temperature, and lifetime data supported by LM-80 and TM-21 where applicable. Do not rely only on an unqualified “50,000-hour” claim. | Excessive heat accelerates lumen depreciation, shortens electronic-component life, and can reduce battery charging performance when components share an enclosure. | Thermal simulation or test data, LED-board design, heat-sink material, operating-temperature range, lumen-maintenance projection, and accelerated aging results. |
| 6 | Lighting control and dimming functions | Useful controls may include dusk-to-dawn operation, motion sensing, time scheduling, multi-stage dimming, remote configuration, and low-battery protection. | Adaptive dimming can reduce energy consumption and extend autonomy, especially for security lighting, roads, parking areas, and perimeter applications. | Controller logic diagram, default schedule, sensor detection range, remote-control method, firmware update process, and a witnessed night-time demonstration. |
| 7 | Electrical and regulatory compliance | The product should be designed and tested against the electrical-safety and luminaire requirements applicable to the destination market, including relevant IEC 60598 requirements and local radio or EMC rules. | Compliance evidence reduces customs, installation, safety, and insurance risks. Requirements vary by destination country and product configuration. | Declaration of conformity, safety and EMC reports, RoHS evidence where required, test-laboratory accreditation, component certificates, and model-number consistency across documents. |
| 8 | Ingress, corrosion, and material durability | For coastal or chemically exposed sites, assess powder coating, stainless-steel fasteners, aluminum alloy quality, galvanic-corrosion control, and salt-spray test evidence. | Corrosion can damage mounting points, battery compartments, electrical contacts, and heat dissipation surfaces even when the light initially passes an IP test. | Material specifications, coating thickness, salt-spray test method and duration, fastener grade, corrosion warranty, and photographs of internal construction. |
| 9 | Quality assurance and production consistency | A reliable supplier should use incoming-material inspection, process controls, end-of-line testing, serial-number traceability, and documented corrective-action procedures. | Consistent output is essential when a project requires dozens or hundreds of identical fixtures with matching brightness, color, charging behavior, and control settings. | Quality manual, inspection checklist, sample production records, calibration certificates, traceability examples, pre-shipment inspection plan, and defect-handling procedure. |
| 10 | Commercial terms, support, and total cost | Compare the complete delivered cost, including fixture, panel, battery, controller, brackets, packaging, spare parts, testing, freight, and applicable taxes. A written warranty and defined after-sales process are essential. | The lowest unit price may create higher costs through premature battery replacement, difficult commissioning, unavailable spare parts, or inconsistent warranty responses. | Itemized quotation, Incoterms, MOQ, production lead time, sample policy, warranty exclusions, spare-parts pricing, payment terms, service response time, and reference-project evidence without relying on brand claims. |