Iluka Village is situated at the mouth of the Clarence River, about 60km north of Grafton, NSW. The area is a popular tourist destination and is renowned for recreational boating and fishing.Superior Jetties were selected to install the new pontoon in 2011 and it was decided that the pontoon should be illuminated at night for safety reasons. Superior Jetties had previously worked with another supplier of solar lighting with limited success but decided to give Orion the opportunity to provide the solar LED lighting solution.
The installation included 3 x EverGEN SE-30s placed on custom poles which would mount to the top of the pontoon pilings. Being completely self contained, the SE-30s required no cables, allowing for a quick and easy installation. Being a completely low voltage DC system means the installation does not even require the services of an electrician.
The solar lights switch on automatically at dusk and switch off at dawn and the operating profile is set to provide the light at full brightness for 5 hours after dusk then dim to 25% until 2 hours before dawn when they return to full brightness. The lights are smart enough to learn when it is 2 hours before dawn.
The energy management system built in to the device and the ability to dim the light during hours when light is less important results in the provision of the required illumination with a smaller, lower cost system, plus it provides for greater autonomy (days of operation without sunlight).
Since the Iluka installation Superior Jetties and Orion Solar have gone on to install many other similar systems of solar LED lighting together.