How BRIGHT ensures quality and reliability for humanitarian procurement
Reliable lighting is essential in humanitarian response and emergency preparedness. BRIGHT’s portable solar lamps are engineered, tested, and certified to perform in demanding environments. This guide explains the solar lamp standards used globally, how BRIGHT validates product quality, and what procurement teams should look for when selecting solar lighting.
What are solar lamp standards?
Solar lamp standards are international technical frameworks used to verify the performance, durability and safety of off-grid lighting products. They were introduced to address early market challenges such as inconsistent quality and inflated performance claims.
Two standards from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) are widely used:
IEC TS 62257-9-5: Quality assurance and performance testing for stand-alone solar lighting systems.
IEC TS 62257-9-8: Testing requirements for pico-solar products, including solar lamps.
BRIGHT products also comply with additional international regulations covering electrical safety and environmental protection. These include the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and Conformité Européenne (CE).
These standards are now routinely referenced by NGOs, government agencies and development organisations when producing solar lighting for humanitarian operations.
Who tests BRIGHT solar lamps?
Compliance testing for BRIGHT solar lamps is carried out by the Shenzhen Academy of Metrology and Quality Inspection (SMQ), an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory. This accreditation ensures precise measurement, calibrated equipment, and internationally recognised testing methods.
Alongside third-party certification, BRIGHT conducts extensive internal engineering tests to validate durability and identify potential failure points long before production.
Testing under IEC TS 62257
Performance testing
- Full-Battery Run Time (FBRT): Measures operating time from a full charge.
- Solar Run Time: Assesses performance after a standard day of solar charging.
- Lumen Maintenance: Evaluates whether brightness remains stable over a thousand hours.
- Energy Service Calculations: Estimates available daily energy for lighting and device charging.
Durability and environmental testing
- Battery Durability: High-temperature storage tests and verification of deep discharge protection.
- Ingress Protection (IP): Evaluates a lamp’s resistance to dust and water.
- Drop tests: Simulates transport and daily handing to assess mechanical durability.
- Strain relief: Ensures cables and connectors withstand repeated handling and charging cycles.
Electrical protection and safety
IEC TS 62257 standards also verify critical safety protections against overcurrent, overvoltage, overheating and reverse polarity, ensuring safe operation in all conditions.
How BRIGHT goes beyond international standards
International solar lamp standards define minimum requirements. BRIGHT, in collaboration with its engineering and manufacturing partners, performs additional engineering stress tests that exceed regulatory requirements.
Line Iren Andersen, Head of Research and Development (R&D) and Manufacturing explains: “We deliberately stress components beyond expected conditions to understand failure points, and to learn how our products behave in extreme cases.”
These tests include:
- Drop testing on concrete from multiple orientations.
- Button-press fatigue testing that simulates 10 years of daily use.
- Rotating-part fatigue tests for handles, stands and hinges.
- UV exposure testing to assess long-term outdoor durability.
- Solar-simulation charging tests for accurate comparison between prototypes
- LUX/Lumen performance testing in a controlled dark room
- Energy transfer efficiency testing for battery and charging reliability
BRIGHT's flagship products, SunBell and Sol, are also evaluated for photobiological safety under IEC 62471-7:2023, ensuring safe light output for users’ eyes.
Field testing in real operational environments
Beyond laboratory testing, BRIGHT conducts field trials with partners in:
- Humanitarian settlements
- Off-grid communities
- Emergency preparedness
Feedback from these deployments informs ongoing design improvements and ensures products perform reliably wherever they are deployed.
How to evaluate solar lamp quality for humanitarian procurement
When selecting portable solar lighting for humanitarian or emergency-preparedness programmes, procurement teams should look for:
- Standards compliance: Products tested and certified under IEC TS 62257-9-5 and IEC TS 62257-9-8 provide independently verified performance data.
- Proven durability and environmental protection: High IP ratings and strong mechanical durability ensure lamps withstand dust, rain, transport and long-term field use. (All BRIGHT portable solar lamps, except for SunTurtle, have an IP64 rating).
- Long battery lifespan: Batteries rated for thousands of charging cycles reduce replacement costs. BRIGHT solar lamps use batteries rated for approximately 2,000 charging cycles, typically delivering five to seven years of daily use.
- Truth-in-advertising verification: Independent testing ensures advertised run times and brightness levels reflect actual performance.
These criteria help procurement teams assess not only initial cost, but also long-term operational value, maintenance needs, and field reliability.
Looking for reliable solar lighting?
BRIGHT solar lamps are built for five or more years of daily use, with replaceable batteries extending lifespan further. This reduces electronic waste and supports cost-effective humanitarian operations.
High-quality procurement starts with independently verified solar lamp standards. Explore BRIGHT’s range of solar lamps for humanitarian and emergency preparedness programmes.
Frequently asked questions
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Solar lamp standards are technical testing frameworks used to verify the quality, safety and performance of portable solar lighting products. The most widely used standards are IEC TS 62257-9-5 and IEC TS 62257-9-8, which evaluate battery performance, lighting output, durability, safety protections and environmental resistance for off-grid solar lamps.
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Solar lamp quality is evaluated through certified laboratory testing that verifies run time, brightness, battery durability, environmental protection and electrical safety. Compliance with IEC T62257 standards helps confirm that a lamp’s advertised performance matches independent test results.