Hey RicoTV! Thanks a lot for the feedback and I'm glad you found the game atmospheric. There is actually in fact a way to respawn the soft lights by holding R and recalling to base manually. When you hold R, you'll see a meter fill up at the bottom right and once it fills up, you'll be back at the base with all the soft lights respawned and available to collect again.
Do try again if you'd like, while using this recalling to base mechanic, and it is sure to make the game easier to progress when used correctly.