Aldi PIR solar light teardown
Added 2022-01-05 07:53:18 +0000 UTCJust one more before I head off to bed after a long night of tinkering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjhn2SxjYDg
Comments
I had one of the early solar lights that ran on 3xAA Ni-MH batteries, which finally failed after 10 years. One thing I miss with the new ones is the easily swappable18650 as they're soldered in like in this Aldi product. We've had three lithium ion ones a few years and still working well. I just wish they could make solar garden lights as durable to last more than a year.
Seán Byrne
2022-01-07 21:43:10 +0000 UTCbox opening warnings aren't much use, hidden inside the box.
AdamR
2022-01-07 21:12:30 +0000 UTCSo any project ideas for these general format of lights that are functionally intact but with failed panels welcome, I have a box of them as it seems wrong to bin them. I have considered trying to rig up some trickle charge system but then I'd need someway of defeating the dusk sensing (as the "panel" would always be on) and I don't think it's a good idea to charge the cell direct bypassing the protection which I might have done with NiMH.
Charleso
2022-01-06 23:44:10 +0000 UTCI've used several of the MPOW branded ones that work well, they now have quite a nice fade up and down rather than snap on. Water ingress isn't the issue with these, most of mine are failing as the solar panel resin fails and becomes opaque, this drops the charge but also causes more heating in the panel warping it and popping it off.
Charleso
2022-01-06 23:40:57 +0000 UTCThe familiar words, "Conformal Coating" I used to write on my PCB Assembly Drawings.
Andrew Donaldson
2022-01-06 02:16:57 +0000 UTCI've considered wind powered lights, but it takes a decent amount of wind to get power, so they would only work consistently on a high exposed area. With solar lights you can do a lot to make a new light more reliable by sealing things properly.
Big Clive
2022-01-05 18:58:43 +0000 UTCDamaging stuff when opening its box: wasn't there a Velvet Underground track about a p-i-t-a boy who decided to surprise his supposed girlfriend by posting himself to her in a big box - when she saw it was from him she was so disgusted she decided to open it with a chainsaw.
Ymir the Frost Giant
2022-01-05 12:44:54 +0000 UTCI just find solar lights so unreliable compared to battery ones. Water has a tendency to find a way in . Perhaps those 3-5v (up to 100mA) small wind turbines (£10+) would be a good backup way of charging solar lights, especially during the winter months when there is less sunlight and probably more wind.
John Russell
2022-01-05 11:42:13 +0000 UTC
