Solar Garden / Porch Light Conversions

[Nifty]

Anybody have any ideas on what to do with some of these old solar garden / porch lights?

I'm trying to think of ways to string them together to get more charging power and more light. Maybe wire them into sheds, coops, garages, etc. (wife won't let me tinker with them into the house ).

 

[coopy]

I wish I could find a solar stake that I could plug Christmas lights into. Now that would be a neat thing to have. A solar stake that you could plug lights into anywhere and get them to work.

 

[dacjohns]

I wish I did. Mine all seem to quit working. Some I've put new batteries in and that didn't help for other. Others don't have have changeable batteries. I don't know if the cells are no good or if there is something else wrong with the circuits and I don't know enough about electrity to figure it out.

 

[TanksHill]

Not sure if this is what your looking for but,,,, Last week we were talking about using those yard lights in a jar. They sell them for the kids as sun & Moon Jars. I think thats what they were called. Maybe just a fun thing to try.

 

[Nifty]

dacjohns, how many do you have? Want to ship them to me to bust open and play with?

 

[dacjohns]

5 to 8. They are stashed away in various places, the result of moving and not throwing stuff away. I don't know if it is worth the cost of shipping. Throw away society that we live in.

 

[Nifty]

I hear ya! My wife just got me some at OSH that were 12 for 24$ but I don't want to tear those apart for my mad scientist projects.

 

[dacjohns]

I started tearing into one and found out the battery wasn't easily replaceable and it had all the little electrical things (technical term) that I didn't know what they did so that experiment ended pretty quick. It would be nice if the solar cells could be reused.

 

[enjoy the ride]

It's true that the few solar powered items I've tried, like a little pond pump, mole chaser, etc have always failed very fast- and it seems it's those little solar panels that leak and corrode or the batteries that fail.
I always thought it was due to my excessily wet climate but maybe not looking at this.

 

[Nifty]

They fail like crazy. Most often it is the cheap nicd batteries they use that die after a year or two or moisture in the circuits / connections that cause rust and other problems.

The solar panels should remain good for up to 20 years. I just took one apart earlier today to give me some ideas on what to do with it. I want to find out how the circuits work and how much current (power) the LEDs use and the solar panel generates.