solar garden lights

Jan 31, 2008 26 Replies

Got some Maplin models form 4/5 years ago, 2 Jump Sun 600mah NiCd in them, decent size solar panel on top. Retrofitted couple with 3 green LEDs, green LED will light on microamps, one lights all year round even over Christmas for couple of hours and has done for at least 4 years.

White, green and blue all need over 3V to light so the single and double battery models use a charge pump to boost the voltage, amber and red dont need it, but are usually a sign of really naff solar lights.

Looking at the size of the actual panel gives a gues lot of them are couple of stips of ofcut buried in large amount of black gunk, look for something where the black area is actually panel.

Adam

ways to get much more light output:

  1. fit a reflective collar in winter so the panel gets more light - but remove in summer so the panel doesnt burn
  2. fit a lot more LEDs, bigger NiCd and a bigger panel
  3. Forget about ready made micropower things and make a solar light system from scratch.

NT

I want a solar powered dark room.

You obviously didn't make the connection between my first and second sentences :-)

Mary

I have a solar powered key-ring.

Mary

Just get yourself some of those solar garden lights and use them inside ;-)

It might take a while to charge the batteries!

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