Solar LED Garden Lighting

[CaptCarrot]

Does anyone have any experience in building their own, or modding shop bought?

I only ask because the light output/reliability of them seems poor.

I know solar rechargeables are a bit hit and miss anyway, and you should charge cycle the batteries in a proper charger evry now and again (if they are removable).

It's just all the ones I see seem to use poor quality 5mm Leds.

I am tempted to try and build my own. was just wondering if anyone had played with these at all.

 

[JohnR66]

Upgrade LED to a better LED, such as the Nichia GS.
You could increase drive current if it is low, but stay at around 20ma as 5mm LEDs may fade if over driven (cheap LEDs will still fade at 20ma or less). If they use Ni-Cd batteries, you could try Ni-Mh if drive increase lowers runtime.

Light may need lots more direct sun if drive current is increased.

 

[Foxx510]

Without going to larger solar panels there isn't a lot you can do, you are limited by the mAh you have available. I've put warm white leds in before, they look much better.

 

[spun]

i've found newer ones with better leds but yes, try the swap. if you want them to run for much longer you can use two of the little panels in parallel to drive one circuit. i've found nimh to last fine too though others might disagree and nicads are no problem. i've also modded a solar rock(go figure), had a bigger panel and 3 batts. found i could mod the ma output and even run an avr microcontroller but again, ma is limited. ended up swapping the 3x5mm leds it had for a cheapo i think 1 watt led and am getting a big improvement. somehow the crees and other leds i had didn't do well at that particular low ma. the plastic coating of the cheap solar panels will cloud over the years but if you use two in parallel they're still very useful.

 

[CaptCarrot]

i've found newer ones with better leds but yes, try the swap. if you want them to run for much longer you can use two of the little panels in parallel to drive one circuit. i've found nimh to last fine too though others might disagree and nicads are no problem. i've also modded a solar rock(go figure), had a bigger panel and 3 batts. found i could mod the ma output and even run an avr microcontroller but again, ma is limited. ended up swapping the 3x5mm leds it had for a cheapo i think 1 watt led and am getting a big improvement. somehow the crees and other leds i had didn't do well at that particular low ma. the plastic coating of the cheap solar panels will cloud over the years but if you use two in parallel they're still very useful.

Sounds good. I rill poss look at Hybrid NiMH due to their longer shelf life.

2 circuits in parallel makes sense.

Let us assume I went the way of making my own, say with a Kilner/Ikea/Mason jar... could anyone recommend an off the shelf panel that would do the job? And would I need any special circuitry on the charging side of things? (I am thinking probably a voltage regulator?)

 

[Yoda4561]

With cheap factory garden lights the first thing to go is usually the batteries or the plastic over the solar cells. A bit of silicone grease when new to keep the battery contacts from oxidizing, and occasionally polishing the haze off the solar panels will extend the life a bit. 2 or 3 times a year you can also pop the batteries out and use a proper charger to cycle the batteries a few times, seems to help freshen the batteries up to near-new performance for a while.

 

[oregon]

I've had good luck with these, accent (not illumination) LED garden lights:

Just received four strings of new white ones:

The two old strings, blue ones, have been in service for two years as accent lights on/in a bamboo arbor with a Wisteria vine growing on it. With snow, rain, freezing, and summer heating they perform faultlessly. The effect of the lights adds another dimension of fun and enchangment to an evening on the patio and outdoor living.

The solar p/u is located in planters, out of harm's way. For maintenance I simply wipe off the solar panels with a damp cotton cloth when they show the dirt/leaves/etc. They shine longer in the summer and stay lit less in the winter as the sun stays low behind Douglas Firs on the south side of the homestead here in Oregon.

I plan to put the white ones where my lovely wife tells me (probably on the potted plants or could give them away to friends and family). It was her idea to get the white while I simply wanted more of them (prefer the blue). We couldn't be happier with these terrific outdoor lights. They all came from DX, sku 5501.

I'll try to get a night shot later.

oregon

 

[oregon]

The promised night shot of the bamboo arbor with blue led solar lights:

The table has some light on it because I had 3 bundles of the new white leds testing on it. They have a switch: on, off and flashing. Steady on is fine with me. All lights worked perfectly. Also, to the right in the photo are some solar led tiki torches that act as if lit by flames (Lowes, Home Depot or WalMart) and these are quite dependable over the years.

oregon

 

[markdavis709]

Hi,
Thanks for sharing this lovely information. It is very useful and I really feel like buying that stuff now. It would look fabulous in my garden.

___________________________________________________
Looking for good outdoor lights: Garden Lighting and Outdoor Garden Lighting

 

[deadrx7conv]

I've found good ones at HomeDepot/Lowes/Target. Look for the lights that take at least 3 'AA' batteries. Any less than 3 double-A's is not even worth buying.

And, inspect the solar panel. Some have solar cells that take up all the area, and other lights have wasteful bits and pieces of solar cells that take up 1/4-1/3 of the available solar parking space.

You get what you pay for and the stores will have cheap to expensive versions. Target, for example, has the full range from good, better, best.... and best is just barely good enough.

 

[Genes]

I disagree. With each multiple of batteries, there is a greater chance of cell imbalance. The highest reliability solar lights have only a single cell. With double or triple NiCds or NiMh you will find that the most common failure mode is cell imbalance. The newer solar lights at Home Depot have single LiFe cells. They have been out about a year now and I have 6 with no failures, yet. I must have 30-40 other solar landscape lights and when they quit working, the cells are usually the cause. Amazingly, I have one solar light that must be 15+ years old. It uses a single cell NiCd and a very dim white led. I think the battery in it must be over 10 years old. It still works every night, but the duration is very short as the single cell is almost at the end of its life.

 

[Dave_H]

I disagree. With each multiple of batteries, there is a greater chance of cell imbalance. The highest reliability solar lights have only a single cell. With double or triple NiCds or NiMh you will find that the most common failure mode is cell imbalance. The newer solar lights at Home Depot have single LiFe cells. They have been out about a year now and I have 6 with no failures, yet. I must have 30-40 other solar landscape lights and when they quit working, the cells are usually the cause. Amazingly, I have one solar light that must be 15+ years old. It uses a single cell NiCd and a very dim white led. I think the battery in it must be over 10 years old. It still works every night, but the duration is very short as the single cell is almost at the end of its life.

I concur, having a single-cell orange-LED light with one AA NiCd, which has been been
going for nearly 10 years on the same cell (probably needs replacement). I have another
which uses two cells, also good quality that has lasted > 5 years outside including snow;
it needs opening it up once in a while to clean the battery contacts or replace/condition
the cells. Also, ants seem to like the hollow tube where it enters the ground, and
sometimes dirt gets pushed up into the light itself.

A lot of cheap stuff now uses AA's with 600mAh capacity; an AAA in AA shell. This
is an old trick from C's and D's with AA capacity. You'll also find 1/3 AAA (200mAh)
tabbed cells soldered directly in, in some low-end cases.

I wince when I see the "scrap" cell pieces used in cheapie lights, looks painful.

Dave

 

[SemiMan]

The LiFe are a great choice period as they have the potential for very high cycle life ... thousands of cycles. Because the voltage is low as well, they experience very little float charge degradation and again can last 5-10 years. Now if only these things had an adequate amount of solar panel.