I just moved into a house with.outdooor accent solar lighting and they dont work. there are 2 6×8 solar panels?
by admin on Monday, December 19th, 2011 | 3 Comments
One panel for each side of the yard. Each power about 4 flood lights. Also each panel takes 3 AA batteries which I’ve replaced. I know nothing about solar lighting. And there is no manufacturer on the panel. What should I do to get these lights to work
First thing use a battery to store enough current, and you also have to match the power consumption in watts ,by the flood lamp to design and install solar panel to make them work ! Ureka:)
Make sure the battery contacts in the lights are clean first, and make sure of the type. Nickel metal hydrides do not charge adequately in lights that used nickel Cadmium cells.
You can test the lights with some alkaline cells, and see if they work. It may just be corrosion on those contacts which is the most common issue. Otherwise locate some nickel Cadmium cells. If you have to do mail order, try
There should be another battery in the system for the flood lights if you have larger panels. Most likely lead acid. If the panels 6 inch by 8 inch, those should have enough output to charge a 2 volt Lead acid cell or two. Follow the wiring.
Worst case- if you can each unit out as a discrete assembly- take one apart and look at the condition of the internals. The cell should be okay, the transistorized switch circuit can sometimes fail, rarely in both units at once, but in one unit it is expected. The worst that can happen is you make a paperweight out of it. It wasn’t working before so you have nothing to lose by trying to figure it out.
This is really important: each panel looks like they can take ANY AA battery. NO!. NO! You, unfortunately, need to know what type of battery: regular AA, NiCD AA, NiMH or Li-Ion AA. People try different batteries and while it can work for a SHORT time, eventually it will destroy the fixture. That may be what the previous owners did.
Wrong batteries ruin solar fixtures because batteries all work differently in terms of how a solar fixture stores and uses solar energy. Wrong type fries out connections and bulbs within short time.
If you have pics and upload them, I might be able to identify the manufacturer or what type of battery you need. Also, what do the bulbs look like? Pics of those will help too. LEDs are used in most solar lights these days, but some also use halogen or CFLS, and those eventually wear out, whereas LEDs are “Virtually” forever, as they last 80,000 to 100,000 hours. But, not knowing how old your lights are…..????
New flood lights are great choices to go solar with, because you can put the light itself one place, and then the panel up to 15 feet away — for example, the fixture on the side of the house, the panel on a roof (you can even some solar lights inside sheds, barns, garages, or carports.) Check out the site below, they are having a summer sale on right now and work with customers to come up with options that meet the intended purposes of the solar lights and your budget. (Broad variety of both types of lights available and cost depending on the quality.)