Cheap solar battery charging

[Yorkshire Andy]

Think I mentioned this a few years ago .. but just been out and sorted a few garden lights that had stopped working.....

B&m / home bargains / quid shop / DIY shop garden section often have the generic solar garden lamps in fairly cheap. Some granted have some silly odd ball button cell battery pack inside....

Others however have AAA / AA cells and some very basic low capacity batteries which as you will probably be aware don't last long but the lamp can be bastardised and used to charge decent batteries should shtf don't expect fast charging but some charge is better than no charge...

In most cases it's a matter of unscrewing the cover putting a decent battery in and parking it facing the sun ..

Bit more involvement in chopping off the led means no load so it won't drain over night some switches turn off the led others take the battery out of circuit you can soon soon determine what's what with a multimeter...

[British Red]

Excellent plan. We have a few of the switchable ones that were sold off after the season. I've always figured they would be useful just to charge up on a windowsill and use for interior lighting for neighbours who have nothing better. I've never actually tried them as a charger for decent rechargeables. Do they have overcharge protection etc ?

[jennyjj01]

Think I mentioned this a few years ago .. but just been out and sorted a few garden lights that had stopped working.....

B&m / home bargains / quid shop / DIY shop garden section often have the generic solar garden lamps in fairly cheap. Some granted have some silly odd ball button cell battery pack inside....

Others however have AAA / AA cells and some very basic low capacity batteries which as you will probably be aware don't last long but the lamp can be bastardised and used to charge decent batteries should shtf don't expect fast charging but some charge is better than no charge...

In most cases it's a matter of unscrewing the cover putting a decent battery in and parking it facing the sun ..

Bit more involvement in chopping off the led means no load so it won't drain over night some switches turn off the led others take the battery out of circuit you can soon soon determine what's what with a multimeter...

Just back from Home Bargain. They have basic LED solar lights for 79p each or £7.99 for twelve. Quite similar to the one YA showed, the top black bit pulls off and is a self contained aaa charging station. The led does need snipping out though, because if it's turned 'off' the battery gets no charge and if it's turned on, it will light the lamp at night.
Contains a 600mA AAA and the LED is pitifully dim
But.... well.... What can you buy for £8/12 =67p?
https://www.homebargains.co.uk/products ... -pack.aspx

Experiment for the next sunny day will be to measure what charge current they can manage.

[Rusty74]

this is something im gona have to have a play about with this summer,as im completely clueless with solar power and recharging,eldest is training to be a sparky in college at the moment,so he can give me a hand,electrics and gas are the two things i never mess with

[Yorkshire Andy]

this is something im gona have to have a play about with this summer,as im completely clueless with solar power and recharging,eldest is training to be a sparky in college at the moment,so he can give me a hand,electrics and gas are the two things i never mess with

Have you seen this?

viewtopic.php?t=13491


Latest addition....

£4 on eBay

I've added a few solar panels to my collection

The usb output ones have been a bit hit and miss especially on their promises of power

I got a cheap "300w" one playing this weekend the £20 special was comparable in output to my £50 Anker I'll be honest I was surprised.. but no way is it 100w nevermind 300w got to love the Chinese licence of words


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/194934811666 ... BMmpPirZVg

[jennyjj01]

£4 on eBay

I've added a few solar panels to my collection

I got a cheap "300w" one playing this weekend the £20 special was comparable in output to my £50 Anker I'll be honest I was surprised.. but no way is it 100w nevermind 300w got to love the Chinese licence of words

I might add one of those little chargers at £4, for my AAAs but to be honest, I anticipate using my lamps to charge my batteries in. Will work for 2 18650s or 4 AA. I don't know how efficient it is dropping the voltage down from 5 to 3.? but probably as efficient as that ebay one? But those lamps don't do AAA, so there is that.

Have you seen this Andy? USB charger for 4x 18650
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354046104353


Those Chinese 300W panels were among the ones that annoyed the hell out of me. Some of the ones from China, can land you an import duty charge?!
I'd be inclined to go straight for a credit card or paypal chargeback just to punish the robbing [insert plural expletive]

[rik_uk3]

Not a bad deal at Argos (same price at Tesco) AA AAA USB fed charger with four batteries so just plug it into your cheapo ebay solar panel and away you go

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9453885 ... ger:1:10:1

[Rusty74]

this is something im gona have to have a play about with this summer,as im completely clueless with solar power and recharging,eldest is training to be a sparky in college at the moment,so he can give me a hand,electrics and gas are the two things i never mess with

Have you seen this?

viewtopic.php?t=13491


Latest addition....


Screenshot_20220509-230048.png

£4 on eBay

I've added a few solar panels to my collection

The usb output ones have been a bit hit and miss especially on their promises of power

I got a cheap "300w" one playing this weekend the £20 special was comparable in output to my £50 Anker I'll be honest I was surprised.. but no way is it 100w nevermind 300w got to love the Chinese licence of words


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/194934811666 ... BMmpPirZVg

thanks for that andy,iv ordered a few bits off ebay,so will have a play around with them when they get here...

[Rusty74]

80w solar charger came today(duno if it is 80w)set it up bearing in mind its been over cast here today but it put 30% into a power bank in around 4hrs,that id bought from bnm for £12,so not a bad 1st attempt at solar charging

[jansman]

80w solar charger came today(duno if it is 80w)set it up bearing in mind its been over cast here today but it put 30% into a power bank in around 4hrs,that id bought from bnm for £12,so not a bad 1st attempt at solar charging

The Goodmans B and M chargers are ok. I have 3