Making a Solar Panel, Of Sorts.

I got a deal on some old solar lawn lights. Solar lighted tires really. They had what appeared to be new nicd batteries in them. I recharged them and replaced them in the solar lawn ornaments and surprisingly they worked. Worked is rather misleading. Yes they made light but they illuminated nothing. No path could be lit by their upward shining 3 yellow leds. Anyway, their uselessness to me was enough to justify salvage. I could see 8 solar cells in each of the 4 solar tires and the idea that they charged their 2 AA batteries was enought to convince me that maybee at worst they could serve as battery chargers (That and the suggestion by Pete to do that).

Disassembly consisted of prying of the glued on "lense". Fortunately the attempt by the manufacturer to make it non servicable was betrayed by their choice of a adhesive that easily succumbed to a screwdrivers prying ability. Once the lid was off the rest broke down with 3 screws that mounted the so called reflector to the body.

The most interesting part was that the solar cells were glued down. Fortunately age and cheap glue made them easy to remove, the glue was barely sticking and the solar cells popped off easily.

Using hot glue to hold them in place I reinstalled the solar cells into 3 CD jewel cases. I am rather proud of myself for figuring out how to enclose them with what is basically a waste product in our society at this point.

Two of the jewel cases output roughly 6 volts. I did this for two reasons, the first is that they fit really nice in the jewel case, and second I could put them in series for a 12volt supply (really somthing like 13.6volts) to charge a 12 volt lead acid battery or for use with some item I have not decided on yet that needs 12 volts. The 3rd is the same 8 cells as on the original solar tire, I am going to try it as a 2 AA cell charger.

What I really want is a dirt cheap, and/or easy to make from salvaged parts charge controller that can handle any kind of battery charging task.






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