PV Gap

Maxine Said:

Outdoor solar lights?

We Answered:

they might have a piece of plastic covering the contacts on the battery.you have to remove that before they can recharge.also they need a good day of sunlight to fully recharge.

Jacqueline Said:

When buying outdoor solar landscape lights what should I look for?

We Answered:

key considerations:
* luminaire output - BTW, most newer solar lights use LEDs. on average a light comes with 1-3 LEDs.
* solar panel storage capacity - consider how much charge it can hold & can it effectively drive the output of all LEDs in the lights.
* separate solar panels that can be wired to multiple lights. - if a panel can be wired to 2 lights, you may get more 'light time' if you only hook up 1 light to the panel. (this is the trick I use)
* the amount of direct light it needs to charge.

a good detailed explanation is found on the web at: http://chinese-school.netfirms.com/revie…

Diana Said:

Use NiMH batteries instead of NiCd in outdoor solar lights?

We Answered:

Different battery technologies require different charging techniques. As the source linked below notes, "NiMH batteries should be rapid charged rather than slow charged. The amount of trickle charge applied to maintain full charge is especially critical. Because NiMH does not absorb overcharge well, the trickle charge must be set lower than that of the NiCd. The recommended trickle charge for the NiMH battery is a low 0.05C. This is why the original NiCd charger cannot be used to charge NiMH batteries. The lower trickle charge rate is acceptable for the NiCd. It is difficult, if not impossible, to slow-charge a NiMH battery."

Realize that not only is the coefficient of capacity used to determine the charging rate different for NiMH batteries different than for NiCd batteries, but the capacities are typically very different (as you note -- 600 mAh vs. 2500 mAh). Thus, the actual charging current requirements can be vastly different. Your hack might work for a few weeks, but it's unlikely to be reliable over the long term unless the solar lights were built with a smart charging circuit that automatically recognizes the unique characteristics of the NiMH batteries.

While it's always possible incompatible NiMH cells could damage a NiCd charging circuit in the solar lights, it's more likely the inadequate charging of the NiMH cells by the NiCd charging circuit would damage the NiMH cells. As cells discharge, they do not all run out of charge at the same time. Rather, the first cell to run out of charge is reverse biased (i.e., positive voltage at its negative terminal and negative voltage at its positive terminal) by the remaining voltage of the cells that have not yet run out of charge. That reverse-biased condition can easily damage the cell.

Lena Said:

Anybody know of good place to purchase outdoor solar holiday lights, cheap?

We Answered:

check amazon .com i bought some from one of their venders...also Home depot or lowes

Beth Said:

Do solar lights work in colder cloudy climates?

We Answered:

yes! but not as bright as it would if it was sunny all the time!