YX805 - Solar Charge Controller?

I found this little IC on eBay and thought it looked interesting.
Items used in this video:
❗️These links are affiliated and I may earn a small commission if you purchase❗️
YX805: ebay.to/2xSCGMe
NiMH Cell: ebay.to/2Ni7NFT
Inductor Selection: ebay.to/2zN5My7
Straw Hat White LED: ebay.to/2P5rjr8
Strip Board: ebay.to/2xUMRjB
Project Box: ebay.to/2O1M62c

[@tl1024]

LOL, I live in the desert. My first solar project ever was a USB charger. The sun quickly out-matched my hot glue! Use only "hot" sticks, or maybe silicone instead. Love the channel, and diy BMS integration.

[@rbmwiv]

I made one of those boards about the size of my finger nail. The battery is not on the board, I used a rechargeable AA because I have several laying around and the battery boxes. Great video sir!

[@TaiViinikka]

Thanks for explaining how the inductor contributes to the voltage boost! You have a well-stocked shed, with a modern o-scope and a variety of inductors. :)

[@joeyocom5087]

It can be rectified to run transistors, RGB color changing bulbs , 555 timers, etc I have a video for that also

[@RWBHere]

Nice one, Adam. Put a larger cell on it, and the LED on the opposite side of the board to the cell, to allow more light out of the box, and it will make a very nice nightlight for less than a pound.

[@billywhizzy]

This is similar to the Q5252F Chip used in automatic solar lanterns.

[@josfrankena4891]

🤩You're a lucky man! Can't find them anywhere on the internet/Ebay Thank you for the explanation!

[@FabiansLab]

I made a light dector from these! Basically put a zenner in place of the led which went to a relay. Cheap way to make these since these chips cost about a dollar. Yes i know I could have used a photosenor. I was just bored.

[@springwoodcottage4248]

Nice explanation. The thought that came to mind was that the size of that solar panel can stick out something like 100 mA in good sunshine which seems a lot for that tiny Nimh to eat. The poundland solar cells are much smaller & can produce ~10 mA in good conditions, so I wondered if a NimH AA cell with say a capacity of say 800 mAh (Poundland often have these in the battery section) would be much better suited to swallowing the output of the solar panel. I am not sure if the tiny cell would die as when it reaches full voltage with the diode drop it would roughly balance the solar cell output, but if there is a slight over voltage from the solar panel it would likely quickly over charge the cell. With a bigger cell one could have more output current and/or more parallel led. Thanks for sharing!

[@AdamWelchUK]

Keep an eye out for an update on this video because you may just be right ;-)

[@GarmnX]

Nice The right thing for bigclive garden lights projects

[@jimedgar6789]

Brilliant... this was just what I needed today.

[@zanedelorean9740]

Nice package you've got there.

[@sokoloft3]

Also if your aim was garden light. I think a bit of diffusing layer from say a TV backlight inside of that clear plastic would help spread the light out more. I'll see if I can find one of those boxes. Seems handy. I would of put the panel inside of it

[@karimismail3734]

Good/Thanks for sharing.

[@tl1024]

We need a good "roundup" of the real MPPT controllers of the many you have tested.. .

[@mikemead2315]

OFF TOPIC SUGGESTION: Adam, thank you for your great information. I want to order some of the items you use and review, but Amazon ends up being the better method sometimes. If you put in one affiliate Amazon link in the description, I can use it to order any products, so, as I understand it, Amazon will pay you. Thank you again.

[@ANDYMCNET]

Amazing info as always Mr Adam. =)

[@JackButlerVideos]

What a cool little chip!

[@electronic7979]

Excellent project

[@Mark1024MAK]

Comedy, electronics and solar all in one video, Watts not to light 😂

[@AdamWelchUK]

Ba-dum-tish :-)

[@sokoloft3]

Thank you for mentioning the diode in the IC. That was my main problem when I first found a broken garden light on the side of the road. Since I just want them to charge my nimh cells. Is there a problem leaving the load disconnected? I just have it floating on the recent garden panel I found. It has a 5252F IC which is pretty similar.

[@PhilXavierSierraJones]

This chip seems to be the most available solar lamp controller chip; I couldn't find any that had reasonable price or is used widely in other lamps.

[@Electrologia]

4:36 if you use 80mAh battery and 150uh inductor which gives you 7.4mA (as shown in data-sheet 6:10) it is going to last 80mAh/7.4mA = 10.8 Hours which is very good. but the standard 5mm LED which you use takes max 20mA and it would be better to use 68uh inductor which gives you 17mA and for lasting 10 hours you will need a battery minimum with 180mAh capacity.

[@WereCatf]

I found one of these controllers inside a small, outdoors solar-powered LED-light with a 150mAh niMh-battery. The LED-light was left hidden on the yard by the previous owners of the house. Too bad it was all corroded to hell inside, no salvaging anything other than the small solar-panel from it -- the panel itself works fine, though!

[@abdulafi2270]

very good job, thank you sir!!

[@guywhoknows]

So next challenge... Use a slightly larger solar panel. Use a lipo charge controller hook the panel in. And line up some LEDs. And if you are daring. ESP WiFi as a extender housed in the same box.. Cheat tip. The pound shop is doing a stone effect outdoor light for £3. It has a lot of space in the base, but the solar panel is a bit small for the needed voltage, but you can get two and get around 4.* Volts from them. Add a diode. And you've got great WiFi in the garden and a night light. I 3d printed a solar racking for it.. that fits over the old sink hole for the single panel.

[@AlfieMakes]

"Slightly blue and very chinese datasheet". I died hahahah.

[@bobbyk6585]

Nice tutorial.

[@nerys71]

Any ideas for a super cheap simple charge controller for a lithium iron phosphate battery?

[@mrdovie47]

I used a YX8018 same circuit but different pin out. I replaced the LED with a regular diode and a 20uF capacitor which developed 10 Volts DC with very low power.

[@schluderjupp]

So Adam, after almost a year, how is your solar garden light doing?

[@SuperLaplander]

Very nice video. Thanks for sharing.

[@Luke-san]

@Adam Welch , did you ever think of using those big panels you have in wintertime for small things like this? There is almost no real solar power use during this season. I had like a 3 Watt output yesterday at 2pm from my 100 + 40 Watt panel. Solar light stuff only lit up for an hour and went dim except the one spot (6Volt small panel) I converted which is still lit up bright at 6am. I used the output of the panels and in series a Schottky diode, some very thin wire to cover 10 meters (lets see how long that lasts) and a dc/dc buck convertor .. google 'Mini DC-DC 12-24V To 5V 3A Step Down Power Supply Module' and they show up. Extremely small, cheap and easy to set the output voltage on and seem very efficient. The output of that module I connect to where normally the solar cell connects to. The light will turn on when it is really dark and not like when the sun is about to go down. Since we're about to go into lockdown again and I have a bunch of those module and blocking diodes I will try to make another voltage line at about 3 Volts for the smaller YX805 like stuff. Finally some proper useful use for my panels during wintertime it seems.

[@jimmckeown4938]

As a complete novice, I found the video very interesting ,and easy to follow.. which I did until the part where the solar panel was being fitted thro the box, ok to there , ... then the light worked, I did not pick up on where the panel wires were connected to, could you advise please, I am trying to keep sane in the current climate, and thought this little exercise would hep.

[@Luke-san]

Same situation. New lock down, plenty of components around me to finally put in use. If you Google the YX805 you'll see a schematic. Minus of the solar cell goes to pin 3 of the YX805 and the positive side of the solar cell goes to pin 1. What is pin 1 to pin 4 .... Text/label of the IC towards you pin 1 starts on the left hand side.

[@noelopez2576]

Hello Adam. From Palmview Texas 😎👊

[@egroeggnik]

Hello to my Texan sister or brother.

[@BarryBranton]

I have yet to locate an actual wiring schematic for the internal workings of the YX805 chip.

[@i-will-get-you-there]

Enjoyed your videos.... And catching up some of the old ones as well. 1 question come to mind after watching your usb3 power bank and the gizmo accompanying it, would it be a good idea to use laptop usb3 charger and use it as adjustable power supply on your desk? Cheers mate

[@xanataph]

So basically what you have here is a Joule Thief on a chip. :)

[@joeyocom5087]

I get 162 volts out of my dual wound Joule Thief, but only 10 volts from this garden light circuit . I can run a 555 timer with either.

[@daijoubu4529]

Not really a joule thief per se, but a boost converter

[@Electrologia]

is it possible to use YX805 with 5v Solar panel? I have 18650 lithium battery and 1.2 Ni-MH battery. Which one do you prefer? May I use 18650 battery? I want to connect to a tiny Christmas tree lights. Please help. thanks

[@AdamWelchUK]

Only suitable with NiMH cells I’m afraid. 1.5v max according to the data sheet.

[@symmsm]

Nice video. Looking to a blinking feature to say run a string of mini LEDs. Got any ideas?

[@EnmandsBand1]

good video, I'm looking for a similar component but for 18650 Li-ion batteries to dabble with some DIY solar night lamps. Do you need some kind of BMS as well or is this setup sufficient to charge/recharge Li-ion batteries?

[@Theo0x89]

I've got two pieces of cheap solar garden lights that use this chip. Both failed by sending too much current through the LED during twilight. This only happened for a narrow range of twilight brightness. Beside this particular issue, there is a general problem with these kind of chips: they do not protect your battery against over-discharge. If the solar cell doesn't get enough sunlight during day (which is not unusual in certain areas), this chip will ruin your battery when it is discharged over night.

[@johncoops6897]

Theo0x89 = What a load of absolute rubbish. Firstly, Ni-CD and Ni-MH batteries don't need "over-discharge protection". In fact, the best way to extend the life of Ni-CD cells is to *FULLY* discharge them before a recharge. Furthermore, if the solar cell doesn't get enough sunlight during day, then the battery won't EVER get ruined by discharge... the LED simply will not illuminate for as long that night. Think about it - the solar cell charges the battery during the day, and the LED always runs the battery 100% dead flat the following night. This repeats every single day.... usually for years, until the battery contacts or switch fail due to corrosion. As for your comment about LED failure at twilight, that also sounds like a load of bullshit. None of my solar lights suffer from this problem, and considering the literally BILLIONS of these units in active service every day throughout the world, I'd say that there is no such inherent problem.

[@Theo0x89]

So much misinformation... _"Ni-MH batteries don't need "over-discharge protection""_ It is common knowledge that NiMH cell degrade when over-discharged. From the company behind the famous Eneloop, for example: "Continuous over-discharging causes damage to the batteries." www.panasonic.com/global/consumer/battery/eneloop/technologies.html From my experience with different models of cheap solar garden lights I can tell that the lights that switch off at a low battery voltage have working batteries after years, while the lights that drain batteries to very low voltages don't work (or only a short time every night) after one or two years due to a degraded battery. _"the best way to extend the life of Ni-CD cells is to FULLY discharge them before a recharge"_ [citation needed] Some say NiCd can be stored at zero volts, some say otherwise, but I have never heard the claim that they should be discharged to zero volts in regular usage. It's also irrelevant to solar lights because they usually have NiMH cells, which are more sensitive to over-discharge. _"the battery won't EVER get ruined by discharge... the LED simply will not illuminate for as long that night."_ Cheap lights that use the same circuit as in the video drain the battery to very low voltages. The current is only limited by the forward current of the LED, which is still of considerable size at voltages that are too low for NiMH cells. Even without measuring battery voltages during LED operation, you can easily observe the different behavior. The better lights switch their LED completely off early when there wasn't enough daylight, while the cheap lights slowly dim the LED. _"the LED always runs the battery 100% dead flat the following night"_ You would have a very dead solar light very soon if this would actually happen. Even the cheapest solar lights don't run the battery completely flat as long as there is a moderate amount of light during day. There is still some charge on the battery long after the voltage is too low to illuminate the LED. _"As for your comment about LED failure at twilight [...] None of my solar lights suffer from this problem"_ Do they use the same chip as in the video (YX805)? The most common chip nowadays seems to be the YX8018. I definitely measured the described problem with both pieces of that particular model (about 100mA LED current for a narrow range of twilight). This happened after a few years. I doubt that most of these cheap lights are in use after a couple of years because they already fail due to other reasons and they are not worth any maintenance.

[@Chickey]

Good little chip and v.cheap too.

[@Venomator.]

Not sure quite how I missed this one Adam, shame on me hey? ... 🤢 Anyways, thanks for this litte project, one to play with for sure, thank you... 👍🏻 😉 🐍

[@samprime3180]

Good informative

[@9ernie9]

I have one of these which I'm trying to repair. Looks like the solar cell is not putting out enough volts. For a single LED and a AAA NiMh, what voltage solar cell is recommended? The original (40mmx40mm) has 4 "sections", so I assume 2v but I'm only getting about 1v. Original chip is a YX805. I put a 5252F in. Seems exactly the same chip, just with a different number.

[@travismoore7849]

Try a ridiculous inductor of 100000mh and a piezo element across it?

[@awaw2004]

The serial number of the ic in a £1.5 solar light bought at Poundland led me to this video.

[@stormysauce03]

This has the same energy as the lock picking lawer.

[@Schrodj1]

Hi Adam! Where in the world did you get these solar cells? I'm trying to find a good source.

[@LearningToFly77]

What is the maximum voltage the solar cell can have?

[@fourzerofour7860]

Looks nice! I recently bought a dozen "Halloween themed" garden light type things from the local store and the one I took apart had a very similar looking chip inside.

[@dolbodolb6173]

No mentioning of a photoelement. Where is it?

[@jontscott]

With the LED disconnected and the scope on the LX pin how high does the voltage go? Could it drive two (or more) LEDs in series? Or is the output voltage clamped or limited internally?

[@AdamWelchUK]

Not sure. I’ll see if I can test that.

[@Jimmeh_B]

exactly my thinking, also would adding a capacitor increase the duty cycle/smooth out the power? Might be able to gain some brightness that way too.

[@jontscott]

I would guess a diode would be needed with the capacitor, but that would smooth the output power.

[@pulesjet]

I would use a old NiCad Sub C in that thing.. Think it would last all night !

[@joeyocom5087]

It is not the sun, but the rain that damages the epoxy panels. I have epoxy panels inside glass jars for several years with no damage. No Degradation at all. The ones not in jars are getting eaten up by the acidity in the rain.

[@TaiViinikka]

What you suggest is possible, but I wonder if it is actually ozone in the air. Are these protective glass jars of yours closed up or open to fresh air?

[@joeyocom5087]

@@TaiViinikka sealed water tight, look at my videos

[@joeyocom5087]

@@TaiViinikka I have 555 timers and the 12F629 programmable chip running on solar circuits w/ 1.2 rechargeable AAA lasting all night

[@TheHairyBeastie]

Hi, I'm looking to set up a small wind turbine to charge 12v lead acid batteries but I'm not sure about controllers. Ideally i wanted one so i could set up a dump load to run a garage tube heater to stop things freezing through the winter. You seem like the person to ask. I have been through a lot of your videos but as yet can't find any appropriate. I have seen american controllers but taxes put me off. Can you please suggest a setup that would do what i need.

[@mortadhabaji862]

Can i use 3.7 V battery instead of the 1.25 V?

[@jonatanfriederichs7519]

The IC runs between 0.9v and 1.5v... the battery will never be charged and can damage the IC

[@alexandreesquenet3736]

Hi Adam, I'm looking for a USB relay board that comes with a software (under windows) to program the ON time and OFF time each day for 365 days (calendar) for my inverter (epever HSI 3000). This way I can program my inverter start and stop automatically for the entire year without having to adjust the start and stop time every 2 weeks or so (I stop the inverter about 1 hour before the sun stop shining on them, to make sure the batteries are charged before the night) and I start the inverter somewhere 1 hour after the sun shine to have enough watts for the inverter and not to discharge too fast the batteries. Do you know if that exists? USB Relays are easy to find but the software is another story.

[@alexandreesquenet3736]

ok I found one on ebay: Denkovi 4-channel USB Relay Board Module Controller for Automation Robotics - v2

[@hansmaier3689]

replace the batterie with a 500F supercap and pot it with resin

[@AdamWelchUK]

Nice idea... thanks.

[@tolipwen1487]

500F sounds about right, I made one with 100F and it lasts 4-5 hours but I use a colorchanging LED.

[@munge83]

Is there an equivalent of YX805 for 4.2V

[@johncoops6897]

For 4.2V you probably mean to make something using a Lithium cell. If so, then there also needs to be over-voltage and under-voltage protection, which requires additional circuitry. You cannot ever let lithium voltage drop too far, unlike Ni-CD and NiMH which you deliberately run to 100% flat each night. The easiest solution is to buy any solar garden light with a lithium battery, and obtain the components that you need from inside. The easiest and cheapest is probably the "shed lights", which are readily available and contain a nice large (remote) solar panel. There's no point using lithium for small lights, since there is no need for high power density... a small cell won't have the grunt to charge a big lithium anyway. Even a small lithium (say 500mAh) will need a big panel (ie: 100mm square glass). Most solar with lithium use 3.2V LiFePO4 cells because they are much more robust than other Lithium chemistries. The LiFEPO4 can handle thousands of charge cycles, and is also far more tolerant of over-voltage. But if voltage drops even once to below about 1V per cell, the cell never recovers.

[@Theo0x89]

_"NiMH which you deliberately run to 100% flat each night"_ This is flat out false. See my other reply: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWjWiJuundOonZY&lc=Ugx2HTHvK5YnHgo9Qv14AaABAg.8m-SOMg9bFx8m8ZyfQyKBO

[@donaldsmith3048]

Can this be used to charge some 26650 batteries and run some LED's in my back yard?

[@AdamWelchUK]

I’m afraid not. It’s designed for a 2v solar input and a ~1.5 volt cell. There are a few modules and solar charge controllers that are sold claiming to fit your needs. On the cheap side you could look at the wincong sx01, the anself cmtd lithium version or the CTK5S (all of which I’ve done videos on) all of them do dusk to dawn type load control. You might need to look at an led driver though depending on what you are driving. Epever do a few charge controllers with an led driver in them - but there a bit more money.

[@donaldsmith3048]

OK! Thank You! I could use it to charge AA NIMH. Then use a Joule thief to step it up the volts to drive LED's Not sure how much currant it will charge, one or 2 AA NIMH.

[@AdamWelchUK]

Well this chip is designed for an NiMH cell and is essentially a joule thief too. It’s probably only capable of a couple hundred milliamperes current at most on the solar side - the voltage drop over the input diode might cause some heat at higher currents.

[@digyourrig3800]

We need to think outside the box to find alternatives to just a solar led light..

[@spikeydapikey1483]

Hi, maybe I missed it, but does the LED go out in daylight with this circuit? Cheers :o)

[@Mark1024MAK]

Spikey DaPikey - yes, as soon as the chip senses voltage from the solar cell, it shuts off it’s output.

[@milenedejong1400]

can you do something alike for lets say 8 leds maybe adam? my son makes small fairy houses and he asked for some mini lights.. maybe you can point me in de right direction.. . greetz

[@AdamWelchUK]

I believe it’s designed for leds at about 3v but as you can see it can handle some reasonable current. I guess you could try 8 leds in parallel. You’d need a bigger cell than I used though!

[@johncoops6897]

Just go and buy a 10 LED solar fairy night kit from your local shop for a few dollars. There is absolutely no point making such a simple thing when you can simply buy it off the shelf at a lower price almost anywhere in the world.

[@johncoops6897]

deslomeslager - I have no idea what you are talking about or who you are replying to. Milene De jong would like to make small and low powered fairy house lights. Fairies don't usually have discos, so they don't need flashing. I'd imagine that they also don't need very much illumination either. Your bike light driver is completely wrong for the application.

[@milenedejong1400]

think green ! i would like a solar powered (install and forget) application ,guys . i was more thinking about a small tp4056 kind off solution and i was wondering ifnthis solar charger could power such. btw the fairies around here do like discos very much... as well as 5050 leds ...

[@johncoops6897]

deslomeslager - Sorry, I have absolutely NO idea what you are talking about. The person wants some fairy lights, not a bike headlight. Oh, and YOUR video that YOU linked to shows the flicker at a frequency that is dead fucking obvious to the human eye. Solar fairy light strings use the exact the same kind of driver as used in this video, either 5252F or one of the YX8xx variants. What solar panel do you propose is used will your bike headlight circuit? I've never seen a bike headlight that is powered by solar.

[@BrassLock]

Ten pence for a Solar Contoller seems reasonable to me.

[@migoffmig]

QX5252F analog...

[@garrygemmell5676]

These are the ones used in those awful solar lightbulbs they sell in Home Bargains and B&M they all fail within a few months due to the tiny underpowered solar cell and useless cheap chinese leaky battery - goof for salvaging components from though lol

[@josfrankena4891]

Stupid me! I was searching for YX850. Me and numbers, not a good combination.

[@JackButlerVideos]

What a cool little chip!