Cheap LED Garden Light │ The YX805 Solar Charge Controller

Hey guys, welcome back! :)
After looking inside of a cheap 1$ LED garden light I was impressed with the small IC I found. It's the yx805 which seems to be a solar charge controller as well as a boost converter. Information is rare and mostly in chinese out there. So while testing them, as I would like to make them a bit more interesting and capable, I thought it might be worth making this video.

[@ws6802]

Nice explanation! Thanks.

[@leavemyrightsalone]

Interesting!! I am getting my head around what an inductor is now....

[@jp-um2fr]

Hello Anna. Interesting video. Fuzzy DC - shades of an MOT we know. Yes I did understand, you must be good and I think your expanation as to the odd V & A was correct. A rather odd circuit but simple, cheap and it works. I have become the dumping ground for many of my neighbors dead LED garden lights. All of them have died due to getting wet or condensation. Most have wires or battery clips that have corroded through. Some now use button cells which last a few hours and rely on a good charge every day. I have resurected a few and found that wrapping the whole head in 2 layers of cling film and using some green garden twist wire is a quick a easy solution. I have 4 out of 6 which I did 4 years ago still working. I have tried varnish, silicone and plastic bags. I think a Li-Ion setup would be much easier to make. A few old solar cells with a little buck in to the battery and one out with current control and you could wire up all sorts of LED strings.

[@PhysicistAnna]

Hey JP, I have some ideas in my head, just need some sparetime to make videos :D

[@jp-um2fr]

@@PhysicistAnna Uni must come first young lady. I'm sure it does - just joking.

[@alfr223]

The solar lights were available at Aldi and I have to admit I didn't understand how it worked, I thought the inductor was a resistor and the IC was a linear voltage regulator. As a result I gave it away. Now, after the explanation, everything looks completely different, I really need to have another look.

[@alexsinbb]

I figured some kind of voltage boost + PWM effect is at play since the LED forward voltage is higher than the batt voltage and at the same time you want to limit current for the solar application.

[@rahulbhaskar4179]

Hi Anna. There are two more Similar IC named: YX8018 & 5252F

[@TheAuriconGroup]

Do you think this circuit would charge a NiMH battery as well as a Ni-Cd battery? Where can I down load a data sheet for the YX805B or a YX805? All the places I looked wanted me to install garbage before I could down load the data sheet. Many thanks for your video.

[@generalawareness101]

YX805 vs the much more common YX8018 I can't see a difference beside pins 1, and 4, are reversed as are 2, and 3 between the two. Do you know what else is different?

[@LearningToFly77]

What is the maximum voltage the solar cell can have?

[@alptek2474]

Thanks

[@DoctorThe113]

The first on to comment. Please pin me. BTW i didn't notice before but are you using kitchen silicone mat as your soldering mat and are these heat resistant? BTWA i advise you to place your camera a little further and at an angle.

[@PhysicistAnna]

Yes I am they are just way cheaper than the silicone mat you can buy that are designed for soldering^^ As long as I don't directly point my heat gun at it, which happened, it works perfectly fine. With the heat gun it starts to warp but while cooling down goes into its original shape. And as you can see it is undamaged so far although I spilled hot solder on it several times. As for the camera position I'm currently trying a few things. First I had an overhead solution but that thing is hard to work with (my own wood design) now I use a tripod which fits perfectly between me and the table without obstructing me. So you'd like the camera a bit further away from the table surface? I feel the same way have to work on that. But what do you mean by at an angle? I have it pointing towards the table at an angle.

[@DoctorThe113]

@@PhysicistAnna oh i see it now. Your camera is at an angle. Maybe a little bit far would make a greater distance. Maybe you could try an ultra wide lens.

[@DoctorThe113]

@@PhysicistAnna and your saying that this mat doesn't burn with a soldering iron?

[@PhysicistAnna]

I got a compact camera and they have an all purpose, non replaceable lens so I have to reposition the camera. Besides that I really enjoy using it. If you wonder I got a Panasonic Lumix FZ 82 as a birthday present from my parents and grandpa :D Well I didn't try to burn the silicone mat with my soldering tip but I don't think it would damage it. Maybe if you really press it into the material for a minute or so it might leave a mark. So far I can say that it is resistant to acetone, colophonium, rubbing alcohol, hot solder splashes, heat gun with 400°C setting pointing at it for ~2 minutes. When I discovered my heat gut hitting the mat I saw the before mentioned warping but it went back to normal.

[@DoctorThe113]

@@PhysicistAnna oh i see but if you own a more recent phone, then it might have a wide cam or not. Even cheap ones comes with decent camera for documenting electronics videos unless you plan on doing 4k or something. Although i agree with you on repositioning your camera. At the end of the day it's your choice of camera and it doesn't really matter which one you choose! I don't know but IMO a general rule of thumb would be placing your multimeter at a position/angle where you can see your multimeter's(standing) display clearly.