Garden Solar Light Repair

Successful fix of a faulty five-year-old garden solar light.

[@Geradovitch]

Recuperating broken items is most satisfying . Thanks for sharing.

[@DJManza_]

ga couture I really like how he has to discover whats wrong and repair it. Keep it up!

[@thatsunpossible312]

Yeah it can be fun to repair things even if they came from the dollar store 😊

[@davedevey3105]

Enjoyed your video. I am new to this world of fixing solar garden lights and it is keeping me occupied during this lockdown a fascinating hobby and lots of help from the experts. Thank you

[@isoguy.]

My partner is crazy about garden lights, pillars. string lights post lights etc. About 2.5k individual leds. Its an annual event this weekend fixing all the dead ones so it was real interesting to see another failure mode. Have an old led garden light dating back to the 80s the circuit, led and solar pannel are all potted, no switch and is the only one thats never failed after a couple of years, save to say occasional battery replacement. Thanks for sharing.

[@quertize]

I put ~20 solar garden lights on maintenance this year and most problems were with water creeping on woven insulation on led leads. In one case corrosion eaten inside the led. I kind know that they put it on so they can easily bend them over and not worry about shorts but it can kill lights during one season. Also with ground mounted ones I found that adding a venting hole in plastic shade that won't be clogged with soil really helps in keeping them alive. Other than that Big Clive's trick with tape over solar panel.

[@MrNursi]

Extreme recycling! Well done Julian.

[@cliffjones7868]

Use a bit of vinegar to help remove rust using an acid brush, Dry then do your soldering. There are two methods to prevent the corrosion. You could use a clear acrylic spray coating Such as Krylon Spray cans or Use RTV. However, you need to get the electronic type because regular RTV Smells like vinegar and will continue to corrode. That's why I used vinegar to clean the board and connections. So If you get any new ones take them a part and use a coating of acrylic spray or RTV. Excellent tutorial Julian!

[@RWBHere]

Prime examples of 'planned obsolescence'. And we're supposed to be going green? It's tempting to build up a few complete circuits, and seal them better, so that you can swap them out when each one ultimately fails. Thanks Julian.

[@bushtuker]

always good to see how things work !!

[@Ilovetosingem]

Hello Julian. Nice video and yes I would say it is worth the effort and therefore self satisfaction. Good job. Singem.

[@lindareinen4361]

Put a larger inductor in for a brighter light. It’s always fun to fix your old stuff to work again! Especially if you already have the parts sitting around!

[@theschweigmonsupreme5502]

If the blob chip in this circuit works like a 4 pin YX805 or YX8018 solar light controller, a higher inductance will reduce the output current to the LED, and consequently increase the run-time. It looks like he removed a 22uH (red-red-black), and I can't make out the color code on the replacement. 22uH is the lowest value, with the highest output current, listed in the YX805 datasheet. YX8018 is not rated for that low of an inductance, and that high of an output current.

[@peterpauldonoghue7024]

thanks for the video & well done on fixing it . its always worth having a go to fix things if purely for the satisfaction of getting it going again . :) I think the lesson here is preventive maintenance - seal them well up before you put them out

[@louisjinhui456]

Au revoir! I can't compare. I found your channel unique. Back here for ongoing support!😆 I watched more of your channel already. I love the feel of this. the ending got me puzzle btw

[@redgrittybrick]

I have some lights that look exactly the same and don't work any more. Yesterday I took one apart. Its actually slightly different inside so made in a different factory or an earlier/later model. Mine has a slightly different PCB with a TO-92 instead of COB and with the battery terminals directly soldered to the PCB. Havings seen your video I'll have another go at it :-)

[@Alan2E0KVRKing]

I try and fix my garden lights every so often, normally fault caused by water ingress here in the UK. Mainly cheap batteries that are rubbish, switches corroded solid or bad design. Worth a go thou!

[@Luke-san]

I've now switched to preventative mode. Buy, open and bridge the switch (who switches them off?) spray WD40 all over the pcb and batt terminals. Opened the light I bought 1 year ago to which I done all of this and checked now before winter. No corrosion or rust inside. You should weigh the supplied batt. They consist of helium inside I think. For the ones I really like I buy the 1000mAh AA batts from Ikea and precharge them so they last all (crappy) summer. Put some car wax on the solar panel to slow down the yellowing from UV rays. It's a 5 minute job, prolonges the life and is fun.

[@FireballXL55]

When as you found the pliers draw the heat away, I use the flat side cutters as it only has a small surface area. Plus if you had used your temperature controlled iron instead of the piddly antex iron you most likely would not of had the problem.

[@dngunder]

You should do a video of fixing the rest, really interesting to see what's wrong with the others :)

[@shorelined1]

Not really

[@yvettelopez5866]

Great job!

[@paulsengupta971]

"Welding" - you've been reading too many Chinese listings! As for whether it's worth fixing, I've spent many an hour repairing Poundland solar lights. It's good fun and a challenge!

[@reeseyme9613]

thats what i was thinking too, those china ebay listing "welding soldering"

[@the_real_foamidable]

I fixed five of my cheapo -.96Cent garden lights. Its quite fun. Add some WD-40 to prevent water from coming in contact with the board again.

[@_Piers_]

foamidable 96c seems like such an odd price. 95c or a whole $(€?) Would seem more normal.

[@walker55able]

great mine needed more work was there a ic 4 pin booster in your circuit?

[@anvz6]

You should seal all the holes (included the switch) with silicone to prevent it to happen again

[@benpar8120]

Great video. Can I just put a larger capacity battery on Solar powered Pir security light to get it to stay on for longer ?

[@guillomotol]

Very nice video. Explanation is complete. I have a garden solar like that. I would like to repair it. The problem is that corrosion have erased the reference of the capacitors and resistors colors. I would appreciate if you can tell me what is the reference of them. Capacitors and colors of resistors. Thank you very much..

[@garrygemmell5676]

Always worth repairing save that landfill and the planet! I always open and silicone seal my solar stuff for outdoors~!

[@abenwinUT]

Thanks for this video. Is that part you replaced an Inductor or Resistor?

[@jollygreengiant]

Healthy dollop of vaseline or silicone grease to keep the water off the board in future?

[@adalilajohnston713]

Thank you!

[@WaltonPete]

I was tasked with fixing a friends set of six solar garden lights that had suffered varying degrees of internal corrosion. One was so bad that both the inductor and TO-92 style controller had legs completely rusted through! I cleaned them all, replaced all the LED's and switches and any other damaged components and put copious amounts of hot glue on the sensitive parts and plenty of silicone grease on the switch housings and all of them worked fine bar one which had a failed solar cell. I believe they function to this day. They were obviously not designed for the British weather!

[@starlights50]

Hi. Seems to make so much sense to coat the components in grease. Big Clive showed that Wd40 doesnt help(they have a new gel formula though and other E-sprays exist) So many years later, how have your lights lasted? Have you tried preventative maintenance on new garden lights?

[@WaltonPete]

@@starlights50 These were a friends lights and he has since emigrated abroad so I don't know the lights fate. I don't have a garden where I live so have no need for garden lights, but if I did I'd definitely perform some preventative measures such as greasing switches with dielectric grease and protecting component leads with conformal coating or epoxy/ hot melt glue. Trying to completely prevent moisture ingress in outdoor electronic or electrical devices is a fools errand as, due to the constant cycle of heat and consequent pressure changes, water is inevitably drawn into internal cavities where it's likely to be trapped by your efforts. Best to protect specific areas and allow moisture free movement out of cases and covers.

[@mariemorris7031]

Thank you so much! my understanding has improved.....Thank you

[@TheSpotify95]

Excellent! I know that a couple of my garden lights had bad inductors, so where do you manage to get those inductors from? and what value inductor do you need?

[@schluderjupp]

spotify95 you can buy inductor sets with assorted values on eBay from China. The Value is important if you want the light to run for a decent amount of time and the value also controls the led brightness. Just check the data sheet on a yx8018 or qx5252.

[@raymondw3546]

Good job..

[@emaglott]

I like to fix anything and especially those things that most people would just throw away. It is a perverse pleasure.

[@vincentbober3609]

great tips

[@nazufani4016]

"Brilliant! I'm happy!" 😁👍🌻TU for the vid.......been there done that.🙃

[@SuperLoops]

I mend everything I can bcus its nice to mend things. ppl shouldnt just throw stuff away all the time

[@stuartofblyth]

Well said. With you all the way.

[@thedude6736]

You are so right. I'm just fixing some very old solar lights I found in the garden. Money isn't the only aspect that decides if it's worth it

[@masterraj1]

I love fixing things even if they don't always work when I'm finished lol

[@KD-mj2ms]

Plus...the learning experience is fun and interesting.

[@JewelzPositano]

Awesome! Thanks!!!

[@tomgeorge3726]

Hi, surprised that half way through you were dragging a metal screwdriver over everything with the battery connected. You hadn't established if the switch or battery holder were working, where is the DMM? Might I suggest a spray of sealing lacquer over the PCB before putting it back in. Do yu need to be able to turn it on and off, its been on for many years and even here you didn't use it. I'd have removed it, bypassed it and silastic the switch hole closed.

[@jackmccafferty4605]

Hey Julien I am a 16 yr old hobbyist in NZ interested in making you pwm5 on small scale I just wondering if you ever finished you schematic or smd schematic as your website down Thanks

[@gseamans]

What does the inductor do? I've got some led string lights solar panel works fine, AA battery works fine but checking bolts after inductor it's only reading 0.35v so suspect this is the fault?

[@gbsthlm6174]

Is the inductor and resistor the same ? It looked like an resistor but im not electronic expert , just following your videos

[@noferblatz]

Battery terminal corrosion can also be handled with white vinegar (as opposed to sanding).

[@matambale]

IPA on a Q-tip also works quite well

[@veronicazrnchik9014]

How do you fix the light when it won't go off even when it gets light outside. I think it must be the light sensor. It goes on but won't go back off and it drains the battery. Do you have any ideas? The insides looks pretty much like what you had there except the solar panel is right on top of the solar light stake. Thanks.

[@LetricShave]

Did the other lights have the same problem? Badly corroded components?

[@PacoOtaktay]

I would love to seen what the schematic looked like for this. Any chance of a follow up video with a fill PCB tear down on one of the other non working units? :)

[@JulianIlett]

It's a blob chip with the L, Cs and Rs connected around it.

[@BobMellor1954]

Nice fix Julian, now, what about the others? I currently have 2 'net' type solar led fittings on my fence that have stopped working (105 leds per net) purchased from Home Bargains that I need to investigate. I have three more that appear to be okay! As yet, I haven't uploaded a video, but might make these LED failures my first? Thanks for the video; kind regards Bob

[@coldeagle5241]

Be interested in this as I have some HB lights that have stopped working, hopefully the same circuit designs. Did you get a chance?

[@SidneyCritic]

Get one of those $6 Chinese transistor tester with the display and it will tell you the value. You should've oiled it to keep the water off it.

[@brendone171]

I had some of these and changed the battery and it fixed it

[@PanoWorks]

Yes, it's worth repairing these. But after several such failure modes in the past, whenever I buy one of these lights now I always open it up first, remove the switch altogether, bridge the pads so it's always 'on', and just use a bit of hot glue to plug the hole where the switch was, as I have never used the switch functionality - and I suspect most people don't. For the $1 stake lights though, 'worth it to repair' really becomes more of a question, as when one of those fails (also usually water ingress), it's just $1 to replace it vs more in material and time to 1. fix it and 2. seal it properly. As it is, I bought 50 of them when I only need 30, just so I'd have plenty of replacements; have had to use 2 for electronics and 1 for the plastic (somebody must have knocked one down and cracked it then haphazardly put it back up) so far in 3 years of use.

[@TheSpotify95]

I've found this out myself, with the solar lights I have. The switch is a very common failure point, so whenever one fails, I just desolder the wire going out of the switch and bridge it to the +ve of the battery, shorting out the switch and preventing its failure from affecting the lights. The other major failure mode, the battery, isn't an issue since I can always get a supply of Ni-MH (or Ni-Cd) cells, often for free. And the cells supplied with the lights (often 600mAh if AA or 300mAh if AAA) are utter garbage.

[@DaleBasye]

It's a great one I repair them.

[@DaleBasye]

somtime the switch

[@rayzhistorychannel]

Thumbs up! Fix things, don't replace them

[@Kelsdoggy]

Anyone that has a collection of o rings and inductors (🤣) is cool with me. Love it please make more vids

[@RWBHere]

Julian probably has a collection of circlips and drive belts too! Must have been a boy scout.

[@miteshdhanani]

Can u show the specifications of the circuit board

[@gergemall]

Thx ❤

[@johnnyuppal922]

I have used a two part epoxy resin which is clear when dry and covered the whole circuit board or a spray type clear laquer. The ingress of moisture is the number one reason these cheap and cheerful lights fail....

[@lastoftheurgents1965]

i have a string of solar lights and only one bulb is being lit. Any idea why? can I charge these batteries on an indoor plug in battery charger?

[@ssgeek4515]

You can supercharge solar led chain lites by adding another aa battery and another solar panel to existing solder points.I did this now they stay on to about 4am the following day

[@johnnytheangel1]

hi Julian, I have a few of these solar light and I find they are the better ones, I have taken the switch out completely and sealed the hole and replaced the battery with a (supposedly) 2000maH battery and in a couple have changed the inductor to a 33mH and away it goes no problem good light and virtually on all night, Qld Australia. (footnote) I find these don't do too bad a job at charging normal AAA batteries for a couple months

[@_Piers_]

johnnytheangel1 Bah! Australia and your sunlight 😋 I'm in northern England, my solar light are running out of power before 8pm now most days...and it's all down hill from here. Enjoy your summer :)

[@johnnytheangel1]

I made a couple solar lights myself using 5252F and used a 3000maH rechargable (instead of the crappy 300maH batteries they use) and a 33mH inductor, and instead of one solar panel I made it with 2 (two) and haven't had any problems with it yet over the last 3 months

[@xsauce3858]

Is it inductor or resistor ??

[@madelectronengineering]

It would be nice if the manufacturers would spend a few extra cents and spray conformal coating over the circuit board and components so this type of problem wouldn't happen.

[@RWBHere]

They’d never do that! They want items to last long enough for the purchaser not to feel too annoyed, and for them to want to buy another. Those extra cents spent on protection come out of their profit, and reduce income through lower sales. Remember Rolls, the washing machine makers? They sold machines in the 50's and 60's which were designed to last. They had a very long guarantee, too. People bought one, and then did not need to buy a replacement. Rolls went bankrupt because of their reliability.

[@garrygemmell5676]

Truth everything is manufactured like that its called built in obsolescence! I have a Toshiba microwave 45 years old and still working!

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

The hot snot has maybe gone conductive, what about build a replacement circuit to replace the broken board I.E. a buck converter.

[@mati211p]

Did you fix rest 3?

[@umxrr8677]

why wouldn't you simply take a multimeter and check whether there is voltage on the led pins

[@themotherspassport4458]

But my lights are staying on? How do I fix that? Good battery, cleaned the solar

[@breeze787]

IT'S ALIVE! I gave it a new "Inductorstein"!

[@petermizon4344]

Best thing is try and put them under a cover i boight one 5 years ago kept it dry all the time and still working.moving parts are the weakness

[@jamesoneill2556]

The corroded circuit board isn't going to last very long. You should have applied special varnish to it to stop any further corrosion. I do this to all of my new solar lights after purchase and they last indefinitely. I only ever need to replace the batteries every couple of years.

[@starlights50]

"Special Varnish" must be special indeed.

[@ingussilins6330]

Like a bycicle front light... may be use for bycicle - charging from dinamo and sunlight...

[@BlueBlingBabe]

This is exactly what i needed but I really don't know if I can get the same results

[@rumidom]

try spraying corrosion X on everything before closing the enclosure, it should protect it for quite a long time

[@starlights50]

Surprised there aren't more suggestions like this. Are we overlooking an obvious fail? Just use WD40?

[@BoomBrush]

"Any inductor seems better than no inductor!"

[@cmuller1441]

BoomBrush It's not the worst thing here... he's soldering on a live circuit! Of course there's no danger for him here but he could have fried the whole circuit if he had made a bad connection or a short circuit even for a short duration. For example at 13:10 he touches another wire with the side of the iron and started to melt the wire: he could have make a short circuit between that wire and the place touched by the tip of the iron... When you give advices on video you should show good practices... How long does it take to remove the battery?

[@nilsroarkristiansen987]

Well, he did remove one of the battery wires. :) It was not live at all....

[@akeleven]

4 years with the same battery? Good batteries only last 2 years in Arizona

[@janinapalmer8368]

I've got 10 of those lights in my garden ( paid $4 each for them !) 4 of them failed after a day .... cause ? The wires had been tugged off the solder pads on the solar panel . I gently prised open the solar cell from the plastic surround ( the glass part didn't break ) and I scratched through the plastic coating and retinned a new surface to make connection. I removed all the adhesive under the solar panel and re applied 'shoe glue' around the perimeter of the solar panel to keep out the rain . You should have removed that switch and shorted it to the ON position and put tape across the hole ... this light will fail again for the same reason if you don't do this..... my lights have a neoprene weatherproof boot covering the opening btw ..

[@MrBrymstond]

brush on some liquid electrical tape and seal that switch... You're not going to use it anyhow...

[@maicod]

instead of metal pliers you needed ceramic pliers huh julian :)

[@pleasecho2]

Ugh I've been married to a couple of these for about 5 years. I'm sure it never rains wherever the designer lived.

[@cayrick]

You have lots of time on your hands.

[@hugotuulelohed1822]

Make more solar lights video😁😁😀😀

[@Neilrrc37]

Throw it away. Honestly I’ve tinkered fixing stuff like this, it may cost you more then you think. There is one exception, and that is if you live far from town, and the nearest Home Depot is an hour and half away or whatever, then okay try and fix it. I find that it is good to be prepared, and keep a few of Lithium Batteries around the house. They are the Samsung 18650 batteries, 3.7 Volts. Not cheap! But they last a very long time, and their better then the ones that come with the solar lamp. The problem you may run into is the charging board has failed. A MOSFET has failed. Good luck with that.

[@vinceherried497]

soldering with the battery installed, cleaning the rust while connected !

[@vgamesx1]

NiMH cells aren't very dangerous and have a moderately high internal resistance, so the worst that would probably happen is it fries the board or another component.

[@shorelined1]

Counterproductive. Tedious video for what actually got accomplished

[@deepsandhu6622]

in my garden light i used 6v solar panel and 3 volt battery for rbg led...now the problem is.....led is running on solar panel also....it doesnot turn off in sunrays....why?????

[@bbowling4979]

So that inductor doesn't have a leg to stand on?

[@kirkb4989]

I have that exact battery tester - I hate it because it is inaccurate and never makes a good connection. Seemed like a good idea when I bought it....

[@Mark1024MAK]

kirkb4989 Mine's okay 😀

[@fraaggl]

i would have swear that it's a resistor, how can you tell the difference ?

[@Anvilshock]

THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!!

[@bokkenka]

"There are five lights."

[@twotone3070]

That is actually the prerequisite number for candles, lights there is no limit.

[@_Piers_]

Lies! There are either 3 or 12 lights :)

[@waldsteiger]

the fun thing about broken stuff is that the result can only be neutral or gain.

[@brzydka_i_bestia]

I wonder if all four failed the same way.

[@grindel80]

Pls repair the other ones

[@r.perkins2103]

The led's in most lights use tin plated steel legs - they're magnetic - so will corrode quickly. Ideally electronics should be potted, led surface mounted and sealed, the solar panel under a waterproof seal and the battery in a container with O ring seal. Or it will fail.

[@wisher21uk]

had a nest of earwigs in ours

[@akeleven]

Spiders here. Arizona

[@kinglord5429]

Mine worked with new battery just will not shut off in day light

[@_Piers_]

They really should just stop putting switches on solar lights. It'd save them a little money and make the product better. They'd just needs to add a note saying the light needs to charge for a day before it'll work.

[@reeseyme9613]

why buy if you can fix it?

[@focusfrenzy9759]

now to fix the others!

[@Spector_NS5_RD]

no they're not worth fixing but it does give you something to do.

[@normansmith5599]

Inductor or Resistor ---- Spot the difference! "Are they the same value" - the clue is in the colour code!

[@roidroid]

it might have been faster to just put a blob of solder across the broken inductor's lead, repairing the lead itself.

[@CykasAppleTV]

Vocoder please! :):):)

[@goodh2o]

Why use the crappy tester instead of a proper meter?

[@atila2030]

Cause he's got nothing to do with electronics. He is talking about "inductor". Have you seen any there ?

[@atila2030]

@GeorgiaRocketman Yes I was mistaken

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

900mAh? Damn!

[@Lastaii]

Just realised I need a strange inductor draw :D

[@_Piers_]

Lasty Sadly my inductor draw, only has non-strange inductors in it :(