Inside a folding solar wall light (with schematic)

I bought this a while ago, but had made a few other solar light videos at the time, so decided to hold off with this one. Its most interesting feature is that it can be folded to different angles to suit the application, and potentially save shipping space too.
The circuitry has one flaw, but is otherwise acceptable.
General construction is... Typical of the type of product. Maybe a good parts donor for making one that is actually water resilient.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.co...
This also keeps the channel independent of KZbin's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.

[@SueBobChicVid]

That's going to be one of my favorite failure photos.

[@SRheayns]

Would never have believed a lithium cell could fail like a party streamer until I saw this video, great way to start my Saturday morning!

[@volvo09]

What a funny picture! "Pop!"

[@rogersmith9808]

I wonder if it made that classic party-horn "honk" at the time of failure?!? 🤔😆

[@DarrellLarose]

I really, really wanted Clive to party streamer that battery ;)

[@wobblysauce]

Now I want one to test for myself...

[@zh84]

In the picture of the failed lamp I was just thinking "Oh, that's an interesting post they've given you to mount it, with spiral patterns like a traditional barber's pole..."

[@Matty0311MMS]

How is your comment 4 days old, when the video is only 13 minutes old?

[@18robsmith]

@@Matty0311MMS Patreons get to see the video some time before us plebs.....

[@zh84]

@@Matty0311MMS Because people who sign up to Big Clive's Patreon get to view videos early. Try it yourself!

[@michaeltempsch5282]

@@Matty0311MMS What's been said about Patreon, and more technically: Upload to KZbin does not mean instant publication. Between upload and publication all functions are still there for anyone that knows the URL of the video - like if they were told via a message on Patreon. Once the video is made public, that is the timestamp KZbin shows you.

[@zirgaoec3784]

I really like the fact that you used colors on the schematic, it really makes it clearer to understand and reverse-engineer! Love your videos!

[@peter.stimpel]

Clive, you should fold it the way the LEDs shine light on the solar cells. Infinite Power (TM)

[@enmity3855]

Literally thought the same thing😂

[@byson8653]

I have always wondered if that would actually work..😂

[@mrsheesh3743]

LEDs come on, panel sees light, uC turns LEDs off, rinse, repeat! Over and over, Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink... Ack.

[@byson8653]

@@mrsheesh3743 been sarcastic mate I might look stupid but im not that stupid lmao

[@mrsheesh3743]

@@byson8653 I'm just being an engineer type, knowing how it (sort of) works, not being mean if I can avoid it. Tease yes, mean no.

[@TechGorilla1987]

You and Techmoan at the same moment. Clive, you're my favorite, buddy. You win.

[@frogz]

RIGHT??? clive wins out at 2:50 am!

[@mikethedigitaldoctorjarvis]

Techmoan has some damn good content though,another worthy channel.

[@BonrekTheOrc]

Three Modes: Mode 1 = Off Mode 2 = On Mode 3 = Exploded

[@3v1Bunny]

3 is party mode .. honks the horn :D wtf

[@RambozoClown]

They were probably copying Lucas inventor of the three position headlight switch. Dim, Flicker, and Off.

[@rebel4466]

Mode 3 is the only interesting one to Clive

[@COBARHORSE1]

I really appreciate the color coding on the circuit board tracks. Makes it easy to understand the connections.

[@dwDragon88]

5:40 "It is not a protected 18650, but that's okkk......" *sets it off to the side gently*

[@tweed532]

Appreciate the new 'Technicolour enhanced' photo of the board. Much easier to track the various operational areas being colour coded. (Not got one of a MC-2100E RevC Treadmill control board that's driving me nuts?).!👍😃

[@cheaterman49]

Yeah that was a very clever reverse-engineering tip IMHO!

[@Glen45]

You can never have too many solar lights or videos about them!

[@thetable123]

The explosions are likely lithium dendrites forming when charging below 0⁰.

[@CJonestheSteam72]

*goes off down a Google rabbit hole

[@cambridgemart2075]

Exactly what I was thinking as soon as he mentioned winter.

[@lxOFWGKTAxl]

I'm not here just for a teardown, I'm here for any wisdom you have to share!

[@twocvbloke]

I love the battery feature that informs the user that it's time for a new one... :P

[@TheCodeDaemon]

Is it me or does the second mode read - "When people walk, the light shines *slightly*"....

[@two_tier_gary_rumain]

It's slightly you.

[@pauladams9477]

It looks the same to me to!

[@gctechs]

Sounds like a japanese horror movie quote.

[@applesushi]

It’s quite poetic either way.

[@btnled357]

Love all your vids. I worked for Analog Devices back in the 80s into the 90s .. u bring back soooo many memories !! Out door solar lights...good luck. Ive yet to buy one that lasts 2 summers !!

[@grantrennie]

Good morning and have a great day Clive 😁👍

[@28YorkshireRose12]

Into every solar light, a little rain must fall! I once had some rather attractive LED flowers with the 'electronics' and solar cell built into a nicely decorated resin plant pot. It's outward appearance was quite pleasing to the eye, and it worked well enough. Even my next-door neighbour went out and bought a couple. Then one day, it rained. The lights were lit even in bright daylight, and would not go out at any price. Then the lights went out, and would not relight. The 'pot' was half full of water, so drain out and dry out indoors for a couple of days and all was well again. A bit of an explore soon discovered the abysmal build quality, which, for a garden ornament was absolutely appalling. I tried to seal up all the possible water ingress points, but it was a futile effort. - Those lights didn't even last the season. In the end, I rebuilt one out the two I had, and kept it indoors, in a sunny window, but even then the daylight uV degraded the resin to the point that it crumbled to dust. I've never bothered with any cheap solar novelties since.

[@Kalvinjj]

I'm glad you translated that "induction" part cause I had zero clue of that for sure. You should make videos teaching people the art of Chinglish, ever so important now with cheap stuff from China being so popular.

[@The_Last_Post]

Clive, I like how you’ve colour coded the PCB picture. Makes it easy to follow the reverse engineering 👍 Have missed the tear downs of solar and power banks recently

[@KirstyTube]

SHENZEN IO did a great job of mocking up what a spec sheet should look like... they should look like that and the ones you show us. Unfortunately the ones I find look awful and are usually scanned in BW at 50dpi (some from decent IMHO manufacturers give really bad ones out to service engineers)can't make it too easy 🤣. Mystery tour ensues 😁

[@jpkosoltrakul]

I'm from Thailand, and I bought tons of those solar lights from local resellers. I found that the bigger lights, like the one you teared down, are still have better circuit boards (still got battery protection chips), but those lights that looks like your friend's light, seems to gradually get cost cutting. The oldest I got from maybe 5 years ago, the wires are soldered directly to the battery, and the shell is very thick. Then those I bought a couple of years ago, they got a battery socket molded in the back plates, but the circuit boards are vary -- some have boards style that can't really push out voltage to charge the batteries. They seem to output only around 3 something volts to the batteries, while the one with better boards will output 4v+ already with the same amount of light, and it isn't caused by faulty/broken solar panels, because I did try swap the panel. (I'm not electrician, so I don't really know why) The latest batch I bought has the worst cost cutting. They now go back to have wires soldered to the batteries again, the shells seem thinner, and the boards have only one controller, and two power amplifier SMDs, not even a single resistor. But they seem to work fine, so I added them BMS boards by myself.

[@jpkosoltrakul]

Anyway, Clive, if you read this, could you bought these boards and analyze them? I have trouble with them. The one with PIR, they all seem to have trouble of self-trigger in the dim/bright mode. (They also work differently from the complete lights -- first time when they are connected to the batteries, the modes will go haywire, then after that you need to long press to initial first mode then short for second and third every time) And the second one, they seem to have similar symptom like one of those I mention above. They seem to output only 2 something volts to the batteries. I tried to bypass some chips, added external BMS, etc. None of them work. www.aliexpress.com/item/4000087535336.html www.aliexpress.com/item/33016019151.html

[@popepaul4438]

I’ve got numerous ones of these in my back garden but before putting them out I’ve put a protection circuit across the 18 650 and I absolutely work fantastic

[@hagen-p]

Looks to me like a developer made the initial design with solar panel and extra light sensor, and then someone later 'optimized' away the light sensor without really knowing what they were doing.

[@daviddavidson2357]

Ah, so lithium cells are like sea cucumbers, they fire their guts out their ass to confuse predators when they feel threatened. Interesting.

[@kjur18]

I got recently this cheap one, just like on photo, in winter I noticed it worked strange, so after some measuring I got 5V on li-ion cell, and 2,7v when loaded. I replaced it with another cell and protection board. Works well now. And that old battery still measures above 4.5V.

[@kjur18]

I just checked, still over 4.2V, currently on 4.6V.

[@HarryThorpe]

Anyone else catch the R1 100 "ohmy" resistor. 10:00

[@Chris_the_Muso]

Yes. All resistors are ohmy. Battery explosions are Oh-My. What goes around, comes around I guess.

[@oqibidipo]

Yes, in the voice of GT.

[@Mr.Unacceptable]

The clicky wheel ratcheting cog thing is called a Detent.

[@MattThompsonOnGoogle]

I think it's a "detent" if it has dimples or indentations for a spring to ride in. In this case, the teeth on the cogs are pulling on the springs so hard that they don't so much "ride" as they do "launch," causing that horrible snapping sound that goes so well with the party favor theme of this contraption.

[@richardbaron7106]

Bought a couple like these without the hinging function and a month later, one of the lithium batteries overcharged and broke the casing. Of course, by then I didn't have the receipt, so couldn't take it back to the hardware store, but surprise, surprise - they were no longer selling them. The other one has been fine for the past year, esp considering NZ light levels are much brighter and overall daylight hours are longer than Britain.

[@dogwalker666]

What is this daylight of which you speak? This time of year it bearly gets above dusk even at midday. Lol.

[@richardbaron7106]

@@dogwalker666 - lol. Having lived in London for 9 years until 2018, this is the truth. The only upside is if you're in the military and you have to 'stand-to' 30 minutes before dawn, at this time of the year you actually get to sleep in :)

[@dogwalker666]

@@richardbaron7106 that’s a good point lol.

[@johnmorgan1629]

The way it folds down, could be utilised for camping, campervans etc. as low level light for when if get up in the night, save fumbling for torch or light switch. But not take up much room when not needed, or packed away.

[@thewatchworks1372]

Well well well, nice timing, I was actually just watching the teardown of that solar lighthouse with that interesting low current motor!

[@dogwalker666]

That's an old one, you have a lot to watch to catch up. Enjoy.

[@Black3ternity]

A Lamp that celebrates it's own demise. Morbid - I like it.

[@batterynerd8779]

These videos are nice Clive! Greetings from switzerland 🇨🇭

[@bluevanman2008]

Am I the only one who now has an overwhelming desire to deliberately get an 18650 to blow up to see it do that? :)

[@benbaselet2026]

Surely not :)

[@chachavessel]

careful what you wish for... :)

[@DjResR]

A lot of times the electrolyte in batteries ignite at bursting._

[@tncorgi92]

Why stop at one, a dozen would be more entertaining. You could number them and place a wager on which one goes first. Kind of like Clive's exploding resistor game.

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

The exploding Lithium batteries could also be due to the fact that they have been charging while below freezing temperatures. Lithium batteries really don't like that and they tend to blow up in such cases. Ask every eBike owner with a non-removable battery on their bike during winter times...

[@rogerhargreaves2272]

Wow, I never thought about that. Interesting point.

[@SianaGearz]

Are there battery chemistries that don't mind being charged below freezing?

[@plemli]

@@SianaGearz yes, lifepo4 at very low (

[@glenmcgillivray4707]

You would think a simple resistive heater connected to a thermal sensor was easy to build into battery packs. However there have been multiple comments detailing experience of overcharged batteries, presumably the battery manager is not fit for purpose in this device. Or it fails many applications? Before winter even sets in. Combine overcharged batteries in sub zero conditions and everything turns to ribbons

[@rogerhargreaves2272]

@@glenmcgillivray4707 - Not well thought through then. I guess you should charge your devices at a specific temperature to be safe.

[@rogerhargreaves2272]

Ohhhhhhh, don’t get me started on the solar garden PIR lamps. IP65 is a lie, the batteries are right under the solar panel so get very hot. Eventually they stay on all the time. This one looks nice, but again not well thought through as per the waterproofing. On the plus side, it does have a removable battery, which is very kind of them. I’ve tried replacing the batteries in non removable types and they don’t like it. Built in redundancy comes to mind. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into these productions. Thank you Clive. Oh yea, they all come in black, I’ve never seen a pink one. 😄

[@gordonfreeman320]

Very interesting! I didn’t know lithium cells could explode like this. I’ve seen NiCd batteries do something similar a long time ago.

[@MrBobWareham]

I have one but I did the bigclive fix to it I removed the solar panel then glued it back in with silicon then coated the top with a thin film of silicon next I removed the led panel and did the same and finally changed the battery for a protected cell and coated the PCB with lacquer so I think it will now last a long time so thank you for your video very helpfull

[@kuhrd]

I have a few of the lights like the ones that exploded and the ones I bought do have a charge controller circuit but they lack a temperature sensor and circuitry to prevent low-temperature charging. Likely what happened is that these lights charged while the outside temperature was too low and they caused the lithium cell to be permanently damaged and it eventually failed while being charged due to the damage that resulted from charging in freezing temperatures. Even NiMh cells are not supposed to be charged below freezing as they can be permanently damaged.

[@Thirdbase9]

Those batteries were just celebrating the New Year. 🎉

[@Nono-hk3is]

Do you think it was the naughty use of an input pin placed on the solar positive rail that caused the batteries to "telescope" (due to overcharge)? or ingress of water leading to corrosion? Or freezing lithium ion cells? Or some combination?

[@bigclivedotcom]

I'd guess it was no charge control.

[@amojak]

@@bigclivedotcom may be a mix of charge control / venting and water/air ingress into the cell as a result. They don't like air in em ;)

[@tomcardale5596]

For what it's worth, solar cells put out a higher voltage when it's cold so you're most likely to have issues on a cold but sunny day.

[@Chris_the_Muso]

@@tomcardale5596 I didn't know that. makes sense though - all conductors work better when they are cold.

[@Ohm7111]

My father has similar lights as on picture. I opened one and there is no battery protection. I measured battery voltage and it was 4.8V! I will replace the battery and add protection circuit. Second problem is, light are outside in the winter, so battery is charged in freezing temperatures, which is probably not good for lithium cells...

[@amojak]

nope lithium cells are not meant to be charged below 0 deg C, never actually looked up what the problem is if you do though. maybe this is it :o

[@MadScientist267]

Yeah I was thinking this is what took the cells out as well

[@SigEpBlue]

I'm "shocked" they didn't go FULL _death-dalek_ design and give it a two-prong mains plug.

[@ianbutler1983]

I thought he had put his light on a large decorative candy cane.

[@PaulRBinding]

Great analysis as usual. Had one of the “fixed angle” versions (as in the exploding photo) that also failed after being Spanish sun for a few weeks but no telescoping, only the batt end cap blew off blasting a hole in the side of the housing. Would like to get some more as cheap lights but how would you suggest adding simple protection - even if it was at the expense of light intensity?

[@COBARHORSE1]

If you could replace the Li cell with a protected cell that would do it. Or add a zener diode and resistor across the cell.

[@sunny9895]

@@ruben_balea I am trying to use a TP/TC 4056 board to prevent battery explosions. Still figuring out how to use it as there is In+/In- , B+/B- , Out+/-

[@ianhosier4042]

I just bought some of those china AA lithium cells. Stamped capacity 1500mA which i didnt believe as they topped out pretty quick at 150mA (i usually charge overnight at c/10). I measured the capacity at 250mAh which is pretty crap and not what is stamped on the side. If these trickle charge at 25mA then a days sun with no regulation will easily pop these cells! Love the way they unravel like an electrolytic capacitor.

[@totorodad-computer-geek]

@bigclivedotcom I waited in anticipation for you to see that the resistor on the datasheet was written "ohmy" but ahh my hopes were dashed. I hope you got a chuckle out of it like me.

[@TheScotsmanTechReview]

Interesting teardown. I'm actually in the process of modifying one of these for my channel - there's some interesting things you can do with a few small tweaks. I'll post a guide

[@ChrisKoch]

Number one reliability improvement: add a little PTC heating element straight onto the lithium cell powered by the solar panel. Prevents explosions by keeping the cell warm while it's charging.

[@DarrellLarose]

Nice to see the OH MY salute to George Takei in the chip specs.. (9:50)

[@MontanaBoy93]

I bypassed the charge circuit on my lights with tp4056 and got more charge current and more reliable cut off. Seperate ldr to switch on unit, and used stock low voltage cut off.

[@godfreypoon5148]

9:42 Actually R1 is a 100 *ohmy* - quite a different beast! I believe this is the cause of the incidents, and it's actually intended. The purchaser gets a 100-level "Oh my!".

[@bikkiikun]

I couldn't help but think about Rich Builds, when I saw the 18650 Party Streamer... needed to pause for a good laugh.

[@Alacritous]

It's possible the manufacturer bought what they thought were protected cells and they weren't. It's not just westerners that unscrupulous Chinese sellers take advantage of. Not saying that all Chinese sellers are unscrupulous, but the ratio is probably the same as anywhere else.

[@SianaGearz]

Why would protected cell help at all? There's a protection IC on the PCB. Works the same as the ones in protected cells. Disconnects if voltage too high, too low, current too high. So the IC guards it against overvoltage, and i think the small solar cell fundamentally is sufficiently current limiting. Other people suggest that the battery popped because it was in freezing cold weather but attempted to charge, which isn't good due to the chemistry.

[@Alacritous]

@@SianaGearz in the ones that exploded. At the beginning of the video.

[@SianaGearz]

@@Alacritous I don't see what you mean. The cell here is an "unprotected" cell, protection is realised on the control PCB of the device.

[@Alacritous]

@@SianaGearz 00:18

[@dcallan812]

A nice light for inside use just point it out the window. Another interesting little thing..

[@rysacroft]

Unfortunately PIRs don't work through glass. Ask me how I know :(

[@robinbrowne5419]

Could probably spray the whole thing with ignition spray like "MotoMaster Ignition Protector". We use this on electric bike wiring and we have far less issues with corossion after a couple of summers. Best to solder all connections instead of using connectors. Then spray everything with two light coats before positioning and shrinking the heat shrink. Also open the motor controller case and give the circuit board two light coats. Open the battery pack and give cells and bms board two light coats.

[@I_am_BiG_Al]

I have the other version in my garden its actually a good light charges in hardly any sun at all

[@rogerhargreaves2272]

One of the lucky ones then. 👍

[@markfergerson2145]

7:16 For a moment I thought you said "passive aggressive instability". Had a girlfriend like that long ago...

[@elgorrion52]

unstable in that passive would flip to active

[@markfergerson2145]

@@elgorrion52 You've met her!

[@bensomnerbogard991]

Hi Clive, Can you have a look at some of the one day: Litom C-M239 Solar Motion Landscape Lights? We have had some in the garden for a while and they seem to be lasting well. They are will build and have a very large solar array compared to usual ground solar light!!

[@TheSpotify95]

2:40 There is an alternative - the MyHermes "Postable" Parcel. Hermes have a thickness limit of 3.0cm instead of the 2.5cm that Royal Mail use. Furthermore, Hermes aren't as stringent as Royal Mail, so if it's off by a small amount, it'll probably pass OK.

[@SueBobChicVid]

Wait. 10:06 "100 ohmy"? Is that something, or is that something else?

[@mrrkrr]

Saw that too. Ohmy must be the metric equivalent of ohm.

[@andytipping70]

It's probably what he guy said as he watched the side of his lamp disintegrate! "Oh My"

[@BarryRowlingsonBaz]

How does it do the different level of brightness? Does the microcontroller pulse?

[@dogwalker666]

It will be PWM

[@nic5779]

Another great video thanks Clive i learn so much from you,

[@jimsvideos7201]

These might be handy as a parts kit for a light for an outhouse or shed; throw in some battery protection maybe, put the panel on the outside and the lights on the inside where they can stay dry.

[@viperidaenz1]

If the no-name micro has 5V tolerant I/O then there won't be any back-feed from the solar panel.

[@darylsargent7208]

Yes and it will also have a clamping diode on the ADC which will prevent the issue Clive was referring to.

[@superdau]

@@darylsargent7208 The clamping diode IS the issue. If the input voltage on a pin is higher than Vcc + diode drop, it will back feed to Vcc.

[@dashcamandy2242]

9:42 - I love that "100 ohmy" resistor! **George Takei enters the chat**

[@LittlePetieWheat]

Most of these units use a regular PIR sensor. They drop the internal voltage ref to 1.1V and look for min / max values over time using a 10-12 bit ADC.

[@LittlePetieWheat]

Also most if these mcus use pin 1/5 for Vcc/Gnd. Not aware of any 8 pin Padauks with this pin out?

[@Pickleriiiiiick]

Would you say these are a fire risk? I always just assume solar lights have less risk than wiring mains to a real light.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

So what value of resistor would you put on the track going to the charge circuit, or would a Zener diode work? No, its the current not the voltage, so what size resistor would you recommend?

[@SianaGearz]

Current isn't that much of a problem either, because a solar cell this small simply isn't capable of a lot of current.

[@BobMuir100]

On another note whilst I don’t want to see you harmed in anyway, you’ve not been ‘naughty’ for a while matey. Bob

[@rasungod0]

It might be usable in a greenhouse or on a covered deck with a clear roof.

[@sedsberg77]

Hey, I've got one of those in the picture in the beginning. :D Replaced the cell with a protected one before it exploded though. Works great now. Old cell had a rest voltage of about 5.0V.

[@Omapk]

I have like 4 of these outside, they've been working for nearly 4 years. the solar cell's plastic cover is totally hazy like bad headlights but still chugging. They only come on at night when people walk near them. Mine don't turn on unless someone walks, else they are dark.

[@BG101UK]

I've had a PP3 turn into a mini torpedo. In fact the same one went bang twice, shooting another cell part way out of the casing! I wonder if in the case of those lights, the thing froze or water got in causing a short?

[@Graham_Langley]

Looks like they've turned the pyrosensor module 45° to try to get the same sensitivity to movement to/from the sensor as across its field of view. We looked that on PIR alarm sensors and rejected it, although it's some time ago and I can't remember why. BTW the lens array will be HDPE.

[@ericjackson7810]

Hi clive, a quick question if i may. I have a set of solar powered wall lights, one of which has failed with the battery losing its insides!, can i simply replace the 18650 with a new good quality one, or do i add a charge protection circuit such a a tp4056 inline with the solar Panel to protect it? love your videos, your input is greatly apprdciated. (LED is functional with a new 18650 cell). thanks !

[@bigclivedotcom]

I'd recommend using a protected cell or adding a TP4056 style protection PCB. A lot of these units are overcharging the cells.

[@rak3shpai]

What's the part number for that PIR sensor? Seems pretty nifty, given that all the supporting components are built in.

[@amojak]

over voltage definitely needs addressing on these. for waterproofing it maybe easier just to lacquer the board and internal connections and let the water in/out. Even if you could seal it any moisture inside will condense and rot stuff as temperature cycles.

[@sjofurke5747]

6:07 I honestly expected Clive to start singing

[@DrHarryT]

Instead of re-casing, just put a bead of silicone around the solar and light panel and anywhere you think water might get in. Also consider mounting it where and or shielding it from water/rain exposure.

[@SianaGearz]

This doesn't work very well. This means once moisture finds some way to get in, and it will find the tiniest of cracks in silicone, it's never ever coming out again. I think the solution is conformal spray on PCBs, battery with welded tabs, tabs soldered. No spring contacts. Battery will still corrode and then pop goes the weasel but it should take a few years.

[@chrishartley1210]

If I understood the video correctly, this model does have battery protection (3130) so we are still no wiser why the other models failed. I have one with a similar light panel (no notch) which is already dismantled to repurpose some components so I've just checked the charge circuit. The only component between the solar panel and the battery is a diode!

[@DickHolman]

16:05

[@chrishartley1210]

That's to the controller, not the battery.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I've looked at others in the past that had just a diode and no other protection.

[@TheAruruu]

I'd like you to take a look at some "Emergency" rechargeable LED light bulbs. The set of 3 that we bought from Wal-Mart have an interesting flaw. You can only charge them while they're turned on (because they lack a switch on the bulb, and turning on the socket will just illuminate the bulb as normal). Is there a way to hack this so they can charge while turned off?

[@peaceone9733]

“...Expressed their contempt by blowing their guts out...” :))) !! Thanks for my laugh of the day. Very therapeutic. No guts lost here.

[@blackcat31w]

9:42 R1= 100 oh my !!

[@jimmyers8795]

Hi clive, great vieo as always, any clue as to why the batteries had exploded? Have to say they must have been abused in some way.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Possibly no charge limiting or an aversion to freezing temperatures.

[@bikkiikun]

Couldn't you make the solar side at least somewhat reliably water resistant by applying clear silicone over the whole thing (like you did for the garden lights) or is the plastic unsuited for that?

[@bigclivedotcom]

The tricky but it's getting a suitable material that doesn't degrade in sunlight and shrink/peel away.

[@urgtuiop5455]

I want one. Can you design a battery case mechanism that ejects the old battery when it explodes and reloads a new one?

[@BobMuir100]

Morning Clive, well that is interesting: not bloody waterproofed!! Explains a lot matey. Great video by the way. Could one just fold plastic over these elements as you explained ala’ a washing machine and ‘waterproof’ them? Bob

[@bigclivedotcom]

There are various things you can do, including adding grease to contacts and lacquering PCBs.

[@Z-Ack]

Mr big.. or sir clive.. i have an led motion light that has an issue i cant figure out and wanting some expertise if possible. Its a basic PIR with an LDR but has the "dusk till dawn" option along with the "flash; slow; normal" selector switch. The light works fine except every now and again it will flicker and dim into sometimes a strobe effect. Its audible from the led bulbs in it buzzing from the surge.. but i have replaced a few things I thought it would be on the board along with reflowing the entirety and cleaning the board off with a toothbrush and alcohol.. there were no doodoo stains on the board or signs of issues, no swollen caps, nothing.. it has been doing this for a few months at my sisters house and hadn't burned out or anything yet after doing this for so long and has me stumped... its totally intermittent but quite often.. any ideas??

[@bigclivedotcom]

Sometimes the LEDs fail progressively like that. One may have a visible black dot in it.

[@evensgrey]

Are these things exploding specifically in winter? If they are, maybe the fact that the battery capacity drop when they're cold might be fooling any charge protection system they have into thinking the batteries are less full than they are.

[@thisnthat3530]

Since it happened in winter could it be that the battery was charged while too cold?

[@dogwalker666]

That was exactly what I would suspect happened.

[@michaelseitz8938]

Were those batteries killed by overcharging, or by charging them at low temperature (

[@martinwinfield2935]

Thanks great teardown. Perhaps its that 100 Ohmy resistor thats the problem.

[@MalleusSemperVictor]

Do you have to pay extra for the party popping setting?

[@zlatkojurkovac6981]

Thanks for another interesting video Mr. Clive! Love it 100% as always - can't really go wrong with it as you always do :)! But still waiting for some nice elevator, generator, old diesel locomotive, high capacity interruptor exploding or just a flawed UV light..? I just mean that you are wasting your enormous talent on some simple LED light..? Just a suggestion, please do not take it wrong :) BR Zlatko

[@RonNona]

The dummies out here appreciate the simple teardowns.

[@johnsenchak1428]

One monument please, you should do a video just on those MOSFET's

[@robertlapointe4093]

Given that unit's size, I think you could water-proof it quite easily by just stuffing the whole thing into a zip-lock bag.

[@rhiantaylor3446]

Clive, you mention UK shipping costs. I had understood that shipping from China was still operating on the basis that China, as an "emerging" economy, doesn't pay Royal Mail for the UK part of the delivery and I also thought that China chooses not to charge exporters for their end either. Can anyone confirm or have I got this all screwed up ?

[@SianaGearz]

Both statements were for a long time an extreme exaggeration, Chinese sellers pay via postage the marginal cost of delivery on both ends, so how much more on top of existing operating expenses it costs to deliver one more item of mail - odds are you already have a mailman heading towards your house anyway, right; however when you mail something, most of the postage fee is the cost of your country's mail infrastructure that you're carrying. In China this is not the case, all the infrastructure and fixed costs are tax-financed. Additionally, there are occasional international mail subsidies by Chinese government, but they don't last very long. Even if the tax-paid fixed cost wasn't the case, nor the subsidies, China would still be at an advantage, because at their volumes that they ship out from just a handful locations, their own costs can be massively optimised. A few years ago, the part paid to your local mail to deliver an item was about $0.70 (plus a factor depending on weight, i forget) but with some discount for China and developing economies, which i think went away already several years ago. Even though the system was more or less designed "fair" on paper, it can cause a deficit due to imbalance because there simply isn't enough internal mail and outgoing mail to sustain the system with such a high total volume. That added to business costs of a local business made competition difficult. There are now renegotiations and you can expect the UPU Terminal Dues to rise significantly, but you know a secret? Most of the mail is no longer handled by China Mail but by commercial operators, eBay SpeedPak, Aliexpress Standard, YanWen, Cianiao, they all handle some part of the shipping and organisation, but for the most part they're building on the backbone of DHL Commerce for the international part and DHL doesn't really pay standard terminal dues, what they do pay, nobody knows for sure. They probably have contingency plans on top of contingency plans and they're not really interested in decrease of the amount of international small mail.

[@John_Ridley]

It actually is kind of a cool light - is one available that's actually properly designed?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yes. But you have to analyse the circuitry to check.

[@radius.indrawan]

is it possible to modify it to make the turn-on duration longer than 25-30 secs?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Not really, as it's in software.

[@radius.indrawan]

@@bigclivedotcom well, that's not fun, is it? 😓

[@phils4634]

Must have been fun when that happened! Fitting even a basic charge controller would seem common sense to me especially since the components are so very cheap.

[@SianaGearz]

Charge controller needs constant input voltage. It isn't really the case here. Current is limited essentially by area of the solar cell and voltage is capped by the protection IC.