Inside the LIDL solar globe light

[@acmefixer1]

I've been given defunct solar lights by my neighbors, and most of them have failed from rust or corrosion, with an occasional bad battery. I really appreciate that Clive tells us how the moisture causes failures, especially the on/off switch. I've used some clear coatings like nail gloss to cover vulnerable circuitry. But the really nice thing about this light is that all electronics are on one PCB, no wires. That means I could wrap it with a layer of clear plastic and seal it with my plastic bag sealer. Then it would be totally sealed except for the two screw holes. The only thing left then would be the AAA cell corroding the PCB. Thanks, Clive.

[@richardwernst]

Yup, most of mine and the ones I've been given have a corrosion problem, 90% or more it's the switch which I just solder across to fix. Never thought of using clear nail polish (varnish over there?) to seal things up as well after getting corrosion out/off though.

[@markhonea2461]

If there is still a chance, I suggest a small modicum of silica gel beads be a part of the environment you are isolating. If you really want to get fancy one could flood the entire assembly operation with dry nitrogen, but I know I know that's crazy. I've wondered at times how long we could make devices like this and, well, many others I admit, last without failure. Or at least last longer than a human lifespan. I should have begun this experiment a long, long time ago 😂. In fact I should have applied that mindset to myself! HA!

[@vsvnrg3263]

acmefixer, the plastic bag might prevent some useful light rays hitting the pv cells, in the same way that some glass is not really suitable for covering the pv cells that are put on roofs. that pv glass is special stuff. the glass used on hot water collectors is also a special type of glass.

[@Mark1024MAK]

@@markhonea2461- the NiMh cells will typically only last one to three years.

[@acmefixer1]

@@Mark1024MAK Yeah, not even that long. My neighbor bought two garden lights and one had a dead cell right out of the box. If you pay only a few dollars for a light, you know they're using rechargeables that are barely working. Another neighbor gave me four non-working garden lights, from back when they were better quality. I fixed the corrosion problems and they're still working with their original cells. Nowadays they build them so cheap that they use a button cell that runs only a couple hours if you're lucky. Pathetic!! 😡

[@markb4071]

nice to see a raised circuit board too, should help to keep it dry(er?) than others - esp if there's drain holes in the screw base

[@nigozeroichi2501]

The weight is probably for sitting it on a table or flat surface when you take the spike off so it won't fall over or blown over in a breeze.

[@farmersteve129]

Not sure which I am more interested in... the module for various projects or the plastic housing to put my own light source in!

[@GothGuy885]

was thinking the same thing. the housing could be converted into an indoor, mains voltage light fixture. 😀

[@MykraDnB]

Yep!

[@erikdenhouter]

We don't take any notion from the fact of travelling, except the fact that you tell us 🤗

[@martinclemesha4794]

As a suggestion, why not replace the reset/colour change switch, in the RGB version, with a reed switch. Just tap near it with a magnet when needed.

[@tncorgi92]

Yes because that switch is pretty useless as is.

[@frankowalker4662]

I was thinking of a capacitive button. But the reed switch would be easier. 👍

[@ItsMrAssholeToYou]

Electret switch. Tap anywhere on the light.

[@Jako1987]

It would cost 1c more

[@user-mo5hz9kp6y]

If memory serves me right my cousin has a wind powered garden light. A flower spins and the lights come on I think? Any chance of Clive doing a video about one of them? I think it'll go very nice with the ones about solar powered units.

[@Jimmy_Jones]

He has done a wind light for cars. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZq1hax4eMplbKM

[@daveseddon5227]

Good to see an integrated solution for these lights rather than having the grotty, fragile, wiring just waiting to let you down.

[@wisher21uk]

I have 3 that are very similar but ours have 4 cold white leds they came from Asda last year and still work Thanks Clive I will be making a visit to Lidl 😊

[@Darieee]

make sure not to overwork yourself clive ❤, we love you!

[@chongli297]

Quite nice, though I would have wished for a bit of nonvolatile memory in the LED controller chip to remember the user's colour choice. Also, it seems like the base has no holes in the bottom to allow water to drain. I wonder if the base might fill with water just from rain running down the surface of the globe and past the plastic threads where it screws into the base. Might be worth drilling one or two holes just to allow for a bit of drainage.

[@brucepickess8097]

Good comment, my thought entirely. 😏👍

[@Dime_Bar]

Everyone loves nice warm globes.

[@samirchakraborty7164]

Beautiful presentation, thanks a lot.

[@howdensthe3820]

Nailed the outro pad position! 😂👍

[@Slikx666]

I think the weight is there so it doesn't fall over or blow away. Could be useful if you go fishing in a strong current. 🤔

[@stephen1r2]

Mostly the high winds I imagine. The stake may work its way out of frozen-ish ground? Or move in soggy. I've had light-weight ones fall over randomly so this may work better

[@richardwernst]

I was surprised that the solar cells work well enough with that frosted(?) globe. Apparently they do... :)

[@TheSpotify95]

My thoughts exactly, I've been buying these globes for a while and whilst it amazes me as to how well these globes work in the summer, when it gets to winter months these lights barely work at all. Even other types of solar light still work to a point (albeit not for long) so it really does rely on the strength of the sunlight passing through the plastic globe.

[@andyhill242]

I noticed that there were drain holes in the bottom of the housing, so at least the water drains out after it has corroded the exposed components. I wonder if the mystery weight was to provide the quality, weighty feel to the product?

[@zippy5131]

Funny thing, the other weekend at Oulton park for the Heritage racing. My good old mate Simon mentioned to me about back in the early '90's. Me telling him to use Vaseline on his Ducati bulb holders. And to the now, they still work and are not coroded. All hail the Vaseline, even my bikes are still perfect.

[@mycosys]

Clive needs to build himself a Ski-matic

[@nomusicrc]

I wondering if you held down the button on the color changing one if it would make a difference

[@MsLancer99]

Nicely built

[@SomeMorganSomewhere]

The weight is probably to stop it blowing away :)

[@teardowndan5364]

Same thought, save people from having to worry about outrunning their lights on windy days. Won't save them from getting ripped out in tornado-force winds but should definitely help them stay put on normal days.

[@brucepickess8097]

​​@@teardowndan5364With the way the weather goes nowerdays and possibly into the future, tornado force winds may well be normal.😏

[@markhonea2461]

Oh boy, there's still a seat near the front of the class! 👍That's mine!!

[@craftstuff-policecorruption.]

I note that you said about using nail polish to protect the components on the RGB model but surely a silicone covering would be more beneficial and longer lasting.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Clear lacquer is usually easier to source.

[@craftstuff-policecorruption.]

@@bigclivedotcom that’s true I didn’t think of that lol

[@AllLoudNation365]

This oddly brings back memories of the Poundland globe solar lights

[@ATMAtim]

Hey Clive. I hope things have been good with you. This light is pretty neat with the exception of the back to default colors issue. Have a great weekend.

[@iangriffiths9840]

Thank you. Could you replace the switch with a reed switch and stop the cycling using a magnet?

[@DigitalIP]

Thats actually a pretty sweet board, i would think it saves on cost in some way.

[@joeschmo622]

The additional weight helps keep the stake in the ground.

[@spokehedz]

I think a pretty simple hack would be to wire up a small reed switch to that RGButton, and then use a magnet to 'click' the switch. Oh, maybe one of those simple spring-and-wire motion sensing units? Just give it a quick smack to set the color? Hmm.

[@jamesharmer9293]

Is the weight to give it some mass, so it doesn't blow away in the wind ? Doesn't seem to be enough for that. If I ever get a house with a garden path, I'd like to put a few of these in. Trippy!

[@gregorythomas333]

A very cute light!

[@ianstewart7605]

I'm slightly worried that the clear resin sealant might discolour over a few years and eventually stop the light from charging. Nevertheless, this is a HUGE improvement over the cheap ones!

[@Broken_Yugo]

Any of the resin topped panels I've seen get yellowed and frosty on the surface after a year or two, you can polish them periodically but glass holds up better long term.

[@McTroyd]

It would be cool to try and play games with the PWM, so only one LED is ever on at once. See if the resistor could be omitted from the circuit. 👍

[@vsvnrg3263]

clive, what would be your estimation of the loss to the pv cells by being inside that opaque sphere?

[@bigclivedotcom]

From previous tests. not that high a loss.

[@richardbriansmith8562]

Awesome Video Big Clive🙂

[@frankowalker4662]

Nice lights.

[@yadabub]

The weight may be to keep the light from being blown away in the wind.

[@LTDunltd]

On the color changing one, if I wanted to stop at a certain color, I would mount an external switch.

[@brucepickess8097]

The comment with a reed switch and magnet was a good idea.

[@waitingforanalibi2224]

Could the weight in the base be for flat mounting it as an option?

[@DelticEngine]

Maybe there's a way to keep power to the RGB chip without having the LEDs lit? What would happen if the connection to the RGB chip without an LED was connected to B+, for example? I see it's an 8-pin chip so maybe there's a keep-alive pin for retaining a colour or maybe programming a colour through a resistor?

[@fredflintstone1]

Great video those lights look nice design and a much better schematic than Julians' poor efforts🙂

[@unlokia]

At first glance, I thought this said “LIDL solar probe”; I thought they’d been working for NASA 😂

[@mikemorgan8588]

Nice work

[@ChongMcBong]

a nice budget orb to ponder :)

[@marcse7en]

Hey Big Clive, Blackpool 💡 Illuminations will be switching on soon! ... As they're now LED-based, you could reverse-engineer them ... Could we have a Golden Mile schematic in "one moment please?" 🤣 EDIT: I didn't know you'd started painting your nails? ... Bet they look fancy! 🤣

[@mb-3faze]

Where would you be without the seemingly endless supply of dubious gizmos from the dungeons of Lidl and Poundland? :)

[@bigclivedotcom]

Fortunately there are many sources of dubious gizmos.

[@brianallen9810]

The weight is to probably make it seem less cheap. Still not particularly weather proof, rain will just travel around the globe and pool up in the base if the weight blocks the small drain hole. I'd remove the weight and coat everything in silicone grease. Nice that the module is removable though.

[@Fixerbob]

I wonder if we will be getting a a video from work , complete with Clives colleagues 'helping' as in previous years ?

[@bigclivedotcom]

A self heating meal video from work is coming soon.

[@Richardincancale]

Two questions: can I use pink mail varnish instead of clear for waterproofing, and would the charge chip survive having one or more NiMH cells added in parallel to keep it going a bit longer in the night?

[@TheSpotify95]

If you add cells in parallel then it's highly likely they won't reach full charge since the solar cells inside the lights are only low power solar cells. In addition these LIDL globes have the plastic globe shape around the outside of it, so the light from the sun has to pass through the plastic globe before it gets to the solar panel, reducing its efficiency. I reckon that this will get worse as the outer globe ages and yellows, as plastic usually does.

[@brucepickess8097]

Hmmmmmm, "pink mail varnish" ????, is that what postal persons use ?????😏

[@Richardincancale]

@@brucepickess8097 oops! I misspelled ’male’!!!

[@twocvbloke]

That lump is of course a "quality weight", making it feel like it's made from good, thick, strong, quality materials, when it isn't, cos cheap... :P

[@justtinkering6713]

Where do you buy the 152xc chip? I can't find it.

[@phonotical]

But with such an opaque plastic, just how much light is going to be blocked by that thing

[@bikkiikun]

You could attach a push button to the black lower case and wire it to the micro switch (or remove it).

[@mentatphilosopher]

The most surprising thing in this video is that you travel with clear nail polish. And it also makes me ask whether the TSB allows airline flight with nail polish or nail polish remover. Rather naughty usage is possible.

[@RS-Amsterdam]

Repaired a couple of similar units like that from the pound shop and the like and 9 out of 10 people change the rechargeable batteries by normal batteries and then the shit starts. Also the contracts are getting rusty and loose their electrical connection.

[@chatrkat]

I’ve not seen those in the US, but i admit I don’t investigate all solar lights available here. I’m surprised those small solar cells under the globe can produce sufficient output to charge that AAA battery enough to last a reasonable number of hours of darkness.

[@campermike8879]

I would guess the weight is to help it from getting blown around in the wind

[@mostrush4849]

Maybe you should press and keep button for a while to save the current color !

[@ImigrentfromMars]

With the solar panel is inside the globe that will surly stop the amount of light hitting them. If they are in any shade at all it will pretty much stop all the charging id think, I have the normal garden light with the panels on top and need to be in the sun to get a full charge and when I put energizer cell's in the sung can't charge them fully so I charge them weekly in the house just to keep them toped off, Are these a new panel that don't need a lot of sun to work I wonder and with that in mind the light it self must not be bright because it would trigger the panel and stop the light from working, I used to set my lights up in pairs so one on top of the other so the light from the top row would keep the bottom row turned off until the top row went out, If these don't need much light to charge I think I would pull the light like you did and put them up under the overhang '' roof '' around my house so they are out of the rain and out of sight but light up nicely at night.

[@TheSpotify95]

In the winter, these things barely charge at all, it is purely relying on the power of the Sun's rays during summer months.

[@309electronics5]

On the color changing one i would cover the whole circuir in resin or put waterproofing layed on the microcontroller, kind of a design flaw

[@richardwernst]

Hmmm, silicone grease, is/would that be the same as can/is used on some water faucets? I'll have to see as I have just small amount to lube my faucets.

[@ElvenSpellmaker]

I use a headtorch for walking down roads late at night and I wonder if I should also grease the contacts in the battery compartment. I never take the battery out (18650 cells) and charge via USB so I wonder if that'll stop the corrosion my last one suffered from.

[@utubeuser1024]

Interesting little light! I wonder if the AAA cell holder could be replaced with an AA one with the space available (although I don't know if the solar panel would have the current to charge the higher capacity cell)

[@bigclivedotcom]

You could use a higher capacity AAA cell.

[@TheSpotify95]

@@bigclivedotcomyeah I have some of these myself and they are only 300mAh, you can get AAA cells up to 1000mAh, only thing is with the solar panel being hidden in the plastic enclosure, not much light will make it all the way through so it may not charge fully.

[@rickoffermann7156]

I have a suggestion for reverse engineering. Led bulbs with integral photocell. I'm curious how they can ignore the light of the LED when they are installed inside fixtures. Is it a time domain where the led shuts off for a few microseconds, whist at the same time, the sensor samples for ambient light, or is it a difference between the wavelength of light the sensor can respond to, vs the spectrum output of the led array. Just a thought

[@Steve30x]

I have Aldi solar lights in my garden and the biggest problem I have with them is the power switch and internals in them isn't weather protected. I have four spot lights and four lights on a leg. After a short while the battery contact in the lights I got was rusty I. 2021 would no longer work. So I bought more last year and the switch in most of them is dodgy now. Some nights I have to go outside and wiggle the switch to get the light to work. I've also had to change the battery in all of them.

[@alnicospeaker]

Did you check whether the plastic dome has some kind of lens/focussing effect built in?

[@bigclivedotcom]

It doesn't.

[@LiamWrethman]

what type of electronics do you work on

[@keithking1985]

Thanks Clive I like that one 👍

[@trevorhaddox6884]

I wonder if that chip has any addressable flash or SRAM on it. If it does that the light resetting is just a programming error.

[@dmitrystelefona8453]

Can this tiny solar cell even provide enough energy to charge battery so it holds thru the night, especially via diffused light because of white bulb?

[@fromgermany271]

The boost converters C is on the opposite side of the pcb? Someone with real technical skills was doing the layout 😂

[@Russwig]

Could one add a second push button in the base of the fixture and have the color selection available with out needing to unscrew the dome?

[@bigclivedotcom]

You could theoretically do that.

[@oggyosbourne]

My guess why there is weight is to stop it fly away when it is stuck down on the ground and heavy winds catch it.

[@Gav_Rez]

Hi Big Clive. Could you please in short terms explain why the push button is dual polled?

[@abitofabitofabit4404]

It's an SPST switch with two terminals for each side. Designers use them as free jumper wires when routing the board.

[@kimchristensen2175]

kicad-info.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/original/3X/1/d/1dc0f892575a3843f019300a93dbd8de97ca6b2a.png

[@IanHodgetts]

My instant reaction to this is thinking of hacking some other microcontroller in place like the Raspberry Pico to do something more interesting than the default colour change. WiFi enabled even? Probably needs more power though.

[@norfolknchance.500]

Wouldn't the "weight" be so that it doesn't get blown around and could sit on the patio etc!? 👍✌️🖖

[@jagmarc]

Colour-change version: Maybe the $0.20 microcontroller doesn't include the flash memory to remember colour

[@shanejohns7901]

Does an AAA cell actually last long enough to keep that LED lit for much of the night? It seems stupid to me to use an AAA when the space clearly allows for an AA which can store 2 to 3 times as much power.

[@bigclivedotcom]

These tend to get used in short bursts during a show.

[@dinetsandrew]

What mean "152xc"? I never hear about dc-dc IC marked like this...

[@FrancescaMoloney-ck8hv]

Do the led bulb only last for so long. I have mine 2 years and this year they are not working

[@bigclivedotcom]

Water ingress will often damage the solar panel, PCB or the cell contacts.

[@davadoff]

Please tell me, Clive: 8:48 how do you make your name at the bottom? How do you make those letters?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Label printer.

[@davadoff]

@@bigclivedotcom Thanks! So is it a label printer cartridge with transparent backing?

[@mikegLXIVMM]

Is there no flash memory on the controller chip to save the color settings?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Apparently not. There might be an issue with the limited current and voltage for reliable memory writing.

[@paranoiia8]

I love solar lights as if you get good quality one or tweak its waterproofing they can last good few years, but I seriously hate those cheap batteries they put often in them. Those batteries weight nothing and die after few months... One time I gutted few of them and it was really empty shell with really one wrap of thin toilet paper inside and plastic separator that was even thinner and so brittle that I bet It would convert to dust if you would shake that battery harder.

[@paulnorton5670]

I have wondered why they have not done this before? The only reason I could come up with this is that the solar panel manufacturers got stuck in their old ways!

[@TYGAMatt]

It's most definitely greeeeze and not grease.

[@fiskurtjorn]

1:17 There was this chain selling a wind up alarm clock but the sales were terrible. It was a good clock but somehow it wouldn't sell. An industrial designer was asked what was wrong. A week later he brought the clock back Change this and it will sell like crazy. He was right, and the change was putting a weight in its cavity. When it's heavy, it is expensive. The weight is marketing.

[@dcallan812]

Nice lamp, I can see them getting hacked and swapped too wired ws2811 type LEDs. 2x👍

[@MrFujack103]

The weights there so you don’t wake up in the morning and it’s been blown round your garden if not using the pole

[@johnmitchell9705]

Do you have an address where I could send you some electronics items?

[@fredbloggs5902]

The weight is to convince people that they’re getting their money’s worth. (Like Beats headphones).

[@ConstantlyDamaged]

"Hold on, I just gotta set these solar lights to stick on green." _opens top, presses button when it cycles to green, can't find top in the dark and turns on torch-resetting the solar light back to color changing_

[@CollectiveSoftware]

Seriously wondering how did that design got all the way to production. Let's add a bunch of cost and complexity to the board that can't ever be used in practice.

[@transientaardvark6231]

It's pretty simple to fix, just program an arduino to read a colour sensor and when it gets to the colour you want it can turn a servo motor to push the button. You might want to add an ESP8255 board so you can select the colour over wifi, and write an android app for your phone to be the UI.

[@ConstantlyDamaged]

@@transientaardvark6231Don't forget to add a 4 pin micro that flashes an LED to let you know the addon is working.

[@ralphj4012]

@@transientaardvark6231 Suggest Bluetooth, then the battery will last 10 minutes instead of 5 and, of course, the smartphone app would be subscription only.

[@jagmarc]

Almost all $0.25 microcontrollers have non-volatile memory for this. Maybe this is the $0.24 one that didn't

[@notahotshot]

LIDL solar globe? It looks more like a bigole solar globe to me.

[@phonotical]

Weight is to stop it blowing away, if you have a big ball in the garden wind and possibly the venturi effect is really going to kick it around

[@RonDogInTheHouse]

Just a thought on the weight. Is it possible it's a way for the manufacture to get some sort of government credit for using recycled plastic? It probably takes ~40 recycled water bottles/bags to make that weight.

[@luipaardprint]

The only downside I can see is that it won't charge the battery when turned off.

[@stevetobias4890]

Wouldn't the globe impede the solar collective abilities to some degree?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Slightly, but not much.

[@SigEpBlue]

The weight might be an alpha emitter. Gotta get rid of low-level nuclear waste somehow, right? 😏

[@CubbieSeWolf]

Interesting how it looks like the video was uploaded 7 minutes ago, there are comments from 12 days ago?

[@michaeltempsch5282]

KZbin shows published date/time. Videos can be uploaded and not made public. If one knows the URL (like if received through Patreon or other channel support/sponsorship function) the comment functions are still there to be used. I.e. Patreon users get to see it before the unwashed masses...🙂

[@TheSpotify95]

I've always wondered this myself and have made various comments on more recent BigClive videos. It's the Patreon thing, and whilst I appreciate Patreons should get early access, the length of time that us regular viewers have to wait (on occasion) is too much. There was one a while back on modifying tungsten Christmas lights to run on low power LEDs, that was released to Patreons at the perfect time (just before Christmas) but for regular viewers, it was released in the middle of February, which was a completely useless time?! Likewise, these "middle of LIDL" offers are time specific, and unless you know what will be around in LIDL (the same applies to ALDI), by the time the video has gotten out, everything will all be completely gone/sold out. It really seems like you have to pay twice (once to Clive and once for the item), or forever miss out on whatever deals are around.

[@antisoda]

Lidl tried establishing themselves in Norway some years ago, but they got chased out. A shame, really, as I found they had a few interesting items. And Norway could _really_ do with some competition in the grocery business…