We have some outside lights that are powered by an AA battery that is charged by a solar cell. When it’s dark out, the lights go on; when it’s light out, they go off and the solar cell recharges the battery.
What would happen if I replaced the rechargeable battery with a regular battery? I’m imaging a range from “nothing” to “BOOM!” but does anyone have a real answer?
It will rupture or leak at some point since it isn’t designed to be recharged. You might get some lighting for a while if you put them in at night, but they will fail once they start charging in the morning.
With a low power solar cell, either nothing bad will happen or you’ll get a damaged battery over time as mentioned above. Cover the cell with tape and you won’t have that problem - but you’ll be changing AA batteries a lot.
There is an on/off switch I can use to stop the charging. I’m tempted, because we aren’t getting enough sun right now to get a good charge.
Are the ones in it now NiCads or NiMHs?
I wouldn’t be surprised that they’re NiCads and they’ve outlived their useful life. Switching them to high mAh NiMHs might solve the problem.
I mentioned this in a different thread on various solar outdoor lights, so you may have read this advice already.
First, check the batteries themselves - many of these lights ship with the cheapest, lowest capacity garbage rechargables you can imagine. Buy a new pack (depending on #s needed) with good capacity and pre-charge them with your home charger. Heck, the last time I did this, one of those ‘new’ batteries than came with the solar lights already set off the failure to charge notice on my home charger straight out of the box.
You’ll be surprised at how long the light will last even with the trickle charging you get during the season when they have high capacity and a full charge to start. Plus, when they do go out, repeat the recharge process rather than just constantly subbing out AAs.
Buy a few more good rechargeable batteries as the lamps need. Then you can change depleted batteries if they fail. Throw the cheap batteries away.
I also found a little trick to using step lights on my fence.
I put one right above the other, so it shines down on it. This keeps it from turning on until the top one goes out, at which time, it comes on. This doubles the amount of time that there is light in that particular area.
I can’t think of anyway to chain three or more that way, though.
Then I have some solar powered spotlights that have motion sensors, and they always seem to be operational come morning, even though my dogs run around turning them on all night.
Ah, The Dope is the best! Thanks, everyone. A follow-up question: the batteries that came with the lights are rated AA 600 mAh 1.2 v. Is that a standard for rechargeable batteries? If they make and I bought rechargeable AAs with a different mAh rating and 1.5 volts, would I take out the city block’s transformer, electrocute myself, burn down the building, or fry the lights? (Not actually concerned about the first 3)
I would rate as garbage.
While there are lots of choices out there, I’ve had a lot of luck with Enveloop.
which are rated to 2000mAh typical, 1900mAh minimum, so more than three times what the ones you mentioned are theoretically rated at.
The device obviously cannot accept only a single exact voltage input. Your NiMH battery may have a nominal voltage of 1.2V, but fully charged it may supply 1.4V and you use it down to 0.9 V or whatever. Someone might also put in a rechargeable alkaline battery or something like that.
Those were the ratings of the batteries included with the lights, which are garbage. Had no idea what the ratings other than volts might mean and wondered if the higher rated ones would be like plugging 220 into a 120 appliance.
mAh is like how big the actual fuel tank is. Volts is like how fast that fuel flows through the pipe. A higher mAh rating means a bigger tank, but the fuel flow rate is essentially the same.
mAh-ha, now I get it!
Sorry, busy day, glad that @eschereal cleared up what we’re talking about with the mAh - we just want to help you get long lasting light, which seems to be the biggest issue when we know that the charging is going to be minimal due to the season.
And looking back at my post I misspelled Eneloop, I knew what I meant to type, but obviously my fingers went straight to typing envelope before correcting mid-word. Apparently, I have stupid fingers.
I appreciate all the help!