Replace stolen solar panel with AC charge?

hilton

hilton

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I recently had the misfortune of donating a couple of solar panels to a couple of anc supporters.

There were the bog standard solar light such as this one.

solar_light_200.jpg

Luckily they left the actual lights behind so I was thinking about charging the units with AC instead of solar. Obviously I need a regulator of sorts but will this work?

Can I use a solar regulator but the one's I've seen don't seem to have AC input.

Cheers.
 
Yes it should work.

Ideally find out what the panel rating was and use a DC supply providing about the same.

But I'm going to guess it'll be about 18-20 V so a laptop power brick might do the trick.

Not sure it will be clear what the polarity is though?

And if it catches fire obviously it has nothing to do with me.
 
hilton said:
I recently had the misfortune of donating a couple of solar panels to a couple of anc supporters.

There were the bog standard solar light such as this one.

View attachment 1522657

Luckily they left the actual lights behind so I was thinking about charging the units with AC instead of solar. Obviously I need a regulator of sorts but will this work?

Can I use a solar regulator but the one's I've seen don't seem to have AC input.

Cheers.
Click to expand...
Just need a charger that meets battery voltage , i assume lithium battery?
 
Could even be lower voltage,and they likely are fairly regulated to handle low voltage up to its maximum. Find a similar light and get its panel specs,replace with DC charge in the range
 
Possible that if it is lithium wih a small panel that there is no regularor ie panel just connects to battery and relies on bms to stop charging
 
Thanks guys, I know someone who bought the same light so I'll check his out first.

Much appreciated.
 
hilton said:
Thanks guys, I know someone who bought the same light so I'll check his out first.

Much appreciated.
Click to expand...

6 vdc usually .or a cell phone charger ,just takes longer .
 

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With a little bit of tinkering, this could also work: R84 on Takealot

But then you need to run AC right up to the light

1683829280285.png
 
The_MAC said:
With a little bit of tinkering, this could also work: R84 on Takealot

But then you need to run AC right up to the light

View attachment 1522865
Click to expand...
maybe it will charge it yes ,but volts are high ,panels put out a lower voltage under load . but you need to turn the power off to let the light turn on ,the solar panel acts as a day/night switch ,high resistance and no resistance
 
SauRoNZA said:
Probably cost you less in money and effort to simply fit an AC light.
Click to expand...

No doubt about that but I now have two solar lights without panels. Call them battery lights if you like.

One problem with these standalone lights is that if you have a day with lots of rain then the charge is pretty poor in the batteries. They will turn on at dark automatically but won't last more than a couple of hours in this scenario. If you then have a scheduled anc blackout from midnight until 04:30 you won't have any light at all.

So I'm hoping I've inadvertently stumbled upon a system to still have battery powered lights but are powered when eskom decides to supply electricity. In other words, it can rain all day or be overcast and my lights will still charge.

I'll open up one of the lights weekend and see what the insides tell me.
 
If it is just the panels that have been stolen, why not replace the panels?
 
Where are these lights? I am confused as to why someone would want to steal a little solar panel and leave the light. Or are they on your outside wall and just some opportunist theft?
 
Jean Claude Vaaldamme said:
Where are these lights? I am confused as to why someone would want to steal a little solar panel and leave the light. Or are they on your outside wall and just some opportunist theft?
Click to expand...
Speedster said:
If it is just the panels that have been stolen, why not replace the panels?
Click to expand...

They were on a pole on my road wall. They did try and steal the lights but couldn't get them off. Panels were at the top.

Yes of course I could just replace the panels but then it's a rinse and repeat exercise for them. If there are no panels then no temptation. I have other lights around the garden at the back out of sight which are fine and I won't touch.

So I've taken down those 2m poles and will relocate both lights onto one square tuning pole that's a lot taller and will be hinged so I can lower it on the inside to tinker with the angles.

I am also going to use the same new pole to mount cameras.
 
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