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Forum Index : Electronics : Anyone familiar with solar street lights?
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Hey guys. My neighbour has this solar street light on his property, worked find until a week ago. Lots of windy rain. Now it just flashes the LED lamp every few seconds and wont charge the battery. I have the controller on the bench, a aiSUN SC-350-D200 Solar Light CPU. Water damage, corrosion on the board. I rigged up a spare solar controller, charging the 12v battery ok. My controller also has a night light output, so I connected this to the LED lamp. Looks like the LED lamp isnt 12 volts. Not even a slight glow. Would this be a 240v lamp? Its American, so could be 110v. The dead controller circuit board has a large inductor on it and a hand full of mosfets, maybe a simple boost converter to drive the LED Lamp? I'm tempted to use a little 12v - 240V inverter to test if the lamp does in fact need 240v, but I dont want to fry it. No model number on the lamp that I can see, need to hire a cherry picker to see properly. So just thought I would ask the brains trust. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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Revlac Guru  Joined: 31/12/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1024 |
Not sure about that one, I have seen a few around but without any visible battery box. found this little PDF with a little info, says maximum of 40V......I might well be barking up the Wrong tree. I did buy a Cob light some time back, it was 220VAC with L,N connection, must provide your own heat sink, however it seems much different to the street light. Cheers Aaron Off The Grid |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Thanks Aaron Yeah seen that brochure too. After re-reading it just now ( thanks ), you could be right about the 40v. And a LED current range of 3 to 5 amps. The wires to the LED are the typical 240vac blue and brown, thats why I was thinking maybe 240v, or 110v. I might see if I can find a voltage booster and try to feed the LED 32 volts or so, see if it kicks into life. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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sPuDd Senior Member  Joined: 10/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 251 |
Gizmo, it makes sense that it would use a boost DC driver for the LEDs. Can you try driving the LEDs with your bench supply? Maybe a few batteries in series with a resistor if field testing is difficult. I made a field battery powered test supply using a DPH5005 50V 5A buck/boost PSU from the usual suspects driven by two Makita 18V battery packs in series. It's proven to be very useful at work and home.     Project case, Makita knock-off USB adaptors, inline fuse, all good. It should work ...in theory |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I should have updated this. Got it working a couple days ago. Used a ebay 12v boost board to give me 35v, and that worked perfectly. So ended up using a little charge controller with a night light output and the boost board. Neighbour happy. The LED only draws 0.6 amps at 35v, lot of light for so little current. That power booster is a good idea Spudd. I've ordered a replacement boost board and its rated at 600 watts 12-60v adjustable, so I might make something like yours. Thanks Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| BenandAmber Guru Joined: 16/02/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 961 |
i was looking at the small boost and buck boards last night i was looking for the postage stamp size one like the legend speeks of i can only find them in lower voltages i need one that is at lest 120 buck down to 12 that field power supply is awesome you done a very professional looking job be warned i am good parrot but Dumber than a box of rocks |
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| sPuDd Senior Member Joined: 10/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 251 |
BenandAmber, I've never seen a 120V capable flea-bay buck converter in anything less than a few hundred watts sized. I'd suggest just using the little AC mains rated ones as they run fine on AC or DC. Example: AC/DC Buck Converter 12V out. Cheers on the little field PSU. Only took about an hour to fit it into the case & wire up. I'm on the Makita platform so I used them, but the same thing would work with any brand, or even some other kind of portable battery. It should work ...in theory |
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| BenandAmber Guru Joined: 16/02/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 961 |
Wow thanks for link i have about 10 not like the link but out of wall worts they do not work for me i still have them some where i will upload a pic one day but in the mean time will order a few of these thanks i like your build really nice and not sloppy i love seeing others nice builds it would be nice to have a post with pics of everyones builds i would really enjoy that be warned i am good parrot but Dumber than a box of rocks |
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