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Posted by Daniel Who Wants to Know on December 19, 2007, 8:06 pm
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> >
>>
>>David Williams wrote:
>>
>>> -> I'm looking for an light suitable for outdoors that can be mounted on
>>> -> a wall. It must be weatherproof and get its power from a
>>> -> rechargeable / renewable source (e.g. solar or wind). My main
>>> -> motivation is avoiding running a power cable out to the location in
>>> -> question.
>>>
>>> A lot of stores around here sell lights with solar cells that charge up
>>> small batteries, and light a little LED lamp after dark. They aren't
>>> very bright, but they are easily available and they do work.
>>
>>They work rather poorly form what I've seen.
>>
>>I'd rate them as more of a gimmick than anything else.
>>
>>Graham
>>
>>
>
> I bought about six of them, Malibu is the brand name, IIRC. I think 3 or 4
> continue to
> work after about 3 years in central Alberta. In summer, they get enough
> charge to run all
> night. In Winter, they go dark around midnight.
>
> They give enough light to mark out a path, which is what I use them for.
> Also have two
> mounted on stanchions to mark the end of my driveway. One of them is one
> of the dead ones,
> now. I should try mixing and matching components from the dead ones, and
> see what part has
> died.
>
> Gordon Richmond
>
Most likely it was whatever form of battery they used. I doubt that they
bothered to use any sort of deep discharge protection to protect the cells
from damage. I have a cheap Chi-com crank powered 3 LED flashlight that my
aunt gave me that has a LIR2032 Li-Ion button cell in it that has no deep
discharge protection and a simple voltage regulator consisting of a
transistor, zener diode, and resistor for charging.
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