Gold Coast CB

PROJECT: USB POWER HACK FOR CHEAP SOLAR LIGHT KIT

Was a bit bored today, so I grabbed a $5 crazy clark solar light that needed the original sliding on / off switch replaced.

While I had the unit open I though, oi, holy fat nude cows, why not add an extra lead out for optional battery charging.


The $5 crazy clarks solar shed light kit. Takes 3x AA rechargeable batteries @ 1.2v each



A torch I often find myself recharging that takes 3x AAA batteries @ 1.2v each
It's been driving me nuts having to pull the 3 batteries out every few days to recharge in a separate charger.



4 screws on the base of the solar light and the bottom separates easily.

Right center circuit board is the heart of the unit and worth every cent as it protects from over charging (5.05v max), and
stops the batteries from draining flat while no charging is going on.



Added extra red and black wires to the positive and negative poles of the battery holder.



Drilled a small hole (inside the circle area) in the case for the external connector to pass through.
In this case I used a female USB plug.



Front view of the new female USB plug access from the outside.



Top view of the new female USB plug access from the outside.



Before throwing away broken USB mice and keyboards, save the cables.
Here's a spare male USB stripped leaving just the red and black wires.



Dodgy, but works.

Being USB and comparable USB voltage, other leads and devices like my mini spy cam and mobile phone happily charge off the same output.



Amazingly the little solar panel outside on an overcast day has enough juice to light 10 LEDS without any batteries.



Here's the open circuit voltage on an over cast day.
The internal circuitry regulates the max voltage and enures the batteries don't drain while not charging.



3x torch batteries come in a cradle.



Quick check on a multi meter and mark the positive and negative poles.



And they are off and charging free from the sun. 8 hours and they are jiggy.

Should take 100,000 million years to pay off the cost of the $5 kit, but if the power ever goes off at the mains
due to a long overdue solar storm etc, I'll at least be able to have some light to fend off the devil dimmocks.

Hey thats cool! Well done! Might have to get my act together and make a coupla things myself. All I did today apart from going shopping for food and stuff, was strip down a plasma tellie I found on the side of the road. It was a 42 inch Vivo branded one and the screen looks like it took a hit from a Wii mote. The guts were all marked Samsung though and look fine, the thing is dated late 2011 so some poor bugger is crying in his beer over that one I reckon! Got a HUGE lot of nice metric screws and a full set of (probaly working) circuit boards. I also found a 32 inch LCD one as well, its a el cheapo one, but I pulled it apart and checked it over, it TRIES to work, it locks up, so I reckon a few new cappies in it and I'll have a half decent skunkworks tellie. 

Yeah I'v heard on Youtube vids that Vivo have Samsung guts. I bet it's the caps.

Heaps of tips from http://www.youtube.com/user/GrantsPassTVRepairs

Has it got internal DVT? I walk past anything without it now days.

I scrapped the Vivo plasma, I hate plasma, too much high voltage, high current and heat, all killers of electronics. Besides the screen is smashed. The lCD is a high def one and yes it has an inbuilt high def tuner.
Plasmas suck, they are old tech and draw huge amounts of power, only good thing is that they have some nice parts inside to tinker with.  :laughing4:  :dink:

Screen smashed...ow poop. 

The tip shop has a wide selection at the moment...mostly plasma though.

I wish some buggers would throw out 120+ watt solar panels.



Stuffed if I'm gonna shop at Dimmock Smiths for a new one.

I got some nifty "BP Solar" solar panels from a guy who works on big ships and the like. He reckons that a lot of boaties have too much money and dont care if they spend a zillion dollars on some "new" thing. Anyway, a poke about near the marina might turn up some panels. Occasionally they turn up with smashed glass here and there, all ya need is some tempered glass and she'll be right as they say.