Making a solar-powered garden light

Solar-powered garden lights are a convenient and fully autonomous solution. It does not need to pull cables and spend money on communications, the equipment is inexpensive, and if you want it can be made with your own hands. All the components are on sale, it is necessary to study the scheme, buy everything you need and work according to simple instructions.

Homemade garden light can be stylish.

The device of a solar lamp

First of all, you need to understand what parts the construction consists of and how it works. Garden lights have a simple device, as there is only what is needed:

1. A body, inside which the parts are located. Most often it's a plastic casing at the top, and the bottom is made as a tapered down post so it can just be stuck into the ground. The plastic is weatherproof and shock resistant, so it will not be damaged by UV rays or cracked by accidental bumps.
2. Protective glass. There is a flat element at the top and a diffuser on the side. Most often the material of manufacture is polymers, so even if it breaks there will be no dangerous splinters on the site.
3. Solar panel, usually a small element with an area of about 9 square centimeters. The quality can vary, which is why the lights work differently. When choosing a finished version, you need to carefully inspect the surface of the panel, it should be perfectly smooth, without cracks or damage.
4. The battery stores the energy converted by the solar panel to ensure that the luminaire works in the dark. The capacity and design may vary, all depending on the price of the product. When buying, you can specify this point, as it directly affects the battery life.
5. LEDs provide good lighting with minimal energy consumption. The number depends on the brightness, usually put small variants that consume electricity economically.
6. A photoresistor or light sensor automatically turns on the light in the area in the evening. When the amount of light in this node decreases, the resistance changes and the light comes on.
7. The control board is the connecting element that connects all the nodes and makes them work.

Garden lights can make an area much cozier.

If you need an AA battery, you can buy the cheapest garden light. You can remove the battery from there and it will cost you many times less than if you buy it separately.

This option has many advantages:

1. Autonomy: there is no need to conduct wiring, make a project, etc. You can just put the lamp in any place and it will immediately start working.
2. The equipment gives diffuse lighting, which does not hurt the eyes, but provides good visibility on the site in the dark.
3. No care and maintenance is required. It is enough to wipe off the dust several times during the season so that the solar panel stores energy more easily and the light dissipates better.
4. The lights are safe for children and pets. They do not contain any harmful substances or sharp parts.

There are so many different models on sale.

By the way! If there are leftover housings from old, broken garden lights, they can be used to make homemade versions. This will simplify the work.

The electrical circuit

Shown here is the simplest scheme, with which even a novice craftsman who has never been involved in the creation of garden lights and other similar products will be able to understand. The system has only 7 components.

Using this scheme to assemble a garden light will not be difficult.

To understand the scheme and understand why certain parts are needed, it is necessary to consider how the finished product works:

1. When sunlight hits the surface, the transistor is in a closed state. Therefore, the stored energy is fed to the battery and charges it.
2. After sunset, when no light reaches the photocell, the transistor opens and the voltage is fed to the LEDs. That is, all possible time during the day the equipment is charged, and with the onset of dusk.
3. Operating time of the lamp is directly dependent on battery capacity and the power of the LEDs used in the design. Usually select components so as to suffice for 6-8 hours of operation.

Read also

How do solar panels work

 

If there are failed garden lights, some parts can be taken from there.

The scheme of a solar-powered light fixture of this type is the simplest, so it is better to practice on it first before moving on to more complex solutions.

List of parts needed

There are only 7 items on this list, most of the parts can be found at an electronics store. But to save money, you can order components through "Aliexpress" or other similar sites. The main thing is to match all the parts according to the markings, so that you end up with a workable design:

1. A 3.6k ohm resistor.
2. A 33 ohm resistor (depends on the number and wattage of the LEDs).
3. Diode 1N5391 or similar (there are both imported and domestic variants).
4. Transistor 2N4403 (there may be other kinds with suitable characteristics).
5. A 3.6V rechargeable battery. It is better to choose lithium-ion ones, because nickel-cadmium ones are not reliable.
6. Solar photovoltaic panel.If you have a solar photovoltaic panel, the monocrystalline versions are the best as they are the most efficient and long-lasting. You can also use polycrystalline elements. The main thing - choose products of grade A or B, do not take variants C and even more so D, because they are much worse in characteristics, and service life is less.
7. LEDs. You can use 1 cell for 3 watts, but it is better to take 3 pieces for 1 watt. In this case it is good to use DIP diodes as they work better in open air conditions than SMD ones.

Parts to have on hand when assembling a garden light.

It is worth determining in advance in which case to assemble all the nodes. Any options that will provide a convenient layout of parts will be suitable. It is also necessary to buy a soldering iron and all materials for soldering, if they are not on hand.

Lantern layout

Carry out the work on a table that is well lit, and have everything you need on hand. Tweezers, a knife, and other tools may be needed. It is also better to have some wires on hand. There are two ways to connect the parts in a circuit:

1. Use a universal circuit board or make one yourself. In this case, the main components will be assembled in one place and securely fastened. It is easiest to buy in electronics stores, they have different sizes, so it is not difficult to choose.
2. If you don't have the board handy, you can connect the parts in a hinged way. All the parts have long legs, so they can be connected even without using wires, but if you need to take some parts further away (e.g. to bring the solar panel out or expose the LEDs), use copper wires in insulation.

Think through the location of the parts in advance, lay them out and try them on to understand how best to connect them. At this stage you can make adjustments and avoid mistakes and complications.

The board is used in all prefabricated fixtures.

What to make a plafond from and how to assemble the luminaire

After selecting the layout option, you need to choose a housing to protect the products from the weather. It can be a small plastic container, which is tightly closed or a glass jar with a lid. To make a solar lamp with your own hands, you need to follow the instructions:

1. On the selected plafond (its upper part) fix a solar panel. To it should be attached contacts, if they are not, soldered contact track. It is best to glue on double-sided adhesive tape, but do not press down hard. The contacts pass through the cover or other element, having previously made small holes in suitable places. After the wires are pulled through, the holes should be sealed with a small amount of weatherproof sealant, moisture should not penetrate inside.
2. Inside the case you need to fix the battery compartment, it is easiest to glue it with sealant or a glue gun. Then arrange all the other parts according to the diagram, connecting them securely. If you don't use a printed circuit board, you can fix a small piece of foam plastic and insert the feet of the electronic elements into it so that they are well fixed.
3. The LEDs are usually placed at the bottom. If you use a can, you don't need to do anything special. But to increase the brightness you can assemble a reflector, using thick foil or a CD cut into pieces of suitable size. Determining the quality of the lighting is difficult at first, it is better to try different options to pick the one that will shine best.
4. If an opaque plafond is used, one of its walls or the bottom part should be cut out and a diffuser or a piece of transparent plastic of the right size should be inserted. You have to depend on the situation and pick up what you have on hand. You can use diffusers or glass from old lamps or flashlights. To fix the element and make the connection watertight, it is better to use a transparent sealant that is UV-resistant.
5. After connecting all the parts of the circuit, be sure to test its functionality. If all is normal, the connections should be sealed with a special pencil or contact compound. Before assembling the housing, it is worth warming it from the inside with a hair dryer to remove excess moisture and prevent oxidation processes inside.
6. You can attach a foot to the finished light to stick it into the ground in a suitable place, or you can hang it. For this purpose, it is easiest to make a hook or loop on the outside.

Read also

Homemade lantern with his own hands

 

By the way! For the winter, it is better to remove the lamp to a warm room. This will prolong the service life, because at subzero temperatures the batteries lose their properties much faster. Plus because of frosts and thaws, condensation builds up inside, oxidizing the contacts and destroying them over time.

Check the operation of the system before assembly.

Video: Making a solar-powered street light

How you can improve the finished model

If the purchased garden lights do not work as they should, or their characteristics do not match the stated, you can make some modifications. They will help improve the design and provide quality light:

1. If the lamp gives a dim light, it is worth disassembling it and removing one of the resistors. In its place put a jumper, you must do everything carefully so as not to damage other nodes. Usually this is enough to increase the brightness by an order of magnitude.
2. When the light is bright at first, but becomes dim after a short period of time and then goes out, you need to add a resistor of about 50 kOhm. This will allow the system to shine brightly for at least a few more hours.
3. Another typical problem is that the light goes out a few hours after dark. Most often this happens because the manufacturer saved on the battery and supplied a variant with a small capacity. You need to disassemble the case and check the battery rating, if it is 600 mAh or less, change to a model from 1000 mAh or more, it all depends on the performance of the solar module. Select the battery at the rate of - 8 hours of LEDs plus a reserve of about 30%.
4. Some models have one LED, which does not give high-quality light. In this case you should specify its power, then pick up 3 LEDs, which together will consume about the same amount of energy and arrange them around the perimeter of the plafond at an angle of about 120 degrees.
5. It is possible instead of a standard LED plug in RGB-variant and then the light will be shimmering.

The design of ready-made lights is not complicated, to understand it is not difficult.

To save energy and turn on the garden light only when necessary, you can solder a small switch into the circuit.

Anyone with at least basic soldering skills can make a garden light with their own hands. You can buy components on the Internet or in a radio electronics store. Also, using the recommendations is easy to repair or improve the work of ready-made lights.