It can be rectified to run transistors, RGB color changing bulbs , 555 timers, etc I have a video for that also

Keep an eye out for an update on this video because you may just be right ;-)

Ba-dum-tish :-)

I get 162 volts out of my dual wound Joule Thief, but only 10 volts from this garden light circuit . I can run a 555 timer with either.

Not really a joule thief per se, but a boost converter

Theo0x89 = What a load of absolute rubbish. Firstly, Ni-CD and Ni-MH batteries don't need "over-discharge protection". In fact, the best way to extend the life of Ni-CD cells is to *FULLY* discharge them before a recharge. Furthermore, if the solar cell doesn't get enough sunlight during day, then the battery won't EVER get ruined by discharge... the LED simply will not illuminate for as long that night. Think about it - the solar cell charges the battery during the day, and the LED always runs the battery 100% dead flat the following night. This repeats every single day.... usually for years, until the battery contacts or switch fail due to corrosion. As for your comment about LED failure at twilight, that also sounds like a load of bullshit. None of my solar lights suffer from this problem, and considering the literally BILLIONS of these units in active service every day throughout the world, I'd say that there is no such inherent problem.

So much misinformation... _"Ni-MH batteries don't need "over-discharge protection""_ It is common knowledge that NiMH cell degrade when over-discharged. From the company behind the famous Eneloop, for example: "Continuous over-discharging causes damage to the batteries." www.panasonic.com/global/consumer/battery/eneloop/technologies.html From my experience with different models of cheap solar garden lights I can tell that the lights that switch off at a low battery voltage have working batteries after years, while the lights that drain batteries to very low voltages don't work (or only a short time every night) after one or two years due to a degraded battery. _"the best way to extend the life of Ni-CD cells is to FULLY discharge them before a recharge"_ [citation needed] Some say NiCd can be stored at zero volts, some say otherwise, but I have never heard the claim that they should be discharged to zero volts in regular usage. It's also irrelevant to solar lights because they usually have NiMH cells, which are more sensitive to over-discharge. _"the battery won't EVER get ruined by discharge... the LED simply will not illuminate for as long that night."_ Cheap lights that use the same circuit as in the video drain the battery to very low voltages. The current is only limited by the forward current of the LED, which is still of considerable size at voltages that are too low for NiMH cells. Even without measuring battery voltages during LED operation, you can easily observe the different behavior. The better lights switch their LED completely off early when there wasn't enough daylight, while the cheap lights slowly dim the LED. _"the LED always runs the battery 100% dead flat the following night"_ You would have a very dead solar light very soon if this would actually happen. Even the cheapest solar lights don't run the battery completely flat as long as there is a moderate amount of light during day. There is still some charge on the battery long after the voltage is too low to illuminate the LED. _"As for your comment about LED failure at twilight [...] None of my solar lights suffer from this problem"_ Do they use the same chip as in the video (YX805)? The most common chip nowadays seems to be the YX8018. I definitely measured the described problem with both pieces of that particular model (about 100mA LED current for a narrow range of twilight). This happened after a few years. I doubt that most of these cheap lights are in use after a couple of years because they already fail due to other reasons and they are not worth any maintenance.

Same situation. New lock down, plenty of components around me to finally put in use. If you Google the YX805 you'll see a schematic. Minus of the solar cell goes to pin 3 of the YX805 and the positive side of the solar cell goes to pin 1. What is pin 1 to pin 4 .... Text/label of the IC towards you pin 1 starts on the left hand side.

Hello to my Texan sister or brother.

What you suggest is possible, but I wonder if it is actually ozone in the air. Are these protective glass jars of yours closed up or open to fresh air?

@@TaiViinikka sealed water tight, look at my videos

@@TaiViinikka I have 555 timers and the 12F629 programmable chip running on solar circuits w/ 1.2 rechargeable AAA lasting all night

Only suitable with NiMH cells I’m afraid. 1.5v max according to the data sheet.

Not sure. I’ll see if I can test that.

exactly my thinking, also would adding a capacitor increase the duty cycle/smooth out the power? Might be able to gain some brightness that way too.

I would guess a diode would be needed with the capacitor, but that would smooth the output power.

Nice idea... thanks.

500F sounds about right, I made one with 100F and it lasts 4-5 hours but I use a colorchanging LED.

ok I found one on ebay: Denkovi 4-channel USB Relay Board Module Controller for Automation Robotics - v2

Spikey DaPikey - yes, as soon as the chip senses voltage from the solar cell, it shuts off it’s output.

I’m afraid not. It’s designed for a 2v solar input and a ~1.5 volt cell. There are a few modules and solar charge controllers that are sold claiming to fit your needs. On the cheap side you could look at the wincong sx01, the anself cmtd lithium version or the CTK5S (all of which I’ve done videos on) all of them do dusk to dawn type load control. You might need to look at an led driver though depending on what you are driving. Epever do a few charge controllers with an led driver in them - but there a bit more money.

OK! Thank You! I could use it to charge AA NIMH. Then use a Joule thief to step it up the volts to drive LED's Not sure how much currant it will charge, one or 2 AA NIMH.

Well this chip is designed for an NiMH cell and is essentially a joule thief too. It’s probably only capable of a couple hundred milliamperes current at most on the solar side - the voltage drop over the input diode might cause some heat at higher currents.

For 4.2V you probably mean to make something using a Lithium cell. If so, then there also needs to be over-voltage and under-voltage protection, which requires additional circuitry. You cannot ever let lithium voltage drop too far, unlike Ni-CD and NiMH which you deliberately run to 100% flat each night. The easiest solution is to buy any solar garden light with a lithium battery, and obtain the components that you need from inside. The easiest and cheapest is probably the "shed lights", which are readily available and contain a nice large (remote) solar panel. There's no point using lithium for small lights, since there is no need for high power density... a small cell won't have the grunt to charge a big lithium anyway. Even a small lithium (say 500mAh) will need a big panel (ie: 100mm square glass). Most solar with lithium use 3.2V LiFePO4 cells because they are much more robust than other Lithium chemistries. The LiFEPO4 can handle thousands of charge cycles, and is also far more tolerant of over-voltage. But if voltage drops even once to below about 1V per cell, the cell never recovers.

_"NiMH which you deliberately run to 100% flat each night"_ This is flat out false. See my other reply: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oZ2jisupzdTZl2g.html&lc=Ugx2HTHvK5YnHgo9Qv14AaABAg.8m-SOMg9bFx8m8ZyfQyKBO

I believe it’s designed for leds at about 3v but as you can see it can handle some reasonable current. I guess you could try 8 leds in parallel. You’d need a bigger cell than I used though!

Just go and buy a 10 LED solar fairy night kit from your local shop for a few dollars. There is absolutely no point making such a simple thing when you can simply buy it off the shelf at a lower price almost anywhere in the world.

deslomeslager - I have no idea what you are talking about or who you are replying to. Milene De jong would like to make small and low powered fairy house lights. Fairies don't usually have discos, so they don't need flashing. I'd imagine that they also don't need very much illumination either. Your bike light driver is completely wrong for the application.

think green ! i would like a solar powered (install and forget) application ,guys . i was more thinking about a small tp4056 kind off solution and i was wondering ifnthis solar charger could power such. btw the fairies around here do like discos very much... as well as 5050 leds ...

deslomeslager - Sorry, I have absolutely NO idea what you are talking about. The person wants some fairy lights, not a bike headlight. Oh, and YOUR video that YOU linked to shows the flicker at a frequency that is dead fucking obvious to the human eye. Solar fairy light strings use the exact the same kind of driver as used in this video, either 5252F or one of the YX8xx variants. What solar panel do you propose is used will your bike headlight circuit? I've never seen a bike headlight that is powered by solar.