Electronics

DIY: Repair a Garden Solar Light

EPEngineer By EPEngineer2 min read1.3K views

There is something about Solar Lights that makes them attractive. Perhaps is because they come in different shapes, sizes and forms; or simply because they are solar powered. We all hope that once these lights are placed outdoors, they would last a lifetime; sometimes however, they malfunction or stop working all together, especially after being exposed to the elements for many years.

If you love your garden solar lights, they are all worth repairing. Dead batteries, rust from water damage, damaged wiring, bad connections are some common reasons for light failures. Fixing the issues usually involve replacing the batteries, LED, driver circuit, removing the rust, protecting the wires, or simply replacing the solar cells. Lately, some of our solar lights stopped working and it took me just a couple of hours to get them running like new.

Materials Needed:

  • Solar batteries
  • Solar battery charger
  • Wire
  • Wire Cutters
  • Pliers
  • Duct tape
  • Solar cells
  • Multimeter (to test the batteries voltage)
  • Soldering Iron (to solder wires together)
Garden Solar Light Problems.

The issues we had with the Solar Crackle Ball Stake Lights is that some of the connectors were rusted (see picture above). All I did was clean and remove the rust and it turned back on. For others, the batteries were not making good contact with the circuit. All I did was increase the length of the spring by using wire and securing it with tape (as shown above).

Solar Crackle Ball Stake Lights.

Sometimes during repairs parts get damaged, like the handle below. I was able to create a similar, stronger handle using wire.

Solar Shepherd Hook Lights.

The Solar Powered Lily, Solar Blue Bell, and Solar Orange Art Glass Flowers Lawn Lights below are a few of our oldest solar powered path lights. They have faded significantly and after thirteen years, they stopped working all together. It turned out that their solar cells were damaged. All we did was purchase a few garden solar lights and swapped the solar cells and it solved the problem.

Solar Powered Lily Garden Stakes.
Solar Blue Bell Stake Lawn Lights.
Solar Orange Art Glass Flowers Path Lights.

In most cases, repairing a garden solar light is quite simple.

Sometimes, you are faced with a fixture that is quite hard to open up or every single part needs replacing. At that point you are faced with either repairing the fixture or just getting rid of it and buying a replacement or something new. In my case, there were a couple of lights that had rusted out due to water damage. I took the internal circuit from a good light and soldered all the wires into the damaged one. It’s usually 2 wires going into the solar cell, 2 wires for the battery and the light/LED that need transferring. I verified it lit up afterwards and put it back together. This process will be troublesome, but if you really like the solar light, then it will be worth it.

I hope this tutorial will help you save your precious solar fixtures.

Computer Data Retrieval

JM Perez By JM Perez2 min read562 views

I have been up most of the night, updating and transferring data from my old computer Hard Drive into the new one. Though it took me a while, I’m happy. I now have all the information I need in one place and I am relieved. The best part about this process is the amount of knowledge I gained along the way.

I owned a Fujitsu Laptop for over 7 years, which I really liked. I finally parted with it because its video chip was getting bad and couldn’t be replaced. I got a Dell as a replacement. Just as I was creating more memories; I placed it into hibernation mode one afternoon early this month and it never came back up. I had it for just a year and it gave up on me. You would think that with the advancement in technology, devices would last longer and perform better. Older computers, though slower, tend to be more reliable.

I bought a new Laptop replacement and ordered a USB 22 Pin SATA Adapter Cable to allow me to transfer all the content from my Dell Hard Drive into the new Laptop. As you can see on the picture below, I had to use a computer monitor to access the content of the old Hard Drive because my current laptop only has one USB port on each side and the Adapter Cable wasn’t long enough to reach both sides.

Computer Data Retrieval.

What you need:

  • A computer
  • Two USB ports
  • USB 2.0 For 2.5″ HDD Hard Disk Drive Laptop to SATA 7+15 Pin 22Pin Adapter Cable

How to proceed:

  • Take out the old hard drive from the Laptop.
  • Connect the Adapter to the Hard Drive being careful not to touch the underside of the Hard Drive since it has its electronic circuit exposed.
  • Connect the 2 USB connectors to your computer/laptop and let it recognize it.
  • Double-click the Hard Drive icon and access your files.

My advice to anyone is to always back up your data to an external drive (weekly, monthly and in extreme cases, daily). It’s quite a scare and nightmare when you suddenly lose all your data or can’t access your important information because of a computer crash/malfunction.
Turn your Firewall on. Get an Anti-Virus software and a Registry Cleaner to protect your computer files from malicious software and from being broken into as well as to  help keep them safe.

Consider purchasing Picture Keeper, a photo storage and backup device or a Portable External Hard Drive to protect your pictures and other irreplaceable files.