DIY Patio Solar Lights - Solar Cab Lights

Table of Contents

Summary-Help you quickly read the content of the DIY Patio Solar Lights

My relatives in my hometown know that I often tinker with flashlights, so they asked me to buy them a reliable set of solar lights to hang on the wooden house, which would be more convenient for them to walk around in the yard at night; Previously, he bought a set of “2000W” solar lights on a certain app. Not to mention the dim light, they ran out of battery after a while of use. I have been searching for several apps for a long time, but I can’t find a company that truthfully labels power and battery capacity? Everyone takes a few watts and marks it as 2000W. If you truthfully mark it as 10W, who will buy yours, right. Ten years ago, I was playing with solar lights. After thinking about it, I decided to buy accessories and make a set for him myself. During the National Day holiday, I spent less than half an afternoon assembling and installing it for him. It has been 5 days and my relatives are very satisfied. They took some time to share the process with me.

The principle is very simple, which means that solar panels generate electricity during the day and store it in lithium batteries. The structure is also very simple, requiring only five components: solar panels, solar light controllers, light panels, casings, and batteries. The difficulty lies in the selection of these components, which can easily lead to pitfalls. Therefore, let’s talk about them one by one. A screenshot of the order is attached at the end of the article.

I. Choose solar patio light shell:

I first choose the lamp head casing. Cheap finished products are usually made of plastic shells, which have poor heat dissipation and are prone to aging and cracking, so I only want metal shells. The casing of this store is quite conservative. I originally planned to buy a 40W one, but when I was taking pictures, I found that a 60W one was only 1.5 yuan more expensive. The larger space means more operating space in the future, such as adding batteries, which is also convenient. So I greedily chose a 60W one. Upon receiving the goods, it appears that they are really large. The shell is 250mm long and 21mm wide, and is made of aluminum alloy through integrated die-casting. The outside is a glass panel, and there is no metal in the reflective bowl after searching around. It doesn’t matter if it is made of plastic, and there is no problem with heat dissipation without the reflective bowl. The price of the complete set of shells is 26 yuan.

II. Choose solar Yard light panel

The light board is manually included when selecting the controller, and the merchant did not indicate the power in the introduction. This approach is quite clever, after all, it is an accessory. Those who buy the light board separately usually know how to test it, and if it is falsely labeled, it can only be refunded and receive negative reviews. This lamp board has a size of 100X60mm and is composed of 58 LED beads. The seller claims imported beads, so it doesn’t matter if they are really imported beads. After all, it’s only 6.78 yuan, so it’s better to consider it as a domestic LED bead. I have checked the buyer reviews and some have tested it to be around ten watts, which is completely sufficient. The lamp board is powered by 3.7V voltage, and the lithium battery can be directly driven without the need for voltage regulation. What power should I choose for the LED beads, batteries, and solar panels? Actually, I consider it good before buying, and I’ll talk about it later.

III.Choose solar outdoor light control board

Next is the control board. Due to the use of lithium batteries, I must buy one with charge and discharge protection to avoid the battery being overcharged or discharged and scrapped. When selecting, it should be matched with the solar panel voltage, lamp panel power, and battery voltage. I bought a 6V solar panel, a 3.7V lithium battery, and a remote control version. The charging and discharging cut-off voltages of 3.7V ternary lithium and 3.2V lithium iron phosphate batteries are different and cannot be mixed. I also paid attention to the charging and discharging current of the control board to the battery. The maximum charging and discharging current of this panel is 5A, which means it can only support 6V 30W solar panels and 3.7V 20W light panels. The workmanship of the remote control is not very good. It is powered by two No. 7 batteries, and the price of the control board and remote control is 15 yuan. If you need a board with human body sensing to turn off the lights, it is only 13 yuan.

IV. Welding and Installation of solar garden lights

1.Welding solar lamp board

It is necessary to know the actual power in order to calculate the parameters of the endurance light. First, I soldered two wires to the light board, used two fully charged 21700 batteries, and jointly measured the actual power of the light board. The measured current can reach 4.8A, which means that the actual power of the light board is close to 20W. When I was measuring, I blocked the light beads, otherwise my eyes would be blinded, and I could only measure for a maximum of two seconds. The light board is currently not dissipating heat, and the heat generated is very high. The actual power of 20W is not low, much stronger than those falsely labeled as a few hundred watts. The light efficiency of COB lamp boards is lower than that of flashlight beads, and 20W is only around 2000 lumens.

2.Install solar light baterry

After testing the true power of the lamp board, I used wires to weld the battery box and lamp board to the control board to test whether the control board and remote control were normal. After welding, I installed the battery. The highest current is 5A and it is connected in parallel. Here, I will install 21700 batteries using a battery box. If the current is higher, welding and spot welding are required, otherwise the internal resistance will be too high. Two battery boxes are purchased for 4.5 yuan. I tested the remote control switch and brightness control, both of which are normal. Note that there was a problem with testing like mine. Later, I tested a 50W LED and placed it on a cloth in the same way, burning a large hole in the cloth in just 5 seconds. Welding is very simple, the board is marked with positive and negative poles, as long as it is not welded incorrectly.

3.Install Reflective bowl of outside solar lights

Next, I pressed the reflective bowl onto the lamp board, marked the screw hole positions with a marker pen, and made two holes to fix the lamp board to the housing. I used the aluminum housing to dissipate heat, and I think this housing is quite thick. It’s probably not a problem even with a 50W lamp board. After drilling the holes, I used thermal grease to apply CPU thermal grease to the back and outer shell of the lamp board. This work still needs to be done well, as the 20W generates a lot of heat and the lamp beads work at high temperatures, causing severe light decay.

4. Install shell of outdoor solar lighting

Use two screws to firmly fix the lamp board on the housing, and later measure that even if the maximum power is turned on for a long time, the housing will only have a little temperature:

5.Connect solar panels and lights

I bought a 10 meter long solar extension cable for 6.79 yuan to connect the solar panel and the light

I cut open this solar cable, and the short end with a female head is welded to the control board through the outer shell. The waterproof joint on the shell can tightly press the wire, so there are no knots on the wire ends, and the wire will not fall off when lifted:

6.Install controller panel of solar lighting

The control board also needs to dissipate heat, but the heat generated is not as exaggerated as the lamp board. I used thermal conductive adhesive with double-sided tape to attach the control board to the lamp housing. It should be noted that the remote control infrared receiver tube is also on the control board. I installed it in the black area of the glass plate, and the remote control signal would be blocked. I needed to hold the remote control close to the light to control it. Later, I scraped off some of the black area on the glass plate. Other solutions can also be used, such as drilling a small hole on the side of the lamp housing and attaching the control board to the side.

7. Install solar light battery

The battery used is the Dongci 50E 21700 lithium battery, with a voltage of 3.6V, a capacity of 5000mAH, an energy of 18WH, and a cost of about 10 yuan per unit. Two units are installed in parallel in the battery box, with a total energy of 36Wh. The shell space is large, and it is convenient to add two more batteries if the capacity is not enough. To avoid shaking, wrap the battery box with high-temperature tape and finally stick it to the outer shell with double-sided tape:

8.comeplete the solar light head installation

Install the waterproof ring and clip the glass panel, and the lamp head is now ready. A slight drawback is that the lamp board was previously purchased with a 40W casing, and when installed in a 60W casing, the entire lamp board area is exactly the same as the diameter of the reflective bowl. This way, the lamp beads are not in the center, which is uncomfortable for those with OCD, but there is no problem using it.

The advantage of making a detachable lamp like mine is that, in addition to being fixed on the wall, it can also be removed and used as a high-power handheld lamp during busy farming seasons, or hung in other places as a work lamp. At the same time, a USB charging cable can be made using the connector of the solar extension cable. When the highest brightness level is turned on, the eyes cannot see directly, especially bright:

9.Choose the solar panel

Finally, let’s take a look at the solar panels. This time, we bought 20W monocrystalline silicon, priced at 25 yuan per piece, with aluminum alloy frames. Based on the weather and sunshine conditions here, we have chosen a slightly higher power for the solar panel to ensure that it can be used even on cloudy days. The majority of the falsely labeled products mentioned at the beginning are made of lower cost polycrystalline silicon solar panels, which have much lower conversion efficiency for the same area. The price of the board is very cheap, and the aluminum frame is pitifully thin:

Solar panels are also prone to false labeling, so they need to be tested when purchased. I measured the open circuit voltage of this solar panel to be around 7.4V and the short-circuit current to be around 3.7A on a sunny day. The power is sufficient and there is no problem. How to choose between solar panels, batteries, and light panels mentioned earlier? The endurance formula does not include losses, which is (battery standard voltage X capacity)/light panel power. For example, in my set, if the maximum power is turned on, it is (3.6VX10AH)/20W=1.8 hours. However, it is impossible to turn on 20W for a long time at night because it is too bright. If it is turned on all night, it is enough to turn on around 1W. Therefore, when fully charged, 1W can light up for 18 hours. Next is the selection of solar panel power. I have chosen 20W here, which means that on a sunny day, with sufficient sunlight and without considering the loss of the control panel, it takes 1.8 hours to fully charge with 36WH/20W. In fact, the sun cannot always shine at this position, and it takes about double the time to fully charge on sunny days; It’s easy to say on a sunny day, but what about on a cloudy day?
There are still quite a few rainy days in Sichuan every year. As shown in the picture, I measured that the short-circuit current of this solar panel on cloudy days can only reach about 0.25A, and the charging power is only about 1W. The daily charging capacity is only about 10WH. Therefore, I adjusted the light to the lowest brightness level, so that the power consumption is less than 10WH every night, ensuring that the light will not turn off even on continuous rainy days. If you really want to stay up all night with 20W, you will need to consume about 200WH of electricity every night, which requires more than 12 21700 batteries with 5000mAH to power. Even on sunny days every day, you need to use solar panels with 50W or more, and the control panel will also need to be replaced with a higher current.

The solar panel does not come with wires. The wires are cut out from the 10 meter solar extension cable that was purchased before and welded on by oneself. The anti recoil diode does not need to be welded, and the control board comes with it.

10.Test the solar outdoor lighting

When testing, I directly placed the solar panel on the roof, which requires tilting to achieve high efficiency. I temporarily placed it randomly, but later I asked my relatives to fix it themselves, otherwise it may be blown away by strong winds.

This light emits a flood effect, which is the highest brightness effect, and the light can cover the entire yard. The control board has 5 adjustable levels, with a minimum brightness level of around 0.25A and a current of around 1W. It has been tested that 1W is sufficient, and the road can be seen at night. It can also ensure that the battery is sufficient on rainy days. When you want to turn it on a little, simply press the remote control. It has been running for 5 days now, and during the National Day holiday, there has been no sunny day. The lights are always on until dawn every night; The sunshine is abundant in spring and summer, and the brightness can be adjusted up by one or two levels. By the way, the controller has an automatic mode that uses solar panels for detection. When the sky is completely dark and there is no voltage, the lights will automatically turn on. When there is light in the morning, the lights will automatically turn off. Just press AUTO to set the brightness.

Table of Various Specifications

Model	700w-120	900w-128	1500w-128	2000w-200	2500w-306	3000w-332	4000w-644
LED Qty	120 LED	128 LED	128 LED	200 LED	306 LED	332 LED	644 LED
LAMP size	20016065mm	20016065mm	20016065mm	24018083mm	26020083mm	30024083mm	36029883mm
Solar panel feature	X6W board(27018017mm)	6W board(27018017mm)	8W board(35023517mm)	12W board(35029517mm)	15W board(35035017mm)	20W board(45035017mm)	20W board(435017mm)
Product feature	light control+ remote+Auto light up	light control+ remote+Auto light up	light control+ remote+Auto light up	light control+ remote+Auto light up	light control+ remote+Auto light up	light control+ remote+Auto light up	light control+ remote+Auto light up
Battery	5000mAh	6000mAh	7000mAh	10000mAh	15000mAh	20000mAh	25000mAh
waterproof	IP66	IP66	IP66	IP66	IP66	IP66	IP66
Install height	3-4 meters	3-4 meters	3-6 meters	4-6 meters	4-6 meters	4-6 meters	4-10 meters

commonality：

1.Adequate sunshine for 6-8 hours

2.Fully charged for 12-18 hours

3.Product configure: 5-meter connecting cable+expansion screw+remote control+lamp body+solar panel+instruction manual

4.Product introduction: light controlled induction: automatically absorbs sunlight for charging during the day,automatically lights up at night.Intelligent remote control: remote switch, adjustable light,timed lights off, Automatic lighting up at night

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