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#1
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What would cause a solar panel battery charger to die?
I bought one of the solar chargers they sell at Harbor Freight for
around $20. They are made to charge a 12 volt battery at 1.5 watts. Granted that is not a lot of power, but just to keep a battery topped off, it worked fine. I particularly bought it to keep a car battery charged for a battery powered electric fencer, but I also took it when I went camping, so keep my car battery charged after running my laptop computer off the car's battery without starting the car to recharge the battery. The computer often ran for several hours to play movies. Anyhow, aside from the fact that it's cheap Harbor Freight junk. It stopped charging completely. There was a blue LED on it that would indicate it was charging, and that LED no longer lights in bright sun, and my volt meter shows no output. I took it back to HF, but was told that unless I had bought their COSTLY extended warranty, it was only warranted for 3 months. Of course they tried to sell me another one, which was on sale at the time for $15, and their $10 for 2 years extended warranty. I told them I would not buy another one and would never buy anything from them again. (And I wont). Anyhow, my question is what can go wrong with a solar panel? It was not dropped, smashed, cracked, or anything that would physically damage it. Since it's junk anyhow, I am going to try to open it, but it appears the screws or (whatever) holds the two halves of the case together are embedded in some sort of plastic. So, I guess drilling them out is my only way. |
#2
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What would cause a solar panel battery charger to die?
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#3
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What would cause a solar panel battery charger to die?
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#4
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What would cause a solar panel battery charger to die?
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#5
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What would cause a solar panel battery charger to die?
On Monday, August 10, 2015 at 12:37:22 AM UTC-4, wrote:
I bought one of the solar chargers they sell at Harbor Freight for around $20. They are made to charge a 12 volt battery at 1.5 watts. Granted that is not a lot of power, but just to keep a battery topped off, it worked fine. I particularly bought it to keep a car battery charged for a battery powered electric fencer, but I also took it when I went camping, so keep my car battery charged after running my laptop computer off the car's battery without starting the car to recharge the battery. The computer often ran for several hours to play movies. Anyhow, aside from the fact that it's cheap Harbor Freight junk. That is likely the essential issue. You could look for bad solder joints, an obviously defective component, then start debugging it like any other electronic circuit. I bought a cheap VOM from HF, not expecting much either. In less than a year, the voltage readings went to off by 30%+. I think electronics are probably something to be very wary of at HF. |
#6
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What would cause a solar panel battery charger to die?
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#7
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What would cause a solar panel battery charger to die?
On Monday, August 10, 2015 at 1:15:12 AM UTC-7, Harry Hymen wrote:
On 08/09/2015 09:34 PM, wrote: Anyhow, my question is what can go wrong with a solar panel? It was not dropped, smashed, cracked, or anything that would physically damage it. Since it's junk anyhow, I am going to try to open it, but it appears the screws or (whatever) holds the two halves of the case together are embedded in some sort of plastic. So, I guess drilling them out is my only way. Every day the panel heats up and expands. Every night, it cools off and shrinks. My first guess would be thermal cycling killed it. Maybe a cracked solder joint? Yeh, probably bad solder joints or maybe a bad blocking diode. |
#8
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What would cause a solar panel battery charger to die?
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#9
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What would cause a solar panel battery charger to die?
On Sunday, August 9, 2015 at 11:37:22 PM UTC-5, wrote:
I bought one of the solar chargers they sell at Harbor Freight for around $20. They are made to charge a 12 volt battery at 1.5 watts. Granted that is not a lot of power, but just to keep a battery topped off, it worked fine. I particularly bought it to keep a car battery charged for a battery powered electric fencer, but I also took it when I went camping, so keep my car battery charged after running my laptop computer off the car's battery without starting the car to recharge the battery. The computer often ran for several hours to play movies. Anyhow, aside from the fact that it's cheap Harbor Freight junk. It stopped charging completely. There was a blue LED on it that would indicate it was charging, and that LED no longer lights in bright sun, and my volt meter shows no output. I took it back to HF, but was told that unless I had bought their COSTLY extended warranty, it was only warranted for 3 months. Of course they tried to sell me another one, which was on sale at the time for $15, and their $10 for 2 years extended warranty. I told them I would not buy another one and would never buy anything from them again. (And I wont). Anyhow, my question is what can go wrong with a solar panel? It was not dropped, smashed, cracked, or anything that would physically damage it. Since it's junk anyhow, I am going to try to open it, but it appears the screws or (whatever) holds the two halves of the case together are embedded in some sort of plastic. So, I guess drilling them out is my only way. At a price of $20.00, I'd buy one of them just to play with. I wouldn't worry about any warranty because I'd have it apart as soon as I got home. ^_^ [8~{} Uncle Solar Monster |
#10
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What would cause a solar panel battery charger to die?
Uncle Monster wrote:
On Sunday, August 9, 2015 at 11:37:22 PM UTC-5, wrote: I bought one of the solar chargers they sell at Harbor Freight for around $20. They are made to charge a 12 volt battery at 1.5 watts. Granted that is not a lot of power, but just to keep a battery topped off, it worked fine. I particularly bought it to keep a car battery charged for a battery powered electric fencer, but I also took it when I went camping, so keep my car battery charged after running my laptop computer off the car's battery without starting the car to recharge the battery. The computer often ran for several hours to play movies. Anyhow, aside from the fact that it's cheap Harbor Freight junk. It stopped charging completely. There was a blue LED on it that would indicate it was charging, and that LED no longer lights in bright sun, and my volt meter shows no output. I took it back to HF, but was told that unless I had bought their COSTLY extended warranty, it was only warranted for 3 months. Of course they tried to sell me another one, which was on sale at the time for $15, and their $10 for 2 years extended warranty. I told them I would not buy another one and would never buy anything from them again. (And I wont). Anyhow, my question is what can go wrong with a solar panel? It was not dropped, smashed, cracked, or anything that would physically damage it. Since it's junk anyhow, I am going to try to open it, but it appears the screws or (whatever) holds the two halves of the case together are embedded in some sort of plastic. So, I guess drilling them out is my only way. At a price of $20.00, I'd buy one of them just to play with. I wouldn't worry about any warranty because I'd have it apart as soon as I got home. ^_^ [8~{} Uncle Solar Monster If you want to play with it, buy a couple bags of broken pieces of cell element, solder them together to make a higher wattage panel. There is trace connecting each cell criss-cross under the protective panel, when continuity broke.... There are guys building big panels with minimal cost. All you need is soldering skill and crafy hands. |
#11
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What would cause a solar panel battery charger to die?
On Thursday, August 13, 2015 at 11:04:33 AM UTC-5, Tony Hwang wrote:
Uncle Monster wrote: On Sunday, August 9, 2015 at 11:37:22 PM UTC-5, wrote: I bought one of the solar chargers they sell at Harbor Freight for around $20. They are made to charge a 12 volt battery at 1.5 watts. Granted that is not a lot of power, but just to keep a battery topped off, it worked fine. I particularly bought it to keep a car battery charged for a battery powered electric fencer, but I also took it when I went camping, so keep my car battery charged after running my laptop computer off the car's battery without starting the car to recharge the battery. The computer often ran for several hours to play movies. Anyhow, aside from the fact that it's cheap Harbor Freight junk. It stopped charging completely. There was a blue LED on it that would indicate it was charging, and that LED no longer lights in bright sun, and my volt meter shows no output. I took it back to HF, but was told that unless I had bought their COSTLY extended warranty, it was only warranted for 3 months. Of course they tried to sell me another one, which was on sale at the time for $15, and their $10 for 2 years extended warranty. I told them I would not buy another one and would never buy anything from them again. (And I wont).. Anyhow, my question is what can go wrong with a solar panel? It was not dropped, smashed, cracked, or anything that would physically damage it.. Since it's junk anyhow, I am going to try to open it, but it appears the screws or (whatever) holds the two halves of the case together are embedded in some sort of plastic. So, I guess drilling them out is my only way. At a price of $20.00, I'd buy one of them just to play with. I wouldn't worry about any warranty because I'd have it apart as soon as I got home. ^_^ [8~{} Uncle Solar Monster If you want to play with it, buy a couple bags of broken pieces of cell element, solder them together to make a higher wattage panel. There is trace connecting each cell criss-cross under the protective panel, when continuity broke.... There are guys building big panels with minimal cost. All you need is soldering skill and crafy hands. I once did a lot of soldering I still have my Weller temperature controlled soldering station I bought at the electronic supply house in 1973. I don't remember what happened to my vacuum de-soldering station but I still have a partial roll of Kester 5 core solder I bought back then. I haven't done a lot of surface mount soldering so I'll have to get one of those practice kits to learn with but I have plenty of cheap electronic stuff to experiment on. I know Weller makes SMD tips that will fit my ancient soldering station so I may order a few when I can finally get back home. à²*Œ£à²* For the hell of it I checked Amazon and Weller still makes a soldering station similar to the one I bought 42 years ago. The only difference I see is a black cord (ESD?) and the absence of the integrated topside metal tip tray and sponge holder. Mine is the model WTCPN with a white cord. (¬€¿Â¬) https://tinyurl.com/nhgdzus https://tinyurl.com/p5lblr3 [8~{} Uncle Solder Monster |
#12
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What would cause a solar panel battery charger to die?
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#14
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What would cause a solar panel battery charger to die?
"Edmund J. Burke, Ph.D"
Wed, 02 Sep 2015 14:47:19 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote: "Diesel" wrote in message ... Mon, 10 Aug 2015 04:34:16 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote: I bought one of the solar chargers they sell at Harbor Freight for around $20. They are made to charge a 12 volt battery at 1.5 watts. Granted that is not a lot of power, but just to keep a battery topped off, it worked fine. I particularly bought it to keep a car battery charged for a battery powered electric fencer, but I also took it when I went camping, so keep my car battery charged after running my laptop computer off the car's battery without starting the car to recharge the battery. The computer often ran for several hours to play movies. Anyhow, aside from the fact that it's cheap Harbor Freight junk. It stopped charging completely. There was a blue LED on it that would indicate it was charging, and that LED no longer lights in bright sun, and my volt meter shows no output. Sounds like a weak solder joint has failed. Or, a diode...you can take the device apart and probe it with your meter. You should be able to determine if the panel itself isn't producing power OR the circuit board is no longer doing anything with it. This wood: http://tinyurl.com/qjxhp2o Dude, I didn't ask to see pics of your family. Please, feel free NOT to share more in the future. -- Optimist: Someone who doesn't know all the facts yet. |
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