I did think about that (the solar panel can be used to switch off the LEDs with a transistor) but to keep it super simple and to have the light on to make it look “oh so pretty” during the day swayed my to just keep it all simple :-). I have made a few of them now and we got to enjoy watching a hedgehog 🦔 walking about one evening... it was magic!! :-)
Thanks Pat! - It was indeed a quick, fun project. I have made a few now, all dotted around the garden walls - They actually help a lot in the evening, we watched a hedgehog creep up on us and eat a slug a few days ago! Vicky got the hedgehog bowl and cat food out again!! :-) Hope you have a great week! Howard
done similar here in Scotland. but unfortunately in the winter (when you want the light) the sun is almost zero. so have moved to 5v USB circuit around the garden. can power all the lights (using timers), and costs next to nothing. 5v 1amp. thanks or the ideas.
If you love Scotland and camping, seeing the sights, and a good old waffle... please subscribe to Desmond’s Donders!! It’s a proper chill moment with some epic drone footage!
one possible way not to worry about water through the cable input to the housing, leave the hole downwards and have the solar panel cables going behind the lamp up to the panel. But all in all, very nice! might have to try to make one myself!
@@DubiousEngineering absolutely fair reasoning, dont want led tan spiders? well one could use cheaper materials to plug it, or hotglue a fine mesh(fabric or metal) to allow airflow and condensation to run out and still be spider proof
@9:15 In America, that tape is called self vulcanizing. Vulcanization is what it's called when rubber cures. The tape is rubber that isn't fully cured. Over time, it finishes curing, bonding to itself, slowly becoming a solid piece of rubber. That's why it's waterproof. Electricians call it simply 'rubber tape'.
Dr Spock would be proud 😅 ... Do a Wikipedia on self amalgamating tape... Is Wikipedia American? Americans also say soddering instead of soldering... And you spell aluminium incorrectly :-). Hugs man!!!
@@chrisw1462 According to the published written records, aluminium precedes aluminum by one year (1811 against 1812). However the two spellings of the name for the then newly discovered metal cohexisted for quite some time, before splitting on the two sides of the Atlantic -- IUPAC in 1990 established "aluminium" as the standard spelling, and there is not a single European language that spells it without the second "i" :) Like I say often to my beloved American wife, Americans have many charming traits, but some obdurate pigheadedness in spelling :)
@@Archeophis Sir Humphry Davy named it Aluminum first in an 1808 publication . British chemists changed it to Aluminium to make it more like the other elements.
@@chrisw1462 No idea where your last reply went, as I got it in email but cannot see it here. However, since I am hard put to let go any chance of nitpicking... The quote from the 1808 publication is: "Had I been so fortunate as..to have procured the metallic substances I was in search of, I should have proposed for them the names of silicium, alumium, zirconium, and glucium." -- H. Davy in Philosophical Transactions (Royal Society) vol. 98 353 Alumium is a fine word as any other, when we are naming new things, but it is neither aluminum nor aluminium. (I am quite pigheaded as well :D )
Driving those barely at all for sure. A 1W LED can be driven at 300ma each but 150-250ma is the peak to lightness ratio. So, 20ma each? Get a starboard for them, or purchase some and drive them a bit harder for even more goodness. Is it because the panel used has a hard time keeping the 18650 fully charged if driven harder? Even at full rated current the 1W doesn't even need a starboard or heatsink. I prefer the 3w version at drive them like a 1w or 2w. They last forever but keeping the 18650 charged (for a single cell) in the winter can be a bit of a pain. In the UK I suspect it would be a no go. I live at 35.1 degrees latitude.
What an epic bit of advice!! Totally understand your points here!! Problem is I’d need bigger panels and more batteries to keep things running in winter- as you suggested!!!
I find that you need to make sure the battery stays above 2 volts and below 4.2 volts otherwise those lithium cells die quickly!! ... maybe some zenners would help reduce the risk of over changing!! Thanks for enjoying the crazy videos Alex!! :-)
@@DubiousEngineering the LED you have connected has a "avalanche reaction". When the battery voltage decrease until 2.7V , the LED switch off and pull no current any more, with no risk of discharging deeply the battery cell. Also, the solar pannel never exceed a current enought to damage battery, even if it rise 4,7V, witch is a voltage you can reach without damaging the battery. Of course, to make it perfectly a battery manager is nice. From my point of view, I didn't use this kind of protection with that application (I sometimes build my own rechargeable lamp). But I keep the battery manager for touchy application to protect battery in case of overcurrent, more than from a deep discharge. Yes crazy channel and nice :)
I have ordered some 4.3v zenners and I will try a test with a lab power supply and a current meter! ... this sounds like an epic experiment!! Thank you 🙏 ... I can see we will have many recharging lights soon!! :-)
@@DubiousEngineering you are intending to protect the battery cell against overvoltage? if yes, you can use 5 or 6 silicon diodes in serial connected anode to positive and cathode to negative of the cell. It will be a high power cheap zener diode for few cents, and tweaked for your taste.
I did just that with two diodes to peg this zn414 am radio chip at 1.2 Volts!!! Now why didn’t I think of just using more diodes?!? ... thank you again Alex!!! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sh4TLJwR_4Q.html
The proper "technical" term for a lamp or a light or anything giving off "light" ia a luminaire... the official meaning of luminarie is "a complete lighting unit". I wrote the original comment while laughing at remembering my Foreman screaming "bulbs go in the bloody garden" 🤣🤣🤣
