SM100 solar light for off-grid communities. 

I love the simpler products like this one that has a switch: ON / OFF And that is it. None of that flashing SOS shite or whatever...if I want a flasher I can go down to the park at night.

Man what I would have given for one of those when I was a boy, I grew up on an old farm, the house was built in 1910 by my grandfather when he purchased the land from the RR company. We had no power and relied on kerosene lamps for our light, we had one white gas lamp that was rather bright, it was in the kitchen for mom. We had no extra money for flashlight batteries, in fact I was punished if caught shining a light into the darkness when I feared there were ghosts and such (when I was very young, dad would tease us about ghosts with tales of darkness from his childhood days!) One of those would have been a Godsend, so I can imagine how great they would be for folks who still live in such a situation now days.

Now we need to raise money to get Torx drivers to developing nations!

A second, larger, version with 5V USB output in addition to the light would be great. My understanding is that communication is often limited to cellular/satellite. That would allow (limited) charging capacity. Also what this needs is multi-level control. After all if you do not need the full output going 50% would almost double that 5 hour run time!

We envision a bevy of test instruments, waiting like cheap dates by the phone, hoping for the fleeting moment of on-camera exposure. The multimeter glaring angrily at the spudger, envious of an imagined favoritism bestowed by The Master. Supervising all, the "line voltage safe interrupter" sits quietly by with Cheshire Cat countenance... smug in its familiarity with the bright light of fame.

Well Clive I think a company has been listening to you, I have to say is a good and simple torch.

Wow that UT210E is stunning!! I have a much larger clamp ammeter that can read DC Amps up to a few hundred but it hardly stays at zero like this one does. The slightest activity makes it shoot up to 30A or 50A when there's no current passing through at all. It's only good for measuring very high DC amps like a car's starter motor :(

I LOVE ALL TYPE OF SOLAR

I enjoy your videos thoroughly as an electrical engineer myself, I appreciate your input.

I like this idea...there are so many super cheap items like this that we make fun of, but they really could have a big impact in other worlds. Plus something about "storing" sunlight for later use as light I've always found interesting. They probably use Torx so the end users can't open them...these people have no idea what electricity is or how it works, they should not be playing with lithium cells. (That goes for a lot of people inside the US!) It is very unlikely they could manage to "fix" one of these lights if it dies. It would have been nicer to use two LEDs inside, that way if one dies the other might remain lit.

This is one of my favorite channels I swear it. I see a new video come up and I need a fresh beverage and some time to enjoy. Awesome. (Content comment to follow)

When translating the data sheets, you could take a screenshot of the translation in order to print it out.

The cost is so low on these that I'm surprised they don't have a buy one give one type of offer to help get them into the hands of kids who would benefit from them. I love the design based on what you've pointed out, Clive. Truly a long term design built for long term service. Of course one could conceivably apply the same garden light technique of taping over the holes to augment the weather seal. which would also put another protective layer over the solar cell if one thought there might be the potential for inordinate exposure to moisture.

Clive does note like warnties, from the manufactures rather basic product-faq, "you should not replace the batteries by yourself. Indeed you are not allowed to open the lamp in any case. For any mal-functioning refer to your SunnyMoney contact. Opening the SM100 will invalidate the warranty. ". I'm so glad he does this so we don't have to.

B&M currently have 2 for £8 on LED lighting, and this includes some Phillips dimmable LED fillament bulbs. I've got one myself and it works well, dimming smoothly down to low level. Might be an interesting teardown if you can get hold of one. Must have a capacitor for smoothing since when on a normal switch, instead of going off instantly like an LED normally does, it fades like a conventional bulb.

That off-center solar panel is driving my OCD crazy. It also looks like the last module in the solar panel to the left got stacked on top of the one next to it at an angle.

3,65 V for 100% charge, 3,5 V for 95% charge....Nice little product this one. Good idea to use a LiFePo4 battery too.

it is actually literally physically impossible to pick out the right size of torx bit on the first go

It was really stupid to use torx screws if this is made for developing countries, because these are the sort of things that could be used and repaired for years and torx screws are hard to use unless you have the right bit.

It would be interesting if someone developed these so that they could couple together in series or parallel so that you could essentially gather a bunch together to make a solar generator to power larger appliances.

A lot of clever features and safety has gone into this. Those batteries are still dangerous. a regular screw would be common knife but a torx screw needs a special hard to find tool. They could've used cheap screws, but didn't. It looks real well designed and thought out. Good on them. I wonder how many actually makes to any kid, and not gutted for batteries and parts!

Good choice for that cell But still it's gonna wear when putting the gadget in full sunlight in the desert.Batteries just don't combine with that oven in the sky.

I'd like to see you review that screwdriver set.

That's a nicely built little unit. They should make a head torch of the same nature.

So as I understand it, the green LED will be lit any time the solar panel is exposed to (bright) light. It would seem to me to be more useful if it only lit when the battery reaches full charge.

The translation "won't print out"... screen capture is your friend here. If it is on your screen, you can print it.

Normal charge voltage of a LiFePO4 is ~3.6v

Had to look it up; in case other are interested, I saw 3.65 as the peak for LiFePO batteries

I believe d.light started this business model, but good to see others also doing same.

I've come up with a BigClive drinking game. After having watched many videos I think this would be a good one. You have to drink a beer or take a shot every time Clive says the word 'modest.' Have fun! ;)

Clive, could you consider doing a video on how temperature extremes affect rechargeable batteries? Thinking of the use of a rechargeable light such as this in conditions of extended storage or use in sub-freezing temperatures.

something I sort of noticed was it looks like its just ABS plastic with no UV protectant. Its fine enough for a while but for a solar thing thats going to see constant use, I dont know.

Love your work. Greetings from USA, Illinois.

hey Clive have you messed with the Google translate app on the phone? you can do real time translation of anything you point your camera at, it's really neat.

Great video as always.. you might look at the Luci Lantern style lights. similar idea with donation to Africa, I think they donate a light for every light purchased.. something like that. it's an inflatable lantern light.. bought a few for my camping kit. love your channel keep up the good work.

thanks clive, good stuff as always ^^

Being that its not waterproof,I would worry about it not being much good in humid climates.After seeing what happends to typical garden style lights,seems it would become a green house in no time,complete with moss. ,there is always a use for this in desert type regions.

Loving that new logo!

Nice content! Keep it up!

Interesting to see something like this. Personally I would have made it a bit more water proof (probably IP67 or so) because it's pretty much inevitable that a few of them will be dropped into water by accident. It would not have cost more than another few pence on the bill of materials either. Good vid though.

C'mon Clive. I know you can't leave it at that! Mod the bugger and put it to good use. You cost me 3quid the other day in pound land. How about hooking it up to run some of the string LEDs?

Why on Earth wouldn't they use an 18650? They're much more common and can be salvaged inexpensively from many devices.

Thanks for the 'sensitive' presentation Clive. I was hoping you would get round to taking one of these apart. These products really are transforming peoples lives and health here in Kenya... perhaps sometime in the future you can feature the www.dlight.com/solar-lighting-products/single-function/a1/ I use them as garden lights and find them very hard to fault, but of course for the tens of 1000's with no access to electricity these are an absolute god send and the only form of lighting in their homes, as you quite rightly stated.

Why did they use Torx? Not exactly end-user friendly for their intended market!

That's a nice warranty voiding driver set. What's the brand name and how much was it.

Not gonna lie for 10 quid you get a torch that charges with the sun. Sure they claim to sell it cheaper to developing countries, but it's still bloody useless. The LED is behind half a centimeter of plastic, wasting light by splashing it all over the case, there's no USB charging ports (at least *one* would've sufficed) and the thing is designed to make it impossible take apart to repair, which I'd say is vital for people who'd have little access to just buying a new one off the shelf or online. I say a USB port would've been necessary because while it's true they don't have as many gadgets and such to use them with, it's incredibly naiive to think they'd have no use for charging over electronics. It defeats the entire point of an expensive solar cell when it does the same job *a wind-up torch can do for much less*. If they had cheap phones or tablets, or even a USB-compatible battery charger for other electronics, this device would've been great as a solar powerbank but also for charging items for free. Instead, you get a mediocre LED with a bit of metal, and most of the money goes intoa solar panel that isn't even utilised to its full potential. This product clearly wasn't designed for developing countries in mind, it was designed to *make a profit off the backs of struggling communities and charities thinking this product will make a damn difference*.

as for the screwdriver, i bought one of those nice aluminium ones from ebay seller in china, when it came, it didnt have the 8 promised bits, it had 4, and two of those , the 2 philips werent cut, they were just tapered bits of metal....

ide like too see big clive design his own solar light

Nice review & great cause Clive - well worth a punt to support them, if only in a small way! Awaiting stock for my order atm though... 👍🏻 🤑 🐍

Thank you Clive

a few years ago I purchased 20 solar powered automatic air fresheners The refill cartridges were no longer made, I think I paid £5 for the lot. I sold some on eBay for solar projects as the solar panel . charge and timer circuit and the electronic spray valve were good quality. I made well over my outlay back and still have 3 left brand new boxed. Your welcome to one if you can make a video of a project that will help somebody learn I can post it to you free

this could be super useful in my third world esque dirt poor neighborhood. I'd probably get charged a first world rate for them. Lights make a huge difference in safety and security, It'd be super useful to have a dusk sensing feature on them though.

Nice review. I think i'll buy one just to support the project :)

nice big switch, decent sealing, lifepo4 battery....not too bad.

What happened to the good old clockwork wind up Torches.

45mA from the battery, not driving the LED... as the voltage of the LED is likely lower, its current will be higher.

For the page you cannot print take a screenshot of the page, paste it into a photo editing software or Ms Paint. Save it and then you should be able to print it 😀

@7:03 Might not a screen capture be appropriate then? Windows key + Print Screen (PrntScn) if M$ hasn't changed things in the 15 years or so since I've used Windows or Grab on OS X (which lets you choose between capturing the entire screen, a specific window or a selection)... it'll add 30s or so to your workflow to grab the screenshot, open the resulting .bmp or .tiff and crop if necessary before printing... just a thought (^_-)

Needs to include an emergency dynamo if possible and include a power out connection for those real emergency emergencies.

Any idea what wattage the led cell is? I must have missed it if you did mention it. From the 3.2V x 42mah calc it suggests about 1.3-1.4w, how would you find the intensity and a fully charged runtime of maybe 7hours? Am I close or did I miscalculate? Looks a decent quality compromise but could do with being scaled up into a bigger light

I enjoy watching your videos, but you never seem to tell us how long stuff runs for.

I don't think it's a problem that these aren't waterproof. From what I am lead to believe, they all live miles away from any water.

BigClive What are the pros and cons of the different types of lithium battery?

For things that dont print you may be able to use PRT SC key amd past into Paint!

Clive, you're a wizard

mines cheaper lol no stand tho i made a flashlight out of a garden light and some 3d printed housings , my kids love them and as long as they out them in the window they always works .

Hey Clive, I like that meter too, would you recommend it? How about a quick review checking current accuracy at low values?

Neat little device!

IKEA has something similar: "SUNNAN solar lamp sold, the IKEA Foundation donates one to UNICEF!" (Pris in Norway is close to 9£) It would be nice to have a simelar view on this. Have a pair that I bought because they have a very desent sized solar panel and the led give a good reading light. After a day in the sun you can read for 3-4 hours..

Thanks a lot

Could one make a solar device that would trickle charge an AA NiMH but allow it to be safely interchangeable with a disposable AA without intervention? I think that could be more suited versatile long term use off grid.

Watched pretty much all Clives vids. Brillant! all of them. :) I still can't find a way to "click" 'Thumbs up' when in full screen mode. I also get confused with the electronics terms "pull up" "pull down" "across" and "in respect to". i do have a disability with learning tho. if anyone has any "explain it like i'm five" explanations (with pictures?) that can put the 'vernacular' language into a context to help me learn, i'm sure that myself and possibly many other beginners would be very grateful.

Clive, does the package state, or do you have an instrument to measure the lumen output of the lights you test?

I think the kids instead of snuggling under the covers with a good book, they will more likely be using them to see while grinding corn or going to fetch water etc. We can have such an idealistic view sometimes. lol

It could be a nice light for an emergency kit at home, if it wasn't for the 0.14mA quiescent current. it will discharge a full battery in about 3 months. if you turn the light on and forget about it it will be even worse once the protection kicks in after about 8 hours and the pull up resistor keeps discharging it until the end of time...

I like the good will behind these sorts of things, but like the the OLPC, I can't help but feel they often end up missing the mark. Have you seen the price of these sorts of things on ebay including non-bulk delivery? I can't help but think you'd be better off funding and organising a big shipment of an existing device rather than designing a new one from scratch, even if the new device is more ideally suited. Basically I think there is often a lack of pragmatism. Maybe that isn't the case here though, although superficially it feels like it might be. As mentioned already, the obscure torx screws seems like a terrible design choice.

Can you make something that doesn't need battery? They don't even need a solar cell on top. Maybe just lift a 50kg sandbag in the evening for about 1,5m height that any man can do in 2 seconds in the evening and use that energy to lit up a led like this. It doesn't create any waste like the battery and plastics used with this. That could work for weeks even with nearly 0 effort on their part and sand they probably have everywhere. :)

Great video as always, but where were the flames, starting to expect flames on this channel.

Are there any good motion detecting solar lights? I know Harbor Freight sells several and I see them on Amazon but haven't tried any!

the two slots are for a headband or belt

04:00.....Ayyaaahhhahh.......😂😂

youd think they would use philips screws so the people in those developing countries could actually take them apart when they break....hmm

torx screws cost more than phillips head or flat head screws engineered obsolescence at its finest

I'm curious if they used a standard white LED with Vf >= 3V or if they used one that can drain the battery flat to 2.8V

Cute torch, shame they could not have used surplus phone batterys for a better capacity, the charging chip would support it.

What is the model of the dc current clamp you are using? And where can i buy one like it.

Also, notable is the switch. It's seems rather beefy.

@bigclivedotcom , I feel you omitted to touch onto one of the most basic and important aspects of a thing like this, and that is, how much time is it going to take it to charge that battery all the way? Even if we would be talking about being in a very sunny location with it, would that be six hours? eight hours? how in the world would a schoolkid be able to have it charge for such lengths of time? in many cases he or she would probably have to guard it all the time in order for it not to get nicked, which would simply not be possible given all hours even in third world countries, in Africa, you name it, still would be during daytime hours. (also, is position world have to be adjusted to keep facing the sun a few times.) I find all these kind of things with minimally sized solar 'panels' garbage for exactly all this kind of reasons.. (and especially all those cheap, horribly produced garden lights you refer to, that have even far less actual solar cell surface, often badly cut leftovers totaling only mere square centimeters, absolutely not doing in our own regions with the overcast that is normal - and they all end up being thrown with domestic waste, batteries and all, because well that's just how most people are, isn't it!)

I will get bashed by that comment, but truth always hurts so dont feel bad about it. Problem is that no, its not the cheapest Solar light, its a matter of few second of searching to find rugged(read: something that will not break after one drop) solar flashlights, that have really good reviews and cost less than 6$ you can even get mix of solar panel+ hand crank to charge it. Now when you check it closer, you can easily buy 1000 batches of it where one unit would cost you only 4$ So if you like it or not, its product made purely for publicity: bright fancy color, some nice pictures on package and site, and some touching stories of how people out there have no light... then all you need is to get contract with Chinese company that would make it for maybe 1-2$ per unit, and you can make money from from it. Second thing. All that idea of "send stuff to third world country" is bullshit. They will send few batches of it to some bigger cities in Africa/India and there it will be taken by local companies that just take it and sell it for their own profit. And I repeat those are local companies, so people that best know how crappy their own country is. Other thing is that all those fancy advertising and ads on TV are also total bullshit. its a matter of going there or watching private videos of people who where there. You would probably see there more iPhones and cars than toilets. Especially in India. this country have serious hygiene problem. This country is so filthy that I have no idea how phone companies managed to sell there so much mobile phones... My friend who live there say that its easier to get latest phone than find or even make proper toilet in house... Third thing: Even if we talk about more well known companies that support sending such devices, maybe 25% of them go to countries that would need them. I was working in Red cross for few days, and in that few days no one even care that 50% of food that should be send to Africa was send to private companies in Europe. In paper they where transport subcontractors but no one care where it was going after that. all what was matter is that it was checked as "send" and it count in statistics. So overall even if device it self is... pretty nice, all behind story of it as it was made for helping people in third world countries is just bullshit. I can make few pictures of kids with those devices in hand, and all people would do "ooh! poor kids! We need to send them flashlights!" Of course now few snowflakes will feel mad about that comment so feel free to cry about it :]

I see how this would be a valuable item for a child, or even an adult as a personal item .... but I feel like if we really wanted to move the needle with regard to providing light in an village in a developing country where there was no electricity, then it would be much more economical to create a central resource with a large battery and solar panels which could provide limited electricity to many people.

Hi Clive any chance you could do a tear down/how it works- of a small bathroom extractor fan, I have one which works,but the time delay side of it has stopped working, I was goin to replace it,but if it's just a case of a few capacitors which are used to keep it running after the powers off? Then I would like to repair it.... Would be a good video as well I think😀😉. Atb Martin

Do you accept donations of products? i mean to take them apart like you do

Lots of use in Scotland then?

any estimates on run and charge time? this is a pretty good design,, built in stand for reading,(is it actually enough to read with?) will certainly be handy in developing countries, bit like baygen when you bought one you also paid for one in africa

I've heard SM100 is a bitch to work with. Wears out tools, belts, anything really. Real hard steel

Hey Clive, what kind of "high tech" mini screwdriver set is that?

What does the amount of sections mean on a solar panel? Does a larger amount of sections equate to a larger number of energy pipelines, so to speak?

Nice video

Where did you get that screwdriver set from?

thanks