Had the time to check out a Solar LED Lantern that has only one LED powered up. Took the Lantern apart and discovered 5 of the 6 LEDs were dark I ordered what appears to be a replacement and will install them when they come in. Of course they may be installed backwards but no need to remove them until I have the spares. I also found poor solder joints and a broken wire from the OEM battery pack. It will behoove all to have spare batteries to install when the OEMs go bad.
I might recommend you find some motion sensor lights from harbor freight . they seem to be pretty good quality I have several all over the house and property .Less than $10. each and use 4 AA batteries that last for months ,even longer in closets . In a camping environment face the center of the camp any thing entering it's view lights up and it shuts off in a minuet or so .or it can be simply turned on and off manually. certainly cheaper than attempting to fix what inevitably will fail again. Yes I have had a few LEDs fail but they had been running on steadily for several years. and it's not just the LED that goes, it is often the diode or resister or voltage regulator that goes with it. . The worst culprit in electronics failure is switching, especially those with one button that is toggling several functions , not just on and off . I suspect that low voltage is also a culprit, seeing how sensitive heavier equipment reacts to it.. low voltage=high amperage=heat=burn. low voltage is lower than what an the product is designed. A product designed to run on 5 volts running in 3 volts will have adverse effects . Ever notice a watch runs great till the battery dies and replacing the battery doesn't fix it ?.
I use motion sensor solar lights. Auto on at dark in a low mode. Anything trips them and they come on bright for about a minute. I can track the movement of a kitten as it come to the door by the lights cycle time. I have other sensor solar flood lights that are adjustable for brightness and on time used as security lights. The lamp I'm working on is a typical multi LED Lantern style. It was gifted to me as the owner found it had failed. Now's the time to collect knowledge on what breaks and what spares you need. This means a good soldering iron, solder sucker or solder wick along with quality rosin core solder. I believe a cheesy solder was used on my lamp, in this it appears a acid core was used. A quick and dirty way to make the joint but a bad pay back.
This is yet another NIS Lamp I have that is a EN (every night use) item. Simple, solar and stays in the window in the day time. Just one LED and great for the kitchen at night so the whole world does not see you pouring that second night cap. by "etekcity solar led" Model ECL 10
I've done that. I made a pair of solar powered floodlights for my BOL using standard outdoor fixtures, removing the 500W quartz lamps and replacing them with LEDs. Mounted them on top of a 10 FT piece of 2" EMT along with solar panels. Did it back in 2012 because outdoor dc powered LED floodlights were just about non-existent. Amazing, they still work. Whoops I lied. It was 2013.
