How to fix solar light that stop working ? – broken solar light repair – Troubleshooting
Solar Lights are widely used and easily accessible in the outdoor lighting market, because of the budget friendly, sun power, lower energy consumption, no wires need and easy to install. They are reliable in most of the time, and provide nighttime illumination for various outdoor spaces. Brightening up the blind-spots in the garden, illuminating the walkway to avoid accidents, and bringing special atmosphere for the outdoor activities.
These solar lights are great idea when they are brand new, however, like most electronics, they sometimes have problems that may make them less reliable as time goes on. You will find yourself are trying to fix solar light that stop working, or repair broken solar lights.
Troubleshooting for solar lights
There are different reasons for solar lighting not working properly, sometimes, they are not related to broken parts or malfunctioning components, they are just because you did not follow the instruction manual, these are the easy fixes.
Check these first in order to determine to return them to stores, or disassembly them to fix.
Inspect the light
ON/OFF switch
Check the switch on the solar light to ensure it's fully into the "ON" position.Most of the lights , the switch may be at the bottom of the top cover of the solar landscaping light. Some of them are the slide switch, slide it left and right at the ON or OFF switch. Some of them are the push button switch, push it to make sure the lights is at the status of “ ON”.
Pull Tabs on battery
A lot of solar lights now come equipped with a pull tab instead of the switch, the pull tabs are inserted in the battery compartment to prevent the battery from touching the metal terminals directly and discharging while being shipped, that will make the solar light is out of power when you receive it. Make sure that this tab is removed before trying to charge the solar light.
After it was switched into “ON” position , or removed the pull tab, you can cover the solar panel, making the fixture think it is in night, if it works, the LED will turn on.
Battery properly installed
Make sure the battery is properly installed, most of the solar lights, in the battery compartment, it is marked with the battery direction with positive “+” and negative “ -” , and battery type and Voltage like AA 1.2V , or 14430 LiFePO4 3.2v. make sure the battery type and installing direction match the marks in the compartment , no reverse.
The batteries are pre-installed for most of the solar landscape lights, so you don’t need to worry about it . But when you replace with a brand new battery, you should pay attention of it.
Another important point is the battery be used in solar lights must be the rechargeable battery, the dry cell battery can not be charged and will be dangerous when it is installed and charged in the daytime.
Check the landscape
Shadow over the solar panel
Sometimes, the solar landscape light stop working simply because the buildings or plants block much of the sun lighting in the daytime. While the solar panel need to absorb adequate sun lighting to charge and store the power in the battery.
Choose a position that has a long direct sun lighting from dawn to dusk, not install the solar lights under the walls or trees that will block the lighting as sun move in the sky. Check the solar lights every couple of months to see that it is not affected by too much shade . if you’ve fitted the solar lights in the summer, it has the shortest shadow, but as seasons change and till in the winter, it has the longer shadow, that the buildings, trees, shrubs may delivery the shadow over the solar panel while it was not in summer season, that need you re-position your solar lights.
solar light need to be fitted with directly sun lighting
Sometimes, because the plants in the area you fitted solar light grow so much they block much of the daylight. Most of the solar path lights in the market are around 30-40cm, some of the deck lights or ground lights are just attached on the ground. So they are easily blocked by the plants or shrubs. To fix outdoor solar lights that stop working for this reason, trim back any overgrowth, or simply move the light so its panel receives direct sunlight much of the day.
Nighttime darkness
The solar lights that are exposed to other light sources will not turns on, in the past, most of the solar lights has a photocell, now the solar panel itself is a photocell that can detect the light level and determine whether it is nighttime or not . If the solar landscape lights are installed under a street light and too bright, it will think it is daytime and won’t turns on. That moving the solar landscape lights to a darker area to make sure they produce nighttime illumination.
Angle of solar panel
For optimum performance, the solar panel works best when pointed in the right direction to the sun, that it can absorb the most sun lighting, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so having your solar panel facing south (when you are in the northern hemisphere area) will allow it to get the sunlight from morning right through to evening time. Most of solar path lights can not adjust the angle, just make sure they sit vertically not tilt , for some of spot or flood lights that can adjust the angle of solar panel , you can adjust it with 45 degree and facing south to make it collect the most of sun lighting. That will make it have the best performance.
If checked all the above issues, and it still not work properly, inspect the light as below:
Solar Panel :
In many cases, the solar landscape lights stop working just because the solar panels get dirty or covered by dust, just use a soft cloth to wipe the dust and debris off. Sometimes the solar panel may become cloudy or haze, that because most of the solar panels for solar lights are used of epoxy resin for capsulation, this kind of material will be aged quickly when it is under blazing sun for a long time, and turns white or yellow. That will block the sun lighting going through and hitting the cells inside.
epoxy solar panel turns cloudy under blazing sun
There are several solutions when you find this issue: First , fixing the solar lights with nail polish, you can apply a coat of clear nail polish, this will rejuvenate the solar panel.
The second way is you can also use a sandpaper wipe up the cloudy on the surface of solar panel , that will also refresh it.
But these two ways are only can make it work for a short period, after several months, the solar panel may be recovered with the cloudy soon.
The best way is replace the epoxy solar panel with a PET laminated solar panel, which with a totally different material and production process, and with no issue of cloudy and have a longer lifespan. Check here to see how to change it with a PET laminated solar panel .
Battery :
If you've cleaned and cleared up every obvious issue and the solar light still doesn't work or run hours is short, it may need new batteries. The batteries are usually tucked under the solar panel. Twist the top cover out from housing, you will easily find it under the battery cover , some lights may need a screwdriver to open it. open it and check the working inside, in some cases, there may be a single AA NI-MH battery, or 14430, or 18500 3.2V LiFePO4 rechargeable battery. Replace the battery with a fresh one with the same type, and rechargeable battery, it is important . Normally the NI-MH battery need to be replaced with around 1.5 year. And LiFePo4 battery 3 years, for best performance. Make sure you install the battery correctly as the marking in the battery compartment, and it touches the terminal contacts and charging properly.
Water Ingress/Intrusion
If all above work you’ve done, the light is still dead, the most probably is the PCBA or LED issue. Check if there is any rusty at the LED. Sometimes you need to open the compartment by screwdriver and check the PCBA inside. The water ingress may corrode the electrical connection and make it short circuit and burned. So the waterproof is important for solar landscape lights, the water may get in from the solar panel ,if it was not sealed well, and dripped on the PCBA. Once it was burned, it is difficult to fix, the only way is returning to the store and replace with a new one. So check the IP rating before buying the solar landscape lights.
Many solar light retailers are able to provide assistance to those who bought their solar lights. Their helpline answers questions about how they work, and what needs to be done to fix any issues. And the parts replace are available, so you can just inquiry them to get the best services.
Generally, simple fixes to solar lights take minutes and do not require complex tools. This makes them an affordable option for homeowners, and also makes it easy for anyone to carry out simple fixes for these solar lights. That make these solar landscape lights are well accepted and popular in the homeowners. It is the best choice for outdoor garden decoration and illumination for pathway, walkway and yards etc.
