# HOW CAN I MODIFY SOLAR LED DECK LIGHTS?



## pjc1 (Jan 5, 2012)

I want my solar powered deck lights to stay on longer than the sun charged batteries will provide. I have 40 plus deck lights; each has its own solar cell, light sensor and AA battery. I want to eliminate the individual solar cells, light sensors and batteries and power all LED lights from a single power supply. The power supply would be turned on and off by a light sensor. The plan is to wire the + and - of the power supply into the circuit where the individual batteries were previously installed. Obviously, the individual LED lights operated at approx. 1.5v DC, but I have no idea what current the LED's consumed (there are no markings).
Considering that each LED deck light was its own entity (with its LED, resistor, and AA power supply), and I will be wiring all of the lights in parallel to the power supply, I need to know what kind of power supply (voltage and current) I need. Since I probably won't be able to locate a power supply with the exact voltage and current characteristics required, what will I have to do to make it work with the paralleled light circuits?
I am obviously not an electronics expert, and the more I read on series and parallel LED circuits, the less I know. Your experienced help will be greatly appreciated.


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## AnAppleSnail (Jan 7, 2012)

You don't have to wire them in parallel. You could easily connect the negative spring of one to the positive contact of the next to put them in series and get whatever voltage you want. 12v (8 in series) is common low-voltage wiring.

As a rule of thumb, those types of lights won't drive the LEDs with more than 60 mW, so you would be fine with a source capable of delivering 40 times 60 mW, which is 2.4 watts. At 1.4v (The NiMH cells in those things are 1.2v nominal, 1.4v peak) you'll want 1.5-2 amps. The nice thing about these boost circuits is that all they want in the world is enough power coming in within their voltage tolerance. If you go to radio shack and get a 1.5v power supply then you're in business once you wire things up.


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## RoGuE_StreaK (Jan 22, 2012)

pjc1 said:


> I want my solar powered deck lights to stay on longer than the sun charged batteries will provide.


Why not just upgrade the batteries? Typically these things only have maybe a 600mAh battery, chuck in a 2200mAh and she should go all night!?


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## AnAppleSnail (Jan 22, 2012)

RoGuE_StreaK said:


> Why not just upgrade the batteries? Typically these things only have maybe a 600mAh battery, chuck in a 2200mAh and she should go all night!?



Because you only get so much charge during the day x.x


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