Need help with circuit board replacement/repair for 20W halogen solar light statue powered by rechargable batteries.

I have a solar garden statue with a 20W halogen bulb that is powered by 2 AAA rechargable batteries.  It quit working and upon taking it apart I found that the circuit board was corroded and some of the resistors had broken off.  I have been searching for weeks for a new circuit board with no luck.  I need a very small circuit board with an on/off switch, leads for the solar panel, the battery holder, and to connect to a plug that goes to the light.  The solar panel and batteries are in a seperate faux rock that plugs into the base of the statue.  The light in the statue is a 20W halogen bulb that they soldered the wire onto the contacts on the bottom of the bulb.  I have been told by several people who carry circuit boards that the board must have some type of step up transformer to power a 110v 20W halogen bulb.  Can anyone direct me on where I can get a new board for this solar statue or how I can get it working again.?

Comments

[lemonie]

20W from 2 AAA? I struggle to believe that.
I've got some AA Ni-MH claim they're good for 1500mAH @ 1.2V - a pair of them delivering 20W would be running over 8A and for no longer than 20 min (if they'd manage 8A and I doubt it).
Have you got a make and model, point us to a picture?

L

[andybuda]

im after makeing a modual like this for a project
l e ds powered by photo cell charged battries on photo switch and just thought you can by them lights for a garden is there any way of beefing them up abit

[rgodchaux]

I posted pictures of the entire statue with all parts. 

[lemonie]

2AAs, halogen bulb... How long does it last on them?
I'd be inclined to ditch the halogen bulb and use LEDs instead.
E.g.
www.instructables.com/id/LED-halogen-light-converson-using-12v-12x-LED-disc/
I guess the small circuit board is the charging stuff - is that OK visually?

L

[rgodchaux]

The statue light ran for at least 6 hours a night.  It might have ran longer but I never stayed up all night to check.  I have seen it run from dark usually 6pm to 1am. 
I would need a led flood or spot bulb to fit into the hole.  Do they make such an animal?  What size circuit board would I need to run a bulb like that?

[lemonie]

Did you click on the link above on the LED conversion?

Thanks for the time check, 18:00 to 01:00 would be 7 hours at 20W that's ~500KJ. As compared to my AAs (1.5AH @ 1,2V) 13 for the pair!
Wierd...

L

[seandogue]

3V @ 20W.. that's 20/3 A or 6.67A.

I doubt it's running full out at 6-2/3A and in all likelihood, the circuit serves to reduce the drive voltage to a more reasonable value.

In any case, the circuit board is definitely fried.

Clean off all the corrosion. solder stranded or solid core 20ga wire between the damaged sections and you should be good to go.

best wishes

[JimFlo]

OK guys, correct me where I am wrong. The circuit board is a fairly simple LED driver/battery charger circuit. The second and third pics are a really screwed up solar cell? If not repairable you should be able to replace it all with off the shelf parts or just canabalize a LED solar cell walkway light. Lots of instructables on each section, take it one part at a time.

[rgodchaux]

I did purchase a 2w solar board to replace the corroded one.  Its finding the circuit board to power the bulb that seems to be the problem. 

[frollard]

As others say: it can't be a 20 watt halogen if its running on AAA batteries.

Can you post a picture of the circuit board?

Does it in fact use leds?

[rgodchaux]

It does not use leds.  I posted pictures of the statue, board and all other parts it came with.

[frollard]

The circuit board even says "sun led" on it.  Can you pull that bulb out and get a better focus shot of the bulb itself?  I wouldn't be surprised if they hid leds inside there...

2xAA rechargable would be 2.4 volts, probably around 1000mAh...at 20 watts thats pulling 8.3 amps.  at 1000 mAh thats .12 hour (7.2 minutes). ..It's an led.

[rgodchaux]

The bulb is not an led, it is a halogen bulb.  It has the wire coil inside the bulb.  I would rather not pull out the bulb as they have glued it in and sealed it to make it waterproof.  The sun led on the board did not have anything connected to it, nothing soldered on the back in that spot either.  It has a hole in the board above the sun where it looks like something could go but nothing was there. 

Since the halogen bulb seems to be a problem what can I replace it with to make the light work again.  I would need some type bulb big enough to fit in the hole.  Some type of led flood or spot light.  If there is such a thing how do figure out what circuit board size I would need to run the led bulb(s) through the night.  I would assume that if there is a led flood bulb it would have over 6 leds in it.  Don't most solar circuit boards for garden light only power one or two leds and those are usually run by 2 AA batteries not 2 AAA batteries.

[JimFlo]

It's doubtful that its a step up. 2.4 volts of battery wouldnt do it, and a step up woukld have a transformer, but as I said, the math doesnt work for the 2 batteries to step up to 110 volts. Do you have a good picture of the board, and any ID numbers off the bulb?

[rgodchaux]

I posted pictures of the entire statue and all the parts it came with.  There is no ID number on the bulb.  The bulb has pins on the bottom and a halogen bulb in it.