Indestructible Solar Light

Being alone, in the dark, on a cold, damp night isn't an experience that most people want to have. Unfortunately, it happens.

Sometimes it happens because your flashlight ran out of battery, got dropped and broken, or you just forgot to bring a flashlight. This light was made to help you with all of these problems. Except the last one. It can't help you with that. Sorry. :-)

I hope you enjoy this Instructable! Please leave ideas and possible improvements in the comments! Thanks!

Step 1: What You'll Need

• A Solar Yard Light (You can buy them at Dollar Tree)
• A PVC Pipe Cap (It should slide easily over the top of your yard light)
• A Hot Glue Gun
• A Drill w/ 3/8" Bit
• Electrical Tape
• Scissors

Step 2: Preparation

Remove the solar unit from the stake, as shown. Mine just twisted off, but others may require unscrewing. Slide the covering off of the unit, if there is one. This helps maintain a waterproof seal.

Step 3: Assembling

If your solar unit is not tight inside of the PVC cap, you need to wrap it with electrical tape until it fits snugly. Don't press the unit into the cap yet, though. First, you need to take the cap, and drill a 3/8" hole directly in the center of it. This hole is to let the light through. Now you can insert your unit into the cap. The fit should be very snug. If you can get it back out, then you didn't do it right. :-)

Step 4: Waterproofing

To waterproof the hole you drilled, you need to fill it with hot glue. Be very careful to make the exposed layer of glue clean-looking, because hot glue is hard to clean up.

Step 5: Conclusion

I know nothing is really "Indestructible," but this is pretty close. There are several things you could do to it that may improve practicality, but decrease " indestructibility." One of these ideas is to add a switch to control the light. Currently, the light comes on when it doesn't sense other lights. There are two reasons I didn't add a switch: First, I wanted to keep the project simple. Second, I didn't know how to waterproof it.

Congratulations! You now have a working, "indestructible", solar survival light that can shine for over 10 minutes on a 30 minute charge! This design has been drop-tested from 20+ feet and soaked in water for over 30 minutes, and it still works! Enjoy your newly constructed solar light, and thank you for reading this Instructable!

Comments

[jucruz]

Interesting! Will try it!

[Androgynous14u]

Simple, useful, very practical and just really very cool. Thanks for sharing this. I love it. Sometimes the most simple of ideas on here awe me. Seems as something I should have easily been able to think up. I suppose that's part of the beauty of the internet. Kudos. :-)

[doo da do]

You can use a 1.5 V battery and the light will be brighter also.

[fullclip765]

Cool I'm working on solar bike lights

[chiquitet]

made it with jars for nite lite

[Hellhoud]

very good idea you can also paint it

[Salman Naveed]

Pretty creative and useful! The appearance is that of a high tech gadget! =D