Introduction: Solar Light
How to make a cool nightlight from a solar garden light.
Step 1: Home Depot
I went to Home Depot and bought a 4 pak of Landscape Solar Lights from Hampton Bay. It cost about $24.
Step 2: Buy Glassware
I then went to a thrift store and bought some interesting glassware. One is a mason jar and the other is a 1950's style glass coffee carafe complete with a gold starburst pattern. I removed the handle from the carafe.
Step 3: Frost It
Then you need to frost the inside of the glass. I had a can of spray on frost left over from a bathroom renovation. I gave both pieces two coats on the inside.
Step 4: Finish Up
Then I just added the light to the top. I took one apart to see what it was made of. I did hack this one apart to put onto another jar, but did not like the result. These use rechargeable batters, so just stick in the sunlight when they become dim. I think someone else did a similar project her.
14 Comments
8 years ago on Introduction
For power outage put Duracell 1.5v for more light
9 years ago on Introduction
Interesting concept, and the first thing I thought of was maybe taking these apart to make some solar powered truck camper shell lights. Put the solar disk on top, drill a small hole for the wiring to pass through the camper top, and then use the light inside.
15 years ago on Introduction
i saw them at homdepot i was going to buy them and do the same thing very good simple and cheap
15 years ago on Introduction
That looks like the same one I did an autopsy on. I made a schematic of it and some ideas of what to do with it:"Garden Light autopsy"
The lights are cheap and fun.
16 years ago on Introduction
YES listen to andrew he knows what he's talking about with the nimhs!!! The nicds are the old style cell phone type that if they aren't drained all the way before recharging, they won't recharge all the way.
16 years ago on Introduction
OK Cool. You mentioned as a battery pack? I decided how to do that do that, and then I noticed you had three wires coming from the solar panel. How would I wire this in positive/negative terms? (for instance, would I combine black & blue together to get negative, and use the yellow as positive?
16 years ago on Introduction
oh, make sure to replace thos crappy @$$ NiCd batterys with some good NiMh ones :-)
16 years ago on Introduction
i put mine inside a window that doesnt get any direct sunlight and it never charges we dont have any windows that face the sun so it really stinks it never gets charged unless i put it out side which i dont want to do i was just wondering if they all require direct sunlight
Reply 16 years ago on Introduction
try locating the sun receptor away from the lamp so that it can be placed where it will get sun and run a thin wire back to the batteries
16 years ago on Introduction
Great one!....I just thought of something...how about using a couple of these mounted to my fishtank--charged by my house lights and on at night when dark?... Thanks again.
17 years ago
are the batteries NiMH?
17 years ago
I think someone else did a similar project her.
Yeah, check out Homemade Sun Jar for something similar. Your carafe looks nice though!
17 years ago
could you take apart the lights and just use them to charge batteries or at least the batteries that came with them and use them with different electronics?
Reply 17 years ago
Yes you can easily remove the batteries. There are 4 screws on the bottom. I suppose you could use it as a solar powered battery recharger if you wanted to.