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DIY Solar Lantern - Part 3/3

solar flashlightThis is how the cover looks after screwing the switch and pressing down the mini solar module/solar cell with double sided adhesive tape.

Next would be to tape the terminal block to the battery.

solar lantern

The way I did it is to tape a horizontal terminal block and then add 2 vertical terminal blocks on each side. One side would be wired to the negative terminal of the battery and the other side to the positive. The positive side goes to the switch first and not directly to the battery so I can turn it on and off when needed.

Below is a closeup view of the blocking diode. I used an old IN4001 . The diode has a white bar. The white bar is wired to the terminal (going to the side of the battery) while the other side of the diode goes to the ( ) side of the solar cell.

diy solar lantern blocking diode

Here’s how it looks from the other side. At first I thought of using just 1 big LED but later on, I decided to use many smaller bright white LEDs.

diy solar lantern

Here’s a top view shot

diy solar lantern wiring

Here’s a closeup of one of the LEDs. One side is connected to the (-) vertical terminal block and the other side at the ( ) terminal block.

solar LED lights

Top view shot of the 6 LEDs. 3 on each side. The LEDs in a way hold the 2 vertical terminal blocks together which is kinda neat.

solar LED lights

Side view.

solar lantern

Lastly, here’s the finished product.

solar powered lantern

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8 Responses to 'DIY Solar Lantern - Part 3/3'

  1. V. Grissom - May 7th, 2008 at 9:48 pm

    Maybe turn the jar around, and mount the solar cell inside it. This way, the whole thing is rainproof - switch on the underside, solar cell inside.

  2. Peter - May 7th, 2008 at 10:22 pm

    How about a picture of the lamp lit?

  3. noel - May 11th, 2008 at 9:50 pm

    @V.Grissom

    I might just try that.

    @Peter

    I’ll post it soon

  4. Doug - June 11th, 2008 at 11:31 pm

    Hi Noel, I’m an editor at Popular Science, and was wondering if you’d be interested in adapting this project for the magazine. Please let me know when you have a chance.

  5. Alison - July 17th, 2008 at 11:32 pm

    Have you been able to try V. Grissom’s idea? Interested in making these and waterproof soudns perfect

  6. wole - July 19th, 2008 at 9:58 pm

    Hi,
    Im a novice who is trying to build a Led Lantern, fortunately I came upon your thread and saw the one you bilt is was quite simple and very informative. Thank you. Like I said Im trying to build a Led lantern, the lamp will be a 8mm 100mA white led to be powered by a 6V 4AH/20hr Lead acid battery. my problem is to design a 1 watt 8v direct charging solar battery panel to charge the battery. Also to design a circuit that will switch off the charging process when the battery is fully charged(this I saw in ur write up) also something to limit the battery depth discharge to a predetermined level of 40-50% for battery long life. I hope you can be of help

    I live in Nigeria where electricity is a big problem
    Thanks
    WOLE ADU

  7. noel - July 28th, 2008 at 9:56 am

    Hi Wole Adu,

    What you need is a charge controller for that. Unfortunately I don’t have any circuit for 6v charge controller. There are sources in the internet for schematic for a 12v battery but not for 6v.

    http://solorb.com/elect/solarcirc/scc3/

    However, if you do found or created one, I would surely like to feature your project on this website.

    In the meantime, what I can say is that using a 1watt panel to charge your 6V 4AH battery wouldn’t result in overcharging. Depending on the battery specs, there are “trickle charge” rates. Some batteries have a trickle charge rate of C/16 meaning if you have 4A battery then that would be 250ma. If your panel is delivering current lower than the trickle charge rate of your battery, then theoretically it should not damage your battery. This is the type of charging used by those emergency lights. The problem is that it would take a longer time to charge the battery if it were just doing trickle charges.

    Cheers,

    Noel

  8. pbucc - February 13th, 2009 at 3:57 am

    line the inside with wax papper it will help defuse the light…


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