Recharging Rechargable Batteries

[Loshali]

I would never have thought about this until a former military survivalist told me. Solar lights, the decorative kind you might place around shrubbery, have rechargeable AA batteries in them. When you need fresh batteries, just switch them out for the ones in the yard light. Instant solar recharger!

I gotta find some kind of solar light with a larger battery too, like D's or C's...

[Brosia]

who knew? good tip.

[Diesel]

that's a fantastic idea, i had not hear that before or thought of it

[methusaleh]

Some do, some don't, in my experience.

Here's a tip for you all:

My fiance is the manager of a agriculture/gardening/landscaping place. They do everything from grow trees to plant trees and maintain them, plus retail sales of everything you can imagine. There's a certain brand of solar-powered LED lights used for lighting entryways and whatnot (I can find out the brand, just have to look when I am home) that frequently have defective mounting hardware and the store sells them for next to nothing in their clearance area. We are talking $60 to $200 LED spot and floodlights for no more than $20!!! Through experimentation I've discovered they can run on 9VDC at or near their peak brightness (dimmer with less voltage), using a typical consumer 9VDC alkaline battery, for hours on end. The current drain, even on the largest ones, is minimal. Bumping up the voltage to 12VDC or thereabouts (13.8VDC power supply) makes almost no discernable difference in brightness over 9 volts. I am still experimenting but it seems fairly easy to remove the light assembly from the housing and adapt it to one's needs as required. I am working on turning a spotlight into a handheld, self-contained light like a super-powerful Maglite type design.

OK back on topic now! Thanks for letting me derail this thread a wee bit ;)

EDIT: Forgot to add...reason why I am telling you folks about those lights is so you can go out and ask about them at your local landscape/gardening type stores. From what I hear these models of lights are plagued with the defective hardware and should be available all over the place.

EDIT AGAIN!: I just got home and took a look at the lights. There is no marking whatsoever on any of the units themselves, however one of the spotlights came with an instruction sheet, and the number 868-48AGWN-1 is printed at the top. No other identifying info at all!