what are these?

[RayJ]

Hi all, I'm brand new here with an interest in using solar power for practical purposes.

I found 5 of these (pics are front and back) at a high end fashion store "going out of business" sale. They are 11 inch by 5 inch, made by GE and have the connector with 3.3v present when the solar panel goes dark. A button switch is for on, off, and flash.

I got pretty excited when i found them in a corner with no price marking. Figuring I could talk the sales lady into getting them for a $1 each, my first solar purchase. Now i'm thinking, they probably won't even power a 15 watt light, if I could even find 1 that runs on 3.3 volts. They may only have been used as light detectors in the store and been used as input in some larger control scheme.

Anyone venture a guess? Thanks in advance for your input. Ray


P2230287 resized.JPGP2230288 resized.JPG

[Sunking]

5 watt, 3.3 volt lithium battery charger. Completely worthless.

[inetdog]

Hi all, I'm brand new here with an interest in using solar power for practical purposes.

I found 5 of these (pics are front and back) at a high end fashion store "going out of business" sale. They are 11 inch by 5 inch, made by GE and have the connector with 3.3v present when the solar panel goes dark. A button switch is for on, off, and flash.

I got pretty excited when i found them in a corner with no price marking. Figuring I could talk the sales lady into getting them for a $1 each, my first solar purchase. Now i'm thinking, they probably won't even power a 15 watt light, if I could even find 1 that runs on 3.3 volts. They may only have been used as light detectors in the store and been used as input in some larger control scheme.

Anyone venture a guess? Thanks in advance for your input. Ray

As Dereck said, they are solar panels which are designed for garden lights, etc.
The information on the back indicates that they actually contain Lithium batteries, so they may not be completely worthless.

They are designed to charge the internal battery and then when the light goes away to run whatever is connected to the output from the battery until the battery voltage drops to the minimum.

They could be fun for landscape lights as long as the batteries are still in good shape (not guaranteed by any means), so I would not call them worthless. Maybe even worth a dollar if you need that kind of light.

If the batteries are what are called Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4), then there is a good chance that they are still good. The only way to find out for sure is to put a load on them (like an LED with driver which pulls about .5A) and see how long till the LED goes out.
You may be able to find standalone lights which can be connected to the units, but nowhere near 15 watts. Maybe 1 watt at most, and those would not run for very long on a day's charging.

Then decide whether it is worth doing anything with them.

I would not disassemble them to try to use the panels, since that is worth less than the combination, although you may be able to replace the battery if it is dead. You can find replacement Lithium batteries for landscape lighting at Big Orange (Home Depot) among other places.

[FunGas]

not totally worthless, they can power an LED pointed towards the mains light-switch, via a reed switch (or somesuch) on the shed door...

[inetdog]

not totally worthless, they can power an LED pointed towards the mains light-switch, via a reed switch (or somesuch) on the shed door...

But unless you open them up and rewire them, the built in controller will not allow the light to work unless the panel is in the dark.
I aim a similar unit at the house number on my fence. The light lasts for about 6 hours after sunset.
You can also use if for walkway lighting for safety or visual effect.

[FunGas]

I have a tiny panel charging a very old mobile phone battery, through a diode, which runs 3 LED's aimed at the circuit breakers in the workshop. When I open the door, it illuminates!

Did have a circuit like you described, but I fried it by using a 2Ah 1.5V NiCd in an attempt to make the light last longer...