Are the solar cells on your pathlights going cloudy?

[FunGas]

Clean them with Brasso, just did mine and they came up like new.
It seems the encapsulating resin retains its clarity beneath the crusty white layer.

I used a buffing wheel in the past, but it never gets the surface see-through.

[GrecoSolar]

The surface of solar cell panel should be kept clean, free from dust and tree leaves.

Solar cells rely on sun light to generate power and charge battery. When you install a solar light, make sure the location of installation is a sunny place.

[azdave]

Clean them with Brasso, just did mine and they came up like new.
It seems the encapsulating resin retains its clarity beneath the crusty white layer.

I know this is a few weeks old but I just went through this same problem with 30 "commercial" LED solar path lights. My solution was to cover the collector portion with a clear piece of 3M brand paint protection film like you can get though eBay to protect the front of your car from rock chips.

The chip shield film will last many years without UV degadation and it also will protect the encapsulation material that is giving you trouble on the solar cells. My lights degraded within less than 6 months in the Arizona sun. I sent them all back to Malibu, got them all replaced under warranty and then covered the new ones with the chip shield film. I see no loss of performance and the cells look good as new.


BTW...My warranty return through Malibu was the worst customer service experience I have ever had. If it weren't for the high cost of these lights and the very early failures that occurred I would have drop kicked them all to the curb. Malibu/Brinkmann could care less about customer service.

[GrecoSolar]

I know this is a few weeks old but I just went through this same problem with 30 "commercial" LED solar path lights. My solution was to cover the collector portion with a clear piece of 3M brand paint protection film like you can get though eBay to protect the front of your car from rock chips.

The chip shield film will last many years without UV degadation and it also will protect the encapsulation material that is giving you trouble on the solar cells. My lights degraded within less than 6 months in the Arizona sun. I sent them all back to Malibu, got them all replaced under warranty and then covered the new ones with the chip shield film. I see no loss of performance and the cells look good as new.


BTW...My warranty return through Malibu was the worst customer service experience I have ever had. If it weren't for the high cost of these lights and the very early failures that occurred I would have drop kicked them all to the curb. Malibu/Brinkmann could care less about customer service.

It would be a good idea to cover the encapsulation material with a chip shield film, to protect it from weathering. But, it was also important that the film is anti-reflective, so that it could transfer most of the sun light to the solar cells.

I looked at the picture of Malibu solar walkway lights, is the material (surface of solar cells) a glass or... There is a kind of white substances on top of the left one. What is that...

Most of the rigid crystalline silicon solar cell panels use tempered glass as its top encapsulation material, and that is robust, weather resistant and easy to clean.

Jack