Solar Bike Light

by nak in Outside > Bikes

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Solar Bike Light

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Modify a solar garden walkway light into a solar powered bike light that charges during day riding and can be turned on at night!

Obtain Materials

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1. Solar Garden Light (G15439)
2. LED Lamp, from flashlight, I used (G15654)
3. Epoxy
4. Wire, solder, etc
5. Tools, drill, knife, screwdriver

1 and 2 have part numbers from the electronic goldmine.

Take Apart the Solar Lamp

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This should come naturally to most people here :)
There are 3 screws holding the 2 halves of electronics enclosure together, the transparent dome pops off easily.

Add Your Lamp in Place of Exsisting LED

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Using a soldering iron, de-solder the exsisting LED on the lamp and put it in your parts drawer/box/floor.

Be sure you have the polarity correct when you solder the leads of your lamp to the leads where the first LED used to be!

I covered the soldered connections in hot glue after I was done.

Expand/Add Hole for Mounting to Bike

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Using a drill I expanded one of the holes in the plastic that held the solar panel. This let me mount the unit where my reflector used to be.

Cut and Epoxy Lamp to Solar Lamp Unit

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I had to use a knife to expand the hole opposite of the mounting hole we drilled in the last step.

I set the lip of the lamp into the notch and epoxied it there, I also added epoxy to secure the wires and the LED's PCB.

Mount to Your Bike!

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I was able to mount this by removing the reflector and just using the same screw and mounting plastic.

Use a screwdriver to tighten and loosen things and position the lamp to your liking. I found that when riding, the circuit turns off the light when under a street lamp.

Have fun, be safe, wear a helmet yada yada...