From FB group electronics hobbyists
Over the holidays I installed two solar 60 LED lights I bought on eBay. They stopped working just a few weeks after. I finally got up on the ladder and took them down to see why they died. Well, spit! The solar panel is plugged into the jack on the left, and all of its current went through the teensy diode labeled D2 (see photo). That diode can’t handle a hundred milliamps! So it burned up! I measured 7 volts from the solar panel on one end, and 2.4V battery on the other end – open diode! So I soldered a 1 amp Schottky diode across it. That should handle the current!
Those idiots who designed this must have thought we were all living in Antarctica, where there’s barely any sunshine. They need to be beat over the head with a Clue-by-four! 🤬🤬😠😠
Update – others asked why a Schottky?
Well, since Schottky diodes drop half the voltage, I figured at a certain current it would not get as hot, and waste less power. But the solar panel open circuit was 7 volts, and the battery is a single 16450 lithium cell, so a 1N4002 would work just as well. 👍👍
