Normal or rechargeable AA battery for solar lamp??

paddy147

I bought a load of outdoor solar garden lights in a well known DIY shop the other day.

Theres a green AA sized battery in the solar lights,but most of them are fecked now.Are these green batteries rechargable ones??

Do I need to fit rechargable AA batteries or can I just use normal AA batteries.


And it theres a battery in these solar lights,then what exactly does the little solar panel/plate on the top of them actually do?????


Thanks.:)

four18

The solar panel charges the battery during daylight hours, so a rechargable aa is the job. You can get a pack of 4 for 5/6 euro. Some of the euro shops have Rechargeable AA's even cheaper

paddy147

I bought 20 of them at 2 euro each (end of season sale/shop floor clearence).8 of them work fine,but the rest are all barely lit up at night,so hense the batteries being fecked.



So it would be absoluetly pointless to put in a normal Duracel AA battery then?

Rechargable is the way to go,so that the little solar panel charges it back up??


And is that green AA battery a rechargable battery??

Thanks.:)

four18

They look nice in the pic, I thought they were the tiny foot tall ones you normally see.The batteries will probably cost more than the lights but they look decent enough and you will get years out of them. Rechargeable batteries are normally green in colour. Heres a 12 pack for 15 euro in maplins, Jervis St, You wont get them cheaper than that. Enjoy the long evenings ! Regards Mark

http://www.maplin.co.uk/extra-high-capacity-nimh-rechargeable-battery-value-packs-46414?ordercode=L32BJ

Ps an 8 pack is the same price if its 20 you need

Bruthal

paddy147 wrote: »

I bought 20 of them at 2 euro each (end of season sale/shop floor clearence).8 of them work fine,but the rest are all barely lit up at night,so hense the batteries being fecked.



So it would be absoluetly pointless to put in a normal Duracel AA battery then?

Rechargable is the way to go,so that the little solar panel charges it back up??


And is that green AA battery a rechargable battery??

Thanks.:)

Them green batterys are nimh 600mah (milli amp hour) rechargeable batteries. You cant put standard AA batteries in them lights.

They might be hard to get at that low a capacity (600mah) in the shops. But somewhere like here has them.

http://www.buyabattery.co.uk/aa-rechargeable-solar-light-batteries-600mah-12v-nimh-10pack-p-1508.html

The high capacity ones like in the maplon link will take too long to charge up fully with the solar charging setup, might possibly work, but the lower capacity ones would likely be more suitable.

paddy147

Thanks Robbie,appreciate that advice.

Saves me possibly wasting money too.

Is there anywhere in Dublin that I could get those batteries from??

And can you charge them batteries up witn a battery charger??


Thanks

Bruthal

paddy147 wrote: »

Thanks Robbie,appreciate that advice.

Saves me possibly wasting money too.

Is there anywhere in Dublin that I could get those batteries from??

And can you charge them batteries up witn a battery charger??


Thanks

Yea they can be charged with an AA charger. Not sure if they are easily got at 600mah capacity in the shops. AAA ones are close to that capacity, if you can set them up to fit in.

Bruthal

Maplin AAA nimh 800mah batteries will do, code N58GN
And the adaptor to change them into AA battery size, code L63AQ

Maplin in dublin city centre has them in stock according to site, but probably better phone first.

paddy147

robbie7730 wrote: »

Maplin AAA nimh 800mah batteries will do, code N58GN
And the adaptor to change them into AA battery size, code L63AQ

Maplin in dublin city centre has them in stock according to site, but probably better phone first.

And they will work fine in the solar lamps then??



thanks.:)

Bruthal

paddy147 wrote: »

And they will work fine in the solar lamps then??



thanks.:)

Yea they should work fine. The adaptors are just tubes that go over the anode (+) end of the ÀAA battery to make the battery a bit longer and wider and so will fit where AA`s go, and the bottom of the AAA sticks out to make contact at the cathode (-) end. Just ring maplin before going and tell them the codes above to see if they in stock.

paddy147

Maplins in Blanchardstown didnt have these batteries in stock,they only had normal aa rechargable batteries in stock.

And as for BnQ,...........

Useless and crap customer care,when I complained about alot of the batteries being dead and not working.

Useless shower indeed.

BnQ want 12 euro 50 cents for 4 AA sized rechargable batteries (fcuking ripp off)


I can get 8 rechargable batteries in Maplins for 7 euro,they are 1.2 volt but they are 2000 MAH and not 600 MAH like the green solar lamp battery.

Would they work ok in the solar lamp and still change up from the solar panel aswell??

Thanks.

Bruthal

They should work alright, just hard to say how well they will work when they are probably not going to fully charge in solar lights designed to charge 600mah ones. But they might work just as well. On sunny days charging they might well perform better